Interviews
Interview with Tinariwen (Abdallah)
Tinariwen
Alhousseïni Abdoulahi–a.k.a. Abdallah–is the spokesman for the celebrated Tuareg folk/rock band Tinariwen. In the summer of 2004, the band was making yet another European tour, and preparing for their first American one, to begin in October of that year. Banning Eyre reached him by telephone in France. The two had often met before, in France, Spain, at the 2003 Festival in the Desert in Essakane, Mali, and at the Smithsonian...
Idir’s Rainbow Nation: Album of rap and R&B duets
Idir
What happens when veteran Kabylian star Idir teams up with the hottest young acts on the French rap and R&B scene to record a collective album? Everyone thinks it’s a clever marketing move, an attempt to cash in on the vogue for duets that has dominated the French record industry in recent years. But Idir’s project is more socially and politically committed than that. La France des couleurs, an album which gives a voice to France’s...
Interview with Abdalah BOUZANDAG from Tafsut band in Agadir
Abdalah BOUZANDAG
Abdalah BOUZANDAG, is a young Amazigh artist, born in the region of the Anti Atlas Mountains, he carried out his primary studies in Tagant (a village close to Guelmim) and secondary studies in Bouizakarn (the same region) and obtained his license in 2005 at the University of Agadir, English Department. He is an ardent defender of the Amazigh identity which has always been subject to exclusion and marginalization.
In 2004 he created...
Interview with Yuba
Interview with Yuba
Yuba was born and raised in Dcheira, a small town near Agadir (Southern Morocco). He was greatly affected by the way in which his Amazigh (Berber) culture was slowly but surely being strangled and so joined the identity protest movement to try and contribute, in his own way, to the defence and protection of this thousand-year-old culture. So, before being drawn into the world of music, he wrote poems in Amazigh to signify his...
Interview with Rif association of Amazigh Theater
Rif association
Although a full existence of theater in the Rif and particularly in Al-hoceima is still somewhat uncommon, we can notice some voices that try hard to adopt this important cultural manifestation. It is only recently that some associations gave attention to theater.
With the belief that theater helps promote one’s culture and language, the Amazigh Association of Theater in Al-hoceima is an example of many others that...
Interview with Said Zerwali
Said Zerwali
Following the same path of Khalid Izri and Lwalid Mimoun, Said Zerwali, a young talented singer from Berkane, has recently emerged in the world of the Amazigh music. He is 35 and has just released his first album ‘ Mayemi'(Why?). Said’s first contact with music was in his early childhood. He played music with his friends in the streets of Berkane, where playing the guitar was very frequent in this small Mediterranean city....
Interview with Noumidia
Noumidia
Noumidia is a famous Amazigh music group originating from the Rif, Alhoceima. It was founded in 1994 by a group of five talented members. They have released two albums and they are currently working on the third one. Their main concern is the Amazigh case, identity and culture, which are pervasively present throughout their music. Noumidia believe that participation in Festivals is a good thing for the Amazigh music, and thus they have participated...
Interview with Thifswin Association of the Amazigh Theatre
Thifswin Association
Agraw.Com: Azul brother Mohamed Ben Yousef from ‘Thefeswin’ association of the Amazigh theatre. First, tell us about Thefeswin?
Thfswin: Thanks brother Miloud for this question. Thefeswin used to be a group before becoming recently an association. We worked from 1998 until 2004 as a group, but we thought of creating an association under the name of Thefeswin so that we would work legally.
Agraw.Com:...
Interview with Imattawan
Interview with Imattawan
Azul Farid, we would like you to tell us about Imettawan band. First tell us who are Imattawan?
Azul brothers, thanks a lot for this interview, we appreciate it. We are very proud of Agraw.com as it cares a lot about Tamazight. We visit this website a lot because we find ourselves projected in it. The Imetawen group was founded in the 90s by some young people from Imzouren. It started with the creation of Nekkor, an association...