Club d’Elf

What begins as a groove in Club d’Elf’s world often becomes a doorway into someplace older, stranger and unshackled by time. The band has spent twenty seven years helping audiences lose track of time with its shape-shifting fusion of Moroccan trance, dub, electronica, jazz and improvised funk. Built around bassist and composer Mike Rivard, each performance features a rotating cast drawn from Boston, New York and beyond, creating a constantly shifting ecosystem where trance forms the central core of the band’s aesthetic. Under longtime member and Casablanca native Brahim Fribgane, the group absorbed Moroccan trance music deeply into its DNA. Fribgane passed away in early 2024, but his spirit remains embedded in the band’s sound, especially through Rivard’s commanding sintir work, learned under the guidance of Fribgane and Gnawa masters Hassan Hakmoun and Mahmoud Guinia.