The culture of the Haratin – the former slaves in Mauritania, also known as the “black Moors” – has never been seriously researched. Their music, songs and dances have never been recorded in writing, but have only ever been passed down orally. This is why the question currently arises:
- What are the songs about, what do the dances express, what other instruments are played?
- In other words, what significance did and does music still have?
- Which traditions are still alive and being passed on to a younger generation?
The same applies to the musical culture of the “griots”, the “keepers of history”, who convey this history in literature and music. This tradition is also in danger of being irrevocably lost with the death of the elders. There are still some of the wandering singers and players of the lute tidinit and the women who accompany their singing with the harp ardin.
This is the starting point for the field research planned for April 2015 to document the musical heritage in Mauritania.
Supported by the Jutta Vogel Foundation and funding from the Federal Foreign Office, ethnomusicologist Edda Brandes and filmmaker Petra Buda are working with Mauritanian partners. Among other things, they are visiting the traditional music festival in Nouakchott and one of the most important Haratin musicians in Chinguetti.
Publications on CD and DVD will record the fruits of this collaboration in order to remind people of what has almost been forgotten, to preserve what already exists and, last but not least, to interest young people in passing on their own culture and making its musical wealth known beyond the borders of their own country. In the capital Nouakchott and the surrounding area, they meet artists from all parts of the country and visit one of the most important Haratin musicians in Chinguetti.
