Music of Mauritania
Encyclopedia
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, are then considered to own the recording.
called the tidinit and the woman's kora
-like ardin
. Percussion instrument
s include the tbal (a kettle drum) and daghumma (a rattle
).
Music progresses through five mode
s (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.
. 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 social activist.
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...
comes predominantly from the country's largest ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
: the Moors
Moors
The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...
. 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, are then considered to own the recording.
Instruments
Traditional instruments include an hourglass-shaped four-stringed luteLute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
called the tidinit and the woman's kora
Kora (instrument)
The kora is a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa.-Description:A kora is built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator, and has a notched bridge. It does not fit well into any one category of western instruments and would have to be...
-like ardin
Ardin
Ardin is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in the Poitou-Charentes region in western France.-References:*...
. Percussion instrument
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
s include the tbal (a kettle drum) and daghumma (a rattle
Rattle (percussion)
A rattle is a percussion instrument. It consists of a hollow body filled with small uniform solid objects, like sand or nuts. Rhythmical shaking of this instrument produces repetitive, rather dry timbre noises. In some kinds of music, a rattle assumes the role of the metronome, as an alternative to...
).
Types of Mauritanian music
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 HaratinHaratinHaratin are oasis-dwellers in the Sahara, especially in southern Morocco and Mauritania, who make up a socially and ethnically distinct group of largely sedentary dark colored workers speaking either Berber or Arabic...
(Moors of Sub-Saharan stock) - l'-gnaydiya - the mixed or "spotted" way
Music progresses through five mode
Musical mode
In the theory of Western music since the ninth century, mode generally refers to a type of scale. This usage, still the most common in recent years, reflects a tradition dating to the middle ages, itself inspired by the theory of ancient Greek music.The word encompasses several additional...
s (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
Afterlife
The afterlife is the belief that a part of, or essence of, or soul of an individual, which carries with it and confers personal identity, survives the death of the body of this world and this lifetime, by natural or supernatural means, in contrast to the belief in eternal...
). 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
In spite of the rarity of female musicians in Mauritania, the most famous Moorish musician is a woman, Dimi Mint AbbaDimi Mint Abba
Dimi Mint Abba was Mauritania's most famous musician. She was born Loula Bint Siddaty Ould Abba in 1958 into a low-caste family specializing in the griot tradition.-Life and career:...
. 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
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
.
Another popular female musician is Malouma, who is also a respected social activist.
External links
- Mauritanian audio clips. French National Library. Accessed November 26, 2010.
- The Voice of America African Music Treasures: Music of Mauritania: Part One (23 January 2008) and Music of Mauritania: Part Two (25 June 2008).
- Audio clip (120 minutes): Mauritania - the Festival of Nomad Music. BBC Radio 3. Accessed on November 25, 2010.