![\"Ahellil\"](\"https:\/\/topdestinationsalgerie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/LAhellil-du-Gourara-ce-chant-venu-des-temps-anciens-dAlgerie-1024x576.jpeg\")
\nThe Ahellil of Gourara: this song from ancient times in Algeria<\/p>\n
The Ahellil of Gourara: this song from ancient times in Algeria<\/p>\n
Ahellil is a poetic and musical genre emblematic of the Z\u00e9n\u00e8tes of Gourara, practiced during collective ceremonies. This region of southwestern Algeria has a hundred oases populated by more than 50,000 inhabitants of Berber origin.<\/p>\n
The Ahellil, located in the Berber-speaking part of Gourara, is regularly performed during religious festivals and pilgrimages, but also on the occasion of secular celebrations such as weddings and local fairs.<\/p>\n
Closely linked to the way of life of the Z\u00e9n\u00e8tes and to oasis agriculture, the Ahellil symbolizes the cohesion of the community in a difficult environment and conveys the values \u200b\u200band history of the Z\u00e9n\u00e8tes in a language that is now threatened with extinction.<\/p>\n
\nThe Ahellil of Gourara: this song from ancient times in Algeria<\/p>\n
Simultaneously poetry, polyphonic singing, music and dance, this genre brings together a bengri (flute) player, a singer and a choir. The latter can number a hundred people who, united shoulder to shoulder, perform a gyratory movement around the soloist and clap their hands to clap their cue.<\/p>\n
A session of Ahellil includes a series of songs which follow one another in the order decided by the musician or the singer. It follows an immutable pattern: the first part open to all, the lemserreh, composed of short songs known to all, continues until late in the night.<\/p>\n
The second part, the augrout, is reserved for the most experienced and continues until dawn. The tra ends with sunrise and retains only the best performers. This tertiary structure is found in the execution of the song which begins with an instrumental prelude, followed by the chorus which takes up certain lines of the poem and ends with a murmur of the choir which goes to a crescendo to produce a harmonious and powerful whole.<\/p>\n
This tradition is under threat as there are fewer and fewer opportunities to perform it. This decline is linked to the scarcity of traditional festivals requiring long preparations, the migration of young people to the cities and the proliferation of Ahellil recordings that people prefer to listen to rather than participate in a session.<\/p>\n