3rd Diwan Festival, Algiers

[Al-khiyal]

Diwan Festival spotlights African musical traditions

July 19, 2010 -- Sporting cheches, djellabas and multi-coloured tunics, lovers of Gnaoua music are flocking to the Diwan Festival to hear stars including Mali's Oumou Sangare, Burkina Faso's Bebey Prince Bissongo and Mustapha Bakbou from Morocco. "It's good to return to one's African roots and experience this entrancing music up close," festival-goer Narimane told Magharebia. "The organisers did a good job this year", said Mourad Bersali, 23. "The first good point was cutting ticket prices from 400 dinars to 200 dinars, which encourages more people to enjoy the music." The event, the third of its kind, began on Thursday (July 15th) in Riadh El Feth's Theatre de Verdure and will run until July 20th. Also scheduled to perform are Woz Kaly (Senegal), Tinariwen (Mali) and prize-winning Algerian artists including Ouled Haussa (Bechar), Dar El Bahri Ousfane (Constantine) and Noudjoum Eddiwane (Sidi Bel Abbes). "These groups will represent Algeria," said festival commissioner Lakhdar Fellahi. "Our inclusion of them in this festival is a way of promoting them and enabling them to rub shoulders with international artists."

Right from the first evening, the Theatre de Verdure was packed with fans of music rooted in the country's southern region and beyond. Opening performers included Malian songstress Oumou Sangare, who wowed the crowd with Wassoulou music conveying a message of peace and reconciliation. The UNESCO-award winning singer is also an advocate for women's rights and agricultural development. "I am proud to be in Algeria. Africa is rich. We need to meet so that we can finally wake up. When Africa wakes up, the whole world will know it," she declared to thunderous applause. On the same stage, the young members of Ouled Haussa played karkabous and the gumbri while chanting words handed down through Gnaoui tradition. "We were tempted to simplify the words of Gnaoua. We take all of our words from our heritage,"said Aissa Soudani, adding that Ouled Haussa's next album will appear in early 2011.

The festival also features conferences on topics such as "The Music and Oral Traditions of Africa". "There will be, for instance, a conference on the rite known as nechra in Constantine," said Fellahi. "This dance leads to a trance during which the dancers pierce their cheeks with needles or swallow knives. This phenomenon can't be explained, but its heritage goes back more than four centuries." Film is also a big part of the festival, with screenings of documentaries such as Bled musique à l'usine (Bled music at the factory) by Samia Chala and Sid Ahmed Semiane, L'Afrique danse et Alger rit (Africa dances and Algiers laughs) by Ali Akika and Transes gnaouas, un rituel de guerison à Essaouira (Gnaoui trances, a healing ritual in Essaouira) by Eliane Azoulay. Algeria has a tradition of celebrating Gnaoua music through local and international festivals. According to Nigerian musician Mamar Kassey, Gnaoua comes "from the depths of Africa".

[Al-khiyal]

Moroccan music takes spotlight in Algiers festival

July 25, 2010 -- Algerian songs and Moroccan Gnaoua blended into one in Algiers on a summer evening at the third Diwan Festival of Music. Mustapha Bakbou from Marrakech played the gambri and sang odes in praise of God. The group Atri N'assouf, stars of the Algerian desert, added Targui rhythms to the mix. During the last few evenings of the six-day Diwan festival, which ended July 20th in the Algerian capital, audiences also had an opportunity to discover Moroccan performer Mustapha Bakbou, who brought them back to the roots of Gnaoua music. "Right from the first few notes," said 28-year-old Rym Rahmouni, "you realise the difference between Algerian and Moroccan Gnaoua." She added that it was only a few minutes before she hit the dance floor.

Spectators said they were enchanted by the artist, who learned Gnaoua with his father and brother and is descended from a Marrakchi family that has kept the ancient tradition of tagnaouite alive. He is a member of the famous group Jil Jilala, and was part of the folk music movement of the 1970s. He has performed on numerous stages in America, China and Europe. Fans of Gnaoua music were treated to a variety of classics from the genre. In unison, they joined in with songs performed by maalem Mustapha Bakbou such as "Ya rassoul ellah a daouini daouini" ("O Prophet Mohammed, Heal Me") and "Msafer ellil" ("O Ye Who Travel at Night"). Mourad, an IT worker, told Magharebia he feels that the people of Morocco and Algeria form one nation. "Setting the different musical arrangements aside, these same lyrics are sung in Algeria," he said.

On July 21st, fans were offered a gambri workshop that gave them an opportunity to try their hand at the craft. Gnaoua music is held in very high regard in Algeria. The group known as Dar el Bahri Ousfane from Constantine likewise wanted to get back to the basic values of Diwan. "We've been around for 500 years," said group member Fouzi Kemiche-Zouaoui. "And we're faithful to the tradition of our tribe. We refuse to sing just any old thing; we don't want to go beyond the boundaries of our customs." He was critical in particular of commercial considerations, which he feels are detrimental to this highly spiritual music. "Nowadays, there is commercial Gnaoua and traditional Gnaoua," he underlined. "People who have lived in this atmosphere and have inherited the Gnaoua tradition remain attached to this culture – they can't do business with it."