ALGERIA – ALGÉRIE
Rythmes et Chants du Sahara Central (Hoggar) – Les Disques ICEM-CEL – Documents Sonores de la BT nº3, released in 1972, recorded by Pierre Augier (Vinyl 7 inch, 33 RPM)
With an area of 2.4 million square kilometers, Algeria is the largest country in Africa. Over 80% percent of the country is covered by the vast Sahara Desert, the largest in the world.
This superb LP released in 1972 presents the music from the ethnic/cultural groups living in the Hoggar (or Ahaggar) Mountains, a vast highland region in southern Algeria's central Sahara. These include the fascinating and dynamic songs and dances of the Amazigh Tuareg nomads (A1, A2, B1), the Arabized Amazighs/Berbers (B2, B3) and the Sub-Saharan Africans (A3, B4).
Avec une superficie de 2,4 millions de kilomètres carrés, l'Algérie est le plus grand pays d'Afrique. Plus de 80 % du territoire est recouvert par l’immense désert du Sahara, le plus grand du monde.
Sorti en 1972, cet album formidable présente la musique des groupes ethniques/culturels vivant dans Hoggar, une vaste région montagneuse située au sud du Sahara algérien. On y trouve les chants et danses fascinants et dynamiques des nomades Touaregs Amazighs (A1, A2, B1), des Amazighs/Berbères Arabisés (B2, B3) et des Africains subsahariens (A3, B4).
A1 – Tindé in Tazrouk (Tuareg)
Tindé (or tendé) drums, traditionally played by Tuareg women to accompany singing and dancing during celebrations, weddings and religious ceremonies, are typically made from a mortar used for crushing grain and goatskin. The word "tindé" refers to both the instrument and the event at which it is played.
Two women sit on either side of the drum. They take turns clapping their hands on the stretched skin while singing. A group of women sit around them, repeating the refrain in unison. The men surround them, occasionally singing but never dancing.
"Ya Aoudenni Netigada" here is a love song about a soldier about to travel from Atakor in the Hoggar to Niger.
A2 – Tahigelt in Tazrouk (Tuareg)
This dance is from Tamesna in Niger and the Kel Ahaggar Tuareg play it with the tindé drum.
"Ouan ien Nedou Deha" I would like to marry this woman, but I don't have any money. All I have are five goats, an old donkey, and an old camel.
A3 – Tazengherit in Tazrouk (Sub-Saharan Africans)
The orchestration consists of stunning sounds emitted from the throat, accompanied by hand clapping. A female singer performs a melody while men dance by stomping their feet and grunting.
B1 – Imzad – Ti Haddanarènes (Tuareg)
The imzad, a single-stringed violin played exclusively by women, lies at the heart of Tuareg culture and identity.
"Ti Haddananarènes" is performed here by 75-year-old Lalla Oult Abedakhoul, who is from the Kel Relaïdine group, wich is part of the Kel Ahaggar Tuaregs in the Hoggar region.
B2 – Tebel in Tamanrasset (Arabized Berbers/Amazighs)
The word tebel refers to both a traditional frame drum and a dance. This performance took place at a wedding in Tamanrasset in September 1970. These religiously inspired songs are well-known throughout the Arabic-speaking Saharan world. Various drums provide precise, rigorous polyrhythmic percussion.
B3 – Baroud on a Berrezzana rythm in Timimoun (Arabized Berbers/Amazighs)
This baroud was performed to the rhythm of the Bererezana in Timimoun in May of 1971. In Arabic, baroud means gunpowder. It also refers to rifles and the dance performed with them. These rifles are loaded with gunpowder, saltpeter, and sand. The dancers form a circle around the orchestra. At the end of a fast-paced rhythm, the baroud leader cues all the dancers to fire their rifles simultaneously.
B4 – Qarqabous in Adrar (Sub-Saharan Africans)
Qarqabous refers both to a musical genre and the large wrought iron or copper castanets used in it. The ensemble also includes wooden and ceramic drums.
Music of the Arabian Orient and North Africa – Supraphon (track H3) here
Chad (Kanem) – Unesco Collection BM 30 L 2309 (track A9) here
Les Trésors du Faso – Musique Traditionnelle Vol. 1 (track A6) here
Photographs below are from Théodore Monod: Une Vie de Saharien by Sylvain Estibal, Vents de Sable, 1998, and Les Touaregs by Edmond Bernus, Vents de Sable, 2001:
In 1934, Théodore Monod (1902-2000) first crossed the vast, desolate Tanezrouft region of the Sahara, west of the Hoggar Mountains:
Tuareg woman from the Hoggar, early 20th century:
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