- Title: MOROCCO-AMAZIGH MUSIC Timitar Festival celebrates Amazigh culture in Morocco
- Date: 26th July 2015
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SINGER, RAYSSA FATIMA TIHIHIT, SAYING: "The Amazigh art never dies. It will stay alive for generations and generations. This art is well welcomed in all countries we visited because it has its own rhythms and music. It attracts even people who don't know the Amazigh language that we use when we sing."
- Embargoed: 10th August 2015 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Morocco
- Country: Morocco
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA5MDHBX14H7MS88B3J5IZ1E26C
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of spectators flocked to the Moroccan seaside resort of Agadir where the twelfth Timitar Festival highlighted Amazigh music, along with international singers and bands who were also invited to perform at this year's festival.
The annual festival features the music of Amazigh or "Free Ones", also known as Berbers, who inhabited north Africa for thousands of years before the Arabs brought Islam to the region in the seventh century.
Khalid Bazid, the director of the festival, said the goal is to embrace the Amazigh culture and bring a sense of pride for the Amazigh people.
"It (the festival) is a message to show that as Amazigh, we are very very proud of our culture and what we are. We are proud to be Moroccans, Tunisians, or of any other citizenship. Our identity does not change because of our citizenship. We are all patriots, we love our countries, and we are very very proud. We should hold our heads high and walk with pride to defend our culture,'' he said.
Among the performers was Rayssa Fatima Tihihit, a singer sings in the Amazigh language.
"The Amazigh art never dies. It will stay alive for generations and generations. This art is well welcomed in all countries we visited because it has its own rhythms and music. It attracts even people who don't know the Amazigh language that we use when we sing," Tihihit said.
Among the other famous artists who performed at this year's Timitar festival was Malian singer, Vieux Farka Toure, and Lebanese singer Diana Haddad.
"There are a lot of things that happened and that could not be forgotten. That is certain. As we say all the time, we can forgive but not forget. Really, I think that people must forgive each other even if they could not forget. They must get together and say what happened happened, let's look forward to the future," Toure said referring to the situation in his native Mali where Islamist fighters seized Mali's desert north after a Tuareg uprising in 2012, but was ousted by a French military operation a year later.
Lebanese singer Diana Haddad spoke of the importance and influence of Moroccan music within the region.
"Moroccan music has a deep and an impressive impact, especially now. The proof is that this music as well as Moroccan singers are becoming very popular in the Arab World, mainly in the Gulf. Why? Because there is a similarity in the rhythms. The Moroccan rhythm is now well known. It is a strong one and we use it in more than one song," Haddad said.
But this year's event didn't only focus on Amazigh and Arab beats, Spanish Flamenco performers also took to the stage, with dancers showing off their rhythmic skills.
For many years Amazigh culture was marginalized in the Arabic-speaking countries of North Africa including Morocco.
Many in the Arabic-speaking middle class that led Morocco to independence in 1956 saw attempts to promote Amazigh language and culture as a threat to national unity.
But today, the reformed Moroccan constitution, ratified in June 2012, recognises the country's multi-ethnic identity, and recognises the Amazigh language, Tamazight as an official language alongside Arabic. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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