Introduction
For centuries, oral literature in Tachelhit, Tarifit, Takbaylit, and Central Moroccan TamazightFootnote 1 dialects was the dominant form of cultural expression in Tamazight. The fall into disuse of the Tifinagh alphabet, which the Maghrebis used in ancient times, and the fact that until the independence of Algeria (July 5, 1962) and Morocco (March 2, 1956) the majority of Tamazight-speakers were illiterate precluded the emergence of a written literature in the Maghreb's oldest language. Regardless, Tamazight poetry encompasses a great variety of types, styles, authors, and themes. It includes lyric, narrative, ritual, and epic poems; poems that are short and simple, and others that are long and elaborate; poems of personal and of collective nature; village and professional, religious and secular poems. Like the written poetry in Arabic and in French, Tamazight poetry speaks of life's joys and sorrows, of unfulfilled love, homesickness, death, colonial repression, and the struggle against European imperialism. It also often invokes God and asks for his compassion and forgiveness.
Unlike written poetry, however, much Tamazight poetry was meant to be sung to drums or other musical instruments in the presence of an audience, especially at festivals called ihidousen (sg. ahidous) in the Middle and High Atlases, ihwachen (sg. ahwach) in the Anti-Atlas and the Souss Valley, and women's gatherings called ourar in the Djudjura Mountains of the Tell Atlas in Algeria. Audiences often participate in the performances by handclapping and/or dancing while repeating the same words or phrases over and over. Also, unlike written poetry, Tamazight poetry used to be an integral part of the life of the community. It served as an educational instrument to transmit the group's history, standards of conduct, and religious beliefs to the youth, to raise morale during war, to entertain, or simply to ease the burden of daily chores such as working in the fields, child rearing, weaving, cleaning, and cooking.
Several scholars highlighted the complexity of classifying Tamazigh poetry.Footnote 2 The different Tamazight-speaking groups distinguish the types and styles of their poetry on the grounds of length, theme, occasion, style of delivery, or even, as in the case of izli (pl. izlan) and tamawayt (pl. timawayin) of Central Morocco, whether they are sung by an individual or a group. However, the categories are loosely defined and include subcategories. The types often overlap within and across dialects in many regards such as structure, performance mode, and theme. Thus, the couplet izli, which predominates in Central Moroccan Tamazight, becomes a tamawayt when sung solo and in a fast rhythm and an ahllel (pl. ihlallen) when it has a religious content. It also enters into the composition of longer and elaborate timedyazin (sg. tamedyazt). Across the dialects, from a formal point of view the Amazigh izli, the Rifan izri (pl. izran), and the Chalhi tahwacht (pl. tihwachin), are equivalent; they are concise and fairly simple in construction couplets. They differ in the manner in which they are performed: while izlan and izran are sung by men and women together in Central Morocco and in the Rif region, tihwachin are sung exclusively by women in the Anti Atlas and by men in the Souss valley. Furthermore, devotional poems are called tiqsidin (sg. taqsidt) and love poems izlan in both Tachelhit and Takbaylit even though the structures of the poems are different; poems in Takbaylit are often well structured, with set numbers of rhymed lines and syllables. Finally in all the groups there are professional poets called imedyazen (sg. amedyaz) in Tarifit and Central Moroccan Tamazight, rrways (sg. rais) in Tachelhit, and imaddahan (sg. amaddah) and ifsihan (sg. afsih) in Takbaylit. While there are marked differences between the literary styles of the different Tamazight-speaking groups, they nevertheless share many qualities.
The following highlights the major characteristics of traditional Amazigh poetry, with an indication of the types of that poetry, emphasizing their similarities and differences; and offers a representative selection of Tachelhit, Takbaylit, Central Moroccan Tamazight, and Tarifit poems. Due to the magnitude of the material, the selections are representative, but, obviously, not exhaustive.
Tachelhit (Moroccan Anti Atlas and Souss Valley)
The most important genres of poetry in Tachelhit are amarg, tahwacht, aqsid, and lqsit.
1 Amarg
Amarg is sometimes used to refer to poetry in general and sometimes to love poetry. Most often, however, it stands for poetry whose authors are known. The most prominent tachelhit authors of amarg are undoubtedly, Sidi Hamou Ettaleb (1706-1789) and Mririda n'ait Attiq (c.1900 - c.1940s).
1.2: Hamou Ettaleb
Famously known as babn'umarg, “the poetry master,” Sidi Hamou Ettaleb was one of the most celebrated Tachelhit poets. Little is known about him except that he was a beloved itinerant poet and singer who was versed in the Koran, hadith, and Islamic jurisprudence. He composed poems about the whole range of human experience: love, marriage, virtues and vices, friendship, family, money, society, politics, morality, reason, and happiness. He also wrote about the afterlife. His poems are characterized by precise imagery; they are also concise and to the point. Here are four of his most gripping and powerful compositions:
In the first, the speaker is so infatuated with his beloved's beauty that he thinks her birth can only be the result of heavenly intervention; some saint must have interceded with God on behalf of her parents:
O Fatima! What saint did your father and mother visit?
When you were born both the sky and the earth shimmered.Footnote 3
In the second poem, he describes the pain of not knowing if one's love for someone is reciprocal or not:
The disease that crushes the bones and tears the heart
is the much-loved who does not say either “I love you” or “I don't love you.”Footnote 4
The third is a not-so-veiled critique of the powers that be:
Thank God in the afterlife there is no cadi [judge], no cheikh [ruler], and no morabit [cleric].Footnote 5
Finally in the following poem the speaker expresses his anguish that he may die without expressing in words and in deeds his gratitude to those who aided him in times of dire need:
Do not take me, O angel of death
until I give back wheat to those who were generous enough to lend me barley.Footnote 6
1.3: Mririda n'ait Attiq
Tachelhit's other grand bard, Mririda n'ait Attiq (c.1900 – c.1940s), was a poet of a character quite different from that of Ettaleb. Her poetry is wounded and intensely personal; she composed a great deal about the hardships she suffered throughout her life, her disappointments, and her unfulfilled love as is shown in the following:
Mririda also faced up to the hard facts of life: injustice, inequality, poverty, and women's deplorable condition. Moreover, she was not afraid to denounce loud and clear the rich and the local rulers who sometimes abused their authority and power to intimidate and treat people in a harsh and dishonorable manner:
Still, despite the sorrow she carried in her heart, Mririda had her stoic side and saw her misfortunes and those of the poor and underprivileged as part of the larger workings of fate as she expresses in the following:
While maintaining that everything that happens is predestined, Mririda, nevertheless, ends her poem with the expression of her conviction that a person's destiny is a part of God's design and may serve some greater purpose in ways humans cannot understand:
2 Tihwachin
While the previous genres of poetry are composed by professional poets, tihwachin (sg. tahwacht), another major type of Tachelhit poetry, is also popular and is synonymous with song. Tihwachin are generally brief, and they begin without introduction or exposition. They are sometimes tercets but most of the time couplets repeated over and over in a fast rhythm when sung. Two typical illustrations of tahwacht are the following that warn against the danger of pride and arrogance:
And:
In addition to the danger of pride and arrogance, tihwachin often deal with the ephemeral quality of life and humanity's inevitable doom:
3 Aqsid
Another prominent Tachalhit poetic genre is aqsid (pl. iqsiden). It is the equivalent of Central Moroccan Tamazight's tamedyazt and Takbaylit's asefrou (pl. isefra); it is the domain of seasoned poets. While tihwachin are often composed in a lyric style in the shape of brief songs and love poems, aqsid is a demanding form of poetry that tackles reflective themes and uses stricter structures. It is characterized by a slow rhythm and complex language and imagery. A poem in which these qualities merge is the following in which the poet grieves over his being away from home. Consumed with guilt and remorse, he asks the land of his birth for forgiveness:
4 Lqist
From Arabic qissa (story), lqist refers to narrative poetry in Tachlhit. There are lqisatin (pl.) on themes as varied as fables, adventures, and the lives of the prophets Mohamed, Abraham, Moses, and Joseph, describing their birth, growth, exploits, or death. Lqist adventures are based on real people but are partly fictional. A famous example of lqist is the story of Yemna Mansour:
Central Moroccan Tamazight (Moroccan High and Middle Atlases)
1 Izli
Poetry in Central Moroccan Tamazight is marked by a couplet called izli (pl. izlan) of about fifteen syllables. Other genres no less important include tamawayt (pl. timawayin), ahllel (pl. ahllilen), and tamedyazt (pl. timedyazin). The two lines of izlan are composed of two hemistiches each and include internal, or external rhymes, or both. Izlan are the basic form of poetry in Central Moroccan Tamazight; they enter into the composition of all the other forms.Footnote 16 They combine visual images with strong yet subtle meanings as is clear from the following anonymous poems:
Even though love and loss are the main motives of izli composers, they did not turn their backs on the tragic events taking place around them. The following poem expresses vividly the deep sorrow and affliction a poet feels about the suffering of his people after they were defeated by the enemy:
Still, the Imazighen remain defiant:
In addition to love and protest izlan, such as the above, there are occupational izlan to accompany harvesting, fulling, sheep shearing, etc.; lullaby izlan; izlan for rogatory prayers; as well as izlan for weddings and other celebrations.Footnote 23 Izlan are also performed in festivals called ihidousen (sg. ahidous) in which, standing elbow to elbow, men and women swing back and forth rhythmically, repeating the same poem again and again, accompanied by the sound of drums called bendir.
2 Tamawayt
Tamawayt (pl. timawayin), literally “the one that is carried along” or “that keeps company” is formally equivalent to izli; both are short and fairly simple in construction. Timawayin are cries from the heart; they are laments and distress calls of people who feel lonely to ease their pain.Footnote 24 They are usually sung in a high-pitched voice. Below are examples of tamawayt:
3 Tamedyazt
Tamedyazt (pl. timedyazin), sometimes called tanshat or tayfat stands for poetry composed and performed by professional poets called imedyazen. It is often moralistic. Timedyazin are longer than izlan and are usually responses to current events and daily life hassles. To become an amedyaz is a difficult and lengthy process.Footnote 28 Imedyazen are the conscience of their communities: they relay information from one area to another and serve as educators and social critics.Footnote 29 In addition to love, and life's joys and sorrows, the themes that especially concern them are injustice, corruption, emigration, unemployment, the erosion of tradition, and the decline of morality.Footnote 30 Their critiques are often acerbic. Timedyazin always start with an invocation such as the following:
Below is a tamedyazt about love:
And here is a tamedyazt in which the poet comments on current political events:
3.1 Taougrart
Taougrat Oult Aissa stood above all the other imedyazen in imaginative power, emotional range, and courage. Her independent spirit, talent, and anti-colonialist stance made her the bête noire of the French authorities as well as the Makhzen (the monarchical military and political apparatus of Morocco) and excited the envy of many who spread malicious gossip about her.
In the following poem, she describes the brutality Moroccans suffered in the early twentieth century at the hands of invading Spaniards and French. She chastises those among her countrymen who shrug with indifference at the human misery around them and the terrible events that shake the world:
She also exposes the sinister role played by those who bowed to the enemy:
As well as the obsequious people whose conversations revolved around the rulers:
To shame the men who would not stand up to the enemy, the poet urges women to fight for national liberation and independence despite their inability to combat forces that are much more powerful:
And vows to keep fighting:
Throughout, her poetry highlights themes of courage, integrity, and pride, despite adversity:
Of particular poignancy is the poem where Taougrat felt humiliated to the depth of her being and stripped of dignity at seeing her countrymen drawn to the enemy by abject poverty and misery. She cries out:
Takbaylit (Algerian Tell Atlas)
1 Asefrou
In Takbaylit, asefrou (sg.isefra) is used to refer to poetry in general. It also refers to a particular well-structured form made of three stanzas of three lines each, according to the following pattern:
Second stanza:
Third stanza:
Some traditional isefra are meant to entertain but most are didactic. Indeed, poets were seen less as creators than as the repositories of shared wisdom. Their function was to keep tradition alive and make explicit and clear what is already known by everyone but in an incomplete, fragmented, and often in a confused manner. To compose poetry, sefrou, means to untangle, to explain difficult situations and, ultimately, to clarify.
In addition to their social functions and contents, oral poems in Takbaylit differ in their methods of delivery: didactic poems, often of anonymous origins, used to be recited by professionals who travelled from village to village and market to market. They were called imaddahen in opposition to ifsihen who were fewer and who were capable of both reciting and composing poems. Imaddahen – who no longer exist – enjoyed a prominent and respectable position in society: they participated in assemblies and were consulted on difficult situations.
The most outstanding masters of age-old Takbaylit poetic art are Cheikh Mohand ou Lhocine (1836-1901), Mhand ou Mhand (1848-1905) and Lbachir Amellah (1861-1930), whose immortal poems are characterized by the depth of content and great technical perfections. Of all the Takbaylit-speaking poets, however, none has displayed more mastery of asefrou than Ou Mhand and Amellah. Here is one of Ou Mhand's most celebrated isefra:
Besides isfra, there are three other types of poems in Takbaylit: devotional poems called adhekker and tiqsidin, love poems called izlan, and other secular poems. Each type has its own form. Nevertheless, there are devotional isefra, love isfra, as well as isfra about other topics such as war and emigration; what makes an asfrou is its form rather than its content.
A good example of a devotional asefrou is the following:
Here is a love asefrou:
Finally here is an asfru denouncing the brutality of the colonial power and its nefarious consequences:
2 Adhekker
As is clear from the above, a major characteristic of oral poetry in Takbaylit is its religiosity, even when it is not primarily devotional. There are, however, poems in Takbaylit that are specifically religious. Religious poems in Takbaylit are of three kinds: devotional and mystical poems (adhekker), hagiographic poems honoring and paying tribute to saints, and prophetic poems (tiqsidin) based on the lives of Mohamed, Abraham, Moses, and Joseph, describing their birth, growth, exploits, or death. Adhekker refers to both a ritual and the religious and mystical poems that accompany it and often includes tiksidin. While hagiographic and prophetic poems are recited by imaddahen, devotional and mystical poems are sung mainly by members of religious brotherhoods called lakhouan and also by choirs of laymen and women during funerals and on the occasion of pilgrimages to shrines of saints called lawliya. Sometimes adhekker consists in of short lines invoking God and the Day of Judgment, repeated in chorus and punctuated by the repetition of the name of God; some other times it consists mainly in the praise of the Prophet and the invocation of his aid, protection, and blessing as in the following:
Another representative devotional poem is the following:
3 Izli
Unlike isefra, izlan (sg. izli), another prominent type of poetry in Takbaylit, do not follow strict conventions of form and style as seen above. They are love songs performed by women in the presence of exclusively feminine audiences, often at parties called ourar. Due to their intimate nature, izlan rarely find their way to the public space.
Here are two powerful izlan where the speakers grieve over their loneliness suggested by “island” and “high hill” and give vent to their deep longing for love:
4 Other secular poems
Other secular poems in Takbaylit often accompany celebrations of births and weddings and chores like plowing, picking olives, and harvesting during which God is also invoked. To the category of secular poems also belong satirical poems meant to criticize or disgrace an individual or a group; elocutionary poems, not principally concerned with conveying messages as much as with displaying a poet's artistic prowess; and finally epic poems praising the feats of warriors, relating the wars between villages, and singing the glory and the misfortunes of the country. The poem “Tuksaa n Lzayer” (The Conquest of Algiers) by Al Hadj Ammar ou al Hadj about the fall of Algiers on July 5, 1830, and its disastrous consequences for Algerians is one of the most representative examples of epic poetry in Takbaylit. Here is an excerpt from it:
Tarifit (Moroccan Rif Region)
1 Izri
Izri (pl. izran) is the longest enduring and most popular form of poetry in the Rif region. Izran are made up of two lines. Each of them is around twelve syllables long, although some have only nine and others as many as twelve. The theme of izran is often love, the joys and torments of which are expressed in frank and powerful language as the following poems show:
Women often say izran to express in a subtle way their love and grief and, on occasion, to dissuade young men who already successfully asked for their hands from going ahead with the wedding. The speaker of the following poem finds the perfect words to discourage a suitor who already has the blessing of her father:
It used to be the custom in the Rif region for young men to present the fathers of the girls they want to marry with a number of loaves of sugar when they ask for their hands. If the father breaks one of the loaves to make tea; that means he accepts the young man as his future son-in-law; if he politely returns the sugar or uses his own, that means he does not.Footnote 57
2 Epic Rifan poems
From 1921 to 1926 the Rifans fought the occupying Spaniards (joined by the French in 1924). They wrote many poems – made of izran – about the battles of Tazagzawt, Badou, and Boughafer, as well as about the leaders of the resistance such as Bouhmara (Jilali ben Driss al-Youssefi al-Zerhouni, 1860-1909) and Mohamed Cherif Ameziane (1859-1912). Below is an excerpt from one such poem in honor of the latter:
However, the Rifan epic that is still recited and read today, undoubtedly the most famous, is Dar UbarranFootnote 59, which praises Mohamed ben Abdelkrim El Khattabi (1882-1963). The victorious hero of several battles against the Spaniards and the French, El Khattabi symbolizes the Moroccan struggle against European imperialism and his exploits stirred the patriotic spirit of many Maghrebis. They also earned him the respect and admiration of revolutionary leaders all over the world, notably Mao Zedong and Che Guevara who applied his guerilla techniques in the field.Footnote 60 There is no single author of Dar Ubarran, nor is there any standard version of it. Professional poets known as imedyazen have adapted it to fit different audiences and circumstances. Here are few lines from it:
Conclusion
More than any other literary genre, poetry most closely reflects the soul of peoples. Taken together, the poems included in this article and translated into English for the first time offer an intimate insight into Tamazight speakers' response to the world, their beliefs, dreams, fears, and deepest longings. They are the voice of the Maghreb singing in joy and sorrow. Thanks to the pioneers who collected and transcribed them and saved them from oblivion and to the new generation of writers and scholars, traditional poems in Tamazight have now taken their rightful place in Maghrebi literature.
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