The Tuareg, the legendary desert people, are experiencing a cultural change, as modernity has also found its way to them and they have partially given up their nomadic lifestyle. Their centuries-old culture is threatened with extinction. This also applies to playing the imzad, the Tuareg’s one-stringed violin. The imzad consists of a half calabash covered with goatskin, which is often painted with ornaments or the Tifînagh characters of the Tuareg. The string is also made from the hair of the horse’s tail, as is the stringing of the bow.
The imzad is played exclusively by women who accompany the singing of one or two men. They sing poems in Tamâhaq, the language of the Tuareg, which tell of love, the great battles of the past, nomadic life, the beauty of the desert and so on. At present, only seven old women in the entire Hoggar Mountains in southern Algeria still play the imzad, whereas in the past almost every girl mastered this instrument. The Tuareg woman occupies an important place in Tuareg society. It was the mothers who taught their daughters to play the imzad and write tifînagh. Traditional Imzad music is an important part of Tuareg culture. Bringing it back to life also means preserving it for future generations. In 2003, the association “Sauver l’Imzad” (Save the Imzad) was founded in Tamanrasset with the aim of preserving Tuareg culture in the Hoggar. This includes the founding of a school where young Tuareg women learn to play the imzad and at the same time learn how to make this musical instrument. The Tifînagh script is also taught at this school. The teaching program includes other aspects of Tuareg culture and history, courses on the origins and development of the Imzad, poetry and songs for the Imzad, as well as computer courses. Another important goal is to promote the production of Imzad and other Tuareg products by homeworkers. The planned cultural center “Dar el Imzad” in Tamanrasset will house the Imzad school with all its courses as well as a media library in which the Imzad, poetry and song documentation will be archived and made accessible to the public. The Jutta Vogel Foundation is financing a documentary film about the Imzad as well as sound recordings of Imzad music and Tamâhaq poems, thus making an important contribution to the preservation of Tuareg culture.
You can find more information about “Sauver l’Imzad” at: www.imzadanzad.com
