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An introduction to the music and history of the North African Berbers.

Article Excerpt
As music from North Africa and the Middle East has become more available internationally, the contributions of North Africa's first residents, the Berber, have been noticeably underrepresented. Many Berber musicians and people resent the fact that so much effort has gone into internationally promoting Afro-Arabic genres like rai and, to a lesser extent, shaabi, while Berber sounds remain largely unknown in world music circles. The subject is complex. One of the very first North African pop hits in Europe and the Middle East came in the 1970s from Algerian Berber pop singers Idir and Mila, with their song "Vara Inouva." Since then, contemporary Berber artists have been substantially missing in the flood of contemporary North African pop finding its way to the international marketplace.

Much of the most interesting Berber music is not pop at all, but rather village and urban folk music. The major forces behind promoting rai have a dance pop-oriented mindset, and this, they argue, is the reason they have bypassed beautiful indigenous Berber music, and even more artistic fusions like that of exiled Algerian singer/songwriters Iness Mezel and Akli D. This argument overlooks some great Berber-related dance pop by artists like Takfarinas, Tayfa and German-based Moroccan fusion artist Houssaine Kili, but the good news is that these and other promising Berber artists are beginning to get the recognition they deserve.

Aesthetics and style aside, it is important to understand that the whole subject of Berber music and culture is profoundly colored by Berber people's longstanding struggle to achieve basic language rights in modern North African societies. In Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya--where most of today's Berber live--the Berber language, Tamazight, is not an official national language. Tamazight language broadcasts are limited or non-existent in these countries, and their governments commit no funds to educating children in the language. Many Berbers see this as part of a long-standing objective by Arab-descended North Africans to eradicate Berber culture. The theory is: if nobody speaks Tamazight, the culture will go away.

In Algeria, where the Berber language rights movement is most overt and powerful, there have been periodic mass demonstrations since 1980 when the so-called Berber Spring uprising forced this issue into public view. That movement continues today. In June of 2001, over 1-million Berbers demonstrated in Algiers, and in May of 2002, Berbers in the Tamazight-speaking region of Kabylia boycotted the country's parliamentary elections because they felt that the country's entire political system is rigged against them. A number of people have died in this struggle in Algeria in recent years, and no sign of a lasting resolution is in sight.

Politically motivated misinformation, or non-information, about Berber music emanating from these countries is certainly part of the explanation for the paucity of Berber music in the world music marketplace. But those who see a grand conspiracy here may overstate the case. There are so many small labels and independent players in world music that even if one were to accept the idea that big labels are in cahoots with powerful North African Arabs to suppress Berber cultural expressions, this would only present ah opportunity for smaller labels to release and promote the very music their larger competitors are ignoring. At the end of the day, good music ultimately gets released and finds its audience. If nobody is promoting Iness Mezel (winner of two Kora Music Awards in 1998), Takfarinas, of Houssaine Kili in the United States, this is ah opportunity waiting to be, and sure to be, exploited by someone.

A note on nomenclature. The commonly used word Berber is distasteful to many, if not all, the people to whom it is applied. It probably derives from the word "barbarian," or "outcast," a notion that badly misrepresents the history of North Africa's oldest known inhabitants. The preferred name for the Berber homeland is Tamazgha, "land of free peoples," and the names for the Berber culture, language, and people are as follows:

CULTURE: Amazigh [AH-mah-ZEE(ohr)]

LANGUAGE: Tamzight [TAH-mah-ZEE(r)t]

PEOPLE: Imazighen [EE-mah-ZEE(r)-ehn]

A BRIEF BERBER HISTORY

The Berber have been in North Africa for at least 3,000 years. Very effective warriors, they managed to avoid being dominated...