The
music of
Mauritania
comes predominantly from the country's largest
ethnic group
: the
Moors
. In Moorish society musicians occupy the lowest caste,
iggawin
. Musicians from this caste used song to praise successful warriors as well as their patrons. Iggawin also had the traditional role of messengers, spreading news between villages. In modern Mauritania, professional musicians are paid by anybody to perform; affluent patrons sometimes record the entertainment, rather than the musicians themselves, and are then considered to own the recording.
Instruments
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Traditional instruments include an hourglass-shaped four-stringed
lute
called the
tidinit
and the woman's
kora
-like
ardin
.
Percussion instruments
include the
tbal
(a
kettle drum
) and
daghumma
(a
rattle
).
Types of Mauritanian music
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There are three "ways" to play music in the Mauritanian tradition:
- Al-bayda
- the white way, associated with delicate and refined music, and the
Bidan
(Moors of North African stock)
- Al-kahla
- the black way, associated with roots and masculine music, and the
Haratin
(Moors of Sub-Saharan stock)
- l'-gnaydiya
- the mixed or "spotted" way
Music progresses through five
modes
(a system with origins in
Arabic music
):
karr
,
fagu
(both black),
lakhal
,
labyad
(both white, and corresponding to a period of one's life or an emotion) and
lebtyat
(white, a spiritual mode relating to the
afterlife
). There are further submodes, making for a complicated system, one to which nearly all male musicians conform. Female musicians are rare and are not bound by the same set of rules.
Musicians
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In spite of the rarity of female musicians in Mauritania, the most famous Moorish musician is a woman,
Dimi Mint Abba
. Dimi's parents were both musicians (her father had been asked to compose the
Mauritanian national anthem
), and she began playing at an early age. Her professional career began in 1976, when she sang on the radio and then competed, the following year, in the
Umm Kulthum
Contest in
Tunis
.
Another popular female musician is
Malouma
, who is also a respected politician and social activist ("Desert of Eden," Shanachie Records [U.S.], 1998).
Another esteemed female musician is
Noura Mint Seymali
.
Mauritania has also rappers in the Hip-hop movement. Professional Hip-hop started in the late 2000s.
[1]
See also
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References
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]
- Muddyman, Dave. "Ways of the Moors". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.),
World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East
, pp 563?566. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.
ISBN
1-85828-636-0
External links
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]
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Sovereign states
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States with limited
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Dependencies and
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