At the heart of the Hoggar mountain range in the south of the Algerian Sahara, stands the city of Tamanrasset, capital of the country’s Tuaregs. A cosmopolitan city at the confluence of important trans-Saharan trade routes, Tamanrasset is inseparable from the Tuareg blues.
Tuareg blues (also known as desert blues or tichoumaren) is a genre derived from African-American blues and traditional Tuareg music. Also including influences from other musical currents, the Tuareg blues was forged by Tuareg claims.
Sung in tamahaq and tamasheq (variants of Tamazight), the Tuareg blues often borrows from the sluggishness, the register of nostalgia and loneliness.
Tamanrasset then holds an essential place in the history of the musical genre. Indeed, the city has attracted many citizens of surrounding countries, including Niger, Burkina Faso, or Mali following the repressions of 1963 and the droughts of 1972.
Among them are Ibrahim Ag Alhabib, Hassan Ag Touhami and Inteyeden Ag Ablil, the founding members of the precursor group of Tuareg blues, Tinariwen. The group has for years taken up residence in the Touareg capital of Algeria and it is in the city that the group was born. The same goes for the group from Kidal, Tamikrest, formed in 2006 in Tamanrasset.
“Tamanrasset is not a place of exile. Our desert and there and it has always been a Tamasheq city. So by living in my community, I can talk about it, express its fears, doubts and suffering. They are mine too. ”
Ousmane Ag Mossa of the Tamikrest group
Tamanrasset also saw the birth more recently of groups from the city of Hoggar, like Imarhan whose first album made a remarkable entry in 2016 and Afous d’Afous whose song Tarhanine Tegla was a major success. .
This new wave of Tuareg blues is experimenting with musical genres as varied as funk, disco and reggae and, like its predecessors, ensures a link between Tuareg musical traditions and modern sounds.
“To safeguard traditions, it is important to make them evolve. Each generation has to play out what is true to them and today in Tamanrasset there is a real mix of tradition and modernity. Our music is the mirror of our community. ”
Moussa Ben Abderahman of the Imarhan group
Like the oasis of Djanet, the uniqueness of Tamanrasset lies in the rich Tuareg culture of its inhabitants and in its dynamic diversity. The desert blues will continue to make the voice of a people heard beyond national borders and to blend genres to carry on the traditions of the Kel Tamasheq.
Photo: Imarhan Group from Tamanrasset
Source : Translated from https://www.thecasbahpost.com/tamanrasset-et-le-blues-touareg/
