{"id":20957,"date":"2021-06-22T06:03:01","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T06:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/?p=20957"},"modified":"2021-06-22T06:03:01","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T06:03:01","slug":"discovering-diwane-ancestral-african-ritual-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/en\/discovering-diwane-ancestral-african-ritual-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Discovering Diwane: ancestral African ritual music"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rachida Lamri<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Diwane is more than just a music genre; it is a socio-cultural practice, a form of music therapy and redemption. It emerged many centuries ago, following the arrival in the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia) of the first waves of black slaves brought in by the slave trading caravans travelling through Ghana, Timbuktu, Abalessa, Mali, Guinea and Sudan.<\/p>\n

The origins of a black African community in the Maghreb can be traced back as far as\u00a0Sultan Ahmad al Mansur\u00a0of Morocco\u2019s conquest of the\u00a0Songhai Empire\u00a0in western Sahel in 1590. The sultan took advantage of civil strife in the empire and dispatched his army across the Sahara to conquer and pillage, bringing north several thousand men and women as slaves and servants.<\/p>\n

Great pain and suffering was the inevitable result of the uprooting and enslavement of these diverse populations, who in exile took on a collective identity that gave birth to a new form of expression. Like any art, it was used to exteriorise feelings, voicing the torments of slavery and exile and serving as a reminder of motherland, ancestors, and prevailing social injustice. It gave birth to the Diwane in Algeria, the\u00a0Gnawa\u00a0in Morocco and the\u00a0Stambali\u00a0in Tunisia, all of which have more similarities than differences.<\/p>\n

A Diwane musician of Algeria with his\u00a0guembri,\u00a0around 1901. Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n

Tamara Turner, a doctoral researcher in ethnomusicology, specifically the musical repertoire and history of Diwane, says that this musical conglomeration of the many ethno-linguistic groups who were brought to North Africa\u2014Bambara, Hausa, Songhai, Fulani\/Peul, Bornou, and Boussou\u2014shows mostly Hausa and Songhai influences.<\/p>\n

Diwane became deeply rooted in the culture of the Algerian southwest and some circles in the southeast. Its practice remains exclusive and is reserved for connoisseurs of its rituals and spiritual dimension.<\/p>\n

Over almost five centuries, the practices metamorphosed through the adoption of Islam as a religion and through close contact with the Berber-Arab culture of the Maghreb. This gave way to a new form of congregation, in the form of brotherhoods and zaouias (institutions)\u00a0dispersed throughout the region, which perform healing rituals for Diwane followers and those who seek healing and spiritual guidance. The rituals are considered sacred and their methods are diligently kept secret.<\/p>\n

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\"Diwane<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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Diwane in the family – Oran, west Algeria. Algiers Archives\/Wikimedia Commons. Some rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Diwane is part of a system of secret knowledge much like\u00a0Sufism<\/a>, and for a long time it was accessible only to the privileged few who had earned the knowledge. The master (ma\u2019alem) conducts ceremonies known as\u00a0hadra, or\u00a0lila, an entire night of rich song, music, dance, costume, and incense, ending around dawn. The ritual enables partakers to enter the trance state of\u00a0jadba\u00a0for therapeutic and healing purposes, although there are those who believe it has supernatural power.<\/p>\n

These ritual songs and lyrics were passed down for generations, transmitted orally from the ma\u2019alem to the\u00a0guendouz\u00a0(disciple), never transcribed or translated. Composed in the different dialects of the Sahel region, they relate stories and legends of the past, of their slave ancestors, of separation from the land, abduction and ultimately redemption.<\/p>\n

With Islamic influence, the lyrics shifted to invocations of God, the Prophet Mohammed and various Muslim saints, moving closer to strands of Sufism. Diwane is always performed following the minimalist melodies of a\u00a0guembri<\/a>, the looped rhythms of the metallic\u00a0karkabou<\/a>, or the beat of the\u00a0bendir.<\/p>\n