{"id":8994,"date":"2020-06-11T16:22:41","date_gmt":"2020-06-11T20:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amazighworldnews.com\/?p=8994"},"modified":"2020-06-11T16:34:29","modified_gmt":"2020-06-11T20:34:29","slug":"poetry-song-and-dance-as-amazigh-strong-markers-of-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amazighworldnews.com\/poetry-song-and-dance-as-amazigh-strong-markers-of-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry, Song and Dance as Amazigh Strong Markers of Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[dropcap]C[\/dropcap]onquerors, colonizers and other foreign powers that to different extents have tried to override and reshape Amazigh<\/a> identity, have influenced the Amazigh people of North Africa and the Sahel in the cultural expression and the freedom to preserve a unique identity. Due to an inherent need to be recognized as human, unique and valuable, Amazigh people have been using different forms of expression to celebrate and revive Amazigh culture. One of the major artistic expressions is performance art \u2013 song, dance, poetry and theatrical performances. Young Amazigh activists have been using these different forms of expression in order to reaffirm their identity but, also, as a wakeup call to not lose the riches of their culture.<\/p>\n

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Let us start from the premise that each individual as born into a certain community, society, and culture, wants to be recognized for who he is. The idea of identity can be tied to an individualistic view of the world, focusing on the freedom to express one\u2019s own individual desires and needs within the society. However, identity is a combination of layers, informed by individual needs and wants but also by the drive to belong to some sort of community, which is again informed by cultures. Those cultures might be based on ethnicity, heritage, and language representing an anthropological frame or they might be based on identification with a certain interest group, age group, etc. Identity can be a personal acknowledgement, however, in this analysis we shall focus on the outward expression of identity, specifically through the art of performance \u2013 dance, song and poetry.<\/p>\n

In a struggle for identity recognition, the Amazigh people of Morocco and Algeria have been expressing thier cultural belonging through various art forms. Famous for their oral tradition, the Amazigh culture is rich in poetry, lullabies, songs of varying content, riddles, and enigmas. Looking primarily at Anglophone research work by Michael Peyron, Jane E. Goodman and Cynthia Becker<\/a>, a picture of a distinct performative tradition arises notwithstanding the fact that all forms of expression discussed are subject to regional and situational variations. This research work should provide an insight into the changing scene of Amazigh poetry, as well as performance arts of the Kabyle people in Algeria and the Ait Khabbash tribe in Morocco, without necessarily holding them against each other in comparison. It shall demonstrate how traditional arts are an expression of identity and cultural belonging and shine light on usage of performance and song to struggle for the recognition of identity.<\/p>\n

Michael Peyron<\/a>, former professor of Amazigh History and Culture at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco is a connoisseur of Amazigh poetry and song. He describes the change of meaning Amazigh poetry has undergone:<\/p>\n

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\u201cFrom what used to be a mainstream oral literature genre in late-19th<\/sup> century Morocco, popular Tamazight poetry together with ballad-style epic and religious verse have, barely a hundred years later, definitely become an archetypal form of minority expression<\/i>.\u201d <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

His observation is a sign for the struggle of identity recognition of the Amazigh amongst the Arab-Islamic society. Often viewed as less cultured by the growing urban population, Amazigh people from the villages have resorted to expressing their resentment through poetry, recalling the \u201cstirring achievements of their heroes, both during the resistance phase and in earlier centuries\u201d <\/i>. As Katherine Hoffman notes, the Ishelhin \u2013 the Amazigh people from the South-West of Morocco \u2013 use language differently in conversational speech than they do in poetic speech. A lot of value is thus given to poetic expression. Interestingly enough, the richness in expressions of poetic language has been preserved and continued in tradition\u00a0 <\/span>\u2013 a tradition mainly carried on by women who are endowed with passing down culture and tradition.<\/p>\n

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Cynthia Becker\u2019s extensive research on the role of women in Amazigh arts focuses specifically on the Amazigh from the Ait Khabbash tribe in Morocco. Her observations of the ahidous<\/i><\/b> <\/a>dance can be seen in the light of the earlier given framework of identity. Becker defines ahidous<\/i> <\/b>as a \u201ccollective performance at weddings and other celebrations that incorporate oral poetry\u201d<\/i>. <\/i> This type of performance exists in many Amazigh groups, however varying in rhythm, steps, clothing and song techniques from group to group. She takes as an example the Ait Khabbash in comparison to the Imazighen of the High Atlas mountains; While the performances of the Ait Khabbash are initiated by men forming a line, women joining them in a parallel line facing the men, the performance of the Imazighen is organized in one line with men and women standing next to each other. This comparison makes clear that even though a group might identify with a vast culture in the anthropological sense, there are smaller entities of cultures that might have a tighter identity definition. In other words, the concept of belonging to a bigger entity of culture can be empowering \u2013 personally and politically, however it might also be less tangible due to little contact with members of the whole ethnic community.<\/p>\n