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FROM THE BACKSTAGE OF BAND:

BORDER CROSSING AND TRANSNATIONAL CULTURAL ASPECTS IN CONTEMPORARY TUAREG MUSIC HISTORY

The history of Tuareg music, its style, its poetry, and its recent evolutions both represent and express the historical fracture and the socio‐economical upheavals born out of the advent of post‐colonial States. Current relationships between geography, music, and politics in the Tuareg region of Central illustrate the multiple migratory processes of the Tuaregs. Independence deeply affected the economical and political geographies of Tuareg groups in Northern and Northern , those furthest from the new centralized political powers. In their vast territories split between five States (Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and ), the Tuaregs became outlying minorities coming under different policies from their respective authorities: in Algeria and Libya, they are integrated via assimilation policies of national citizenry, while in Mali and Niger they are kept out of post‐decolonisation transition policies and different national logics according to the region concerned. To this stato‐territorial analysis, was added a complex diasporic process of which the ishumar music is a testimony with regard to its migrations and evolutions to an intra‐saharan scale. It takes on an original trans‐national cultural value when viewed in its current cross‐border set out.

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Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress. Line of Argument / issues What are the issues and theoretical questions raised by relationships between national borders, music and the formation of transnationalism among Tuaregs today? We put forward the hypothesis that, after independence, contemporary (postcolonial) Tuareg society has become one of the largest transnational societies in sahel‐saharian Africa. The process in particularly is obvious in the historical developments or the ishumar music, whom Tinariwen Band has been a symbol, and its complex territorial dynamics. We will try to show how his musical culture is defined by its territorial, sociological and performativ fitting in the transnational, intra‐saharian, networks of the Tuaregs of Mali and Niger from the Algerian and Libyan South. The transversal aim of this paper is also to make a distinction between building of the Tuareg transnationalism and disporic process of some groups, to set apart the various strata currently covered by the word transnational for the Tuaregs today. Our line of argument is based on the following focus: - Through their historicisation, we shall try to describe the migratory processes that lead to this transnational culture. Within the diversity of theses migratory phenomena, we shall note and discuss the particular diasporic dimension of the Malian Kel Adar. - Through an anthropological analysis of their music (as a performancial process of poetic production). - Through specific mobility practices of the ishumar, we shall illustrate some aspects of their transnational culture. Here, we shall mainly draw on an analysis of how the music circulates. - Historicisation of the historical process of the emergence of this music. - Outlining (mapping) these networks and mobility. - These networks currently form a relatively all round meshing connecting all various locations in their territory. Postcolonial migratory phenomena of the Tuaregs cannot easily be encompassed in one typology. Their description and analysis show a superimposition of multiple processes: - Political, economical and climatic migrations - various cross‐border practices (bi‐ter), - « illegal » cross‐border mobility, - non migratory transsaharian or cross‐border circulation - motivated mobility within their social or family networks encompassing several national territories. 2

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- Diasporic process concerning Kel Adar group.

Tinariwen songs in the Tuareg nationalist movement and in the emerging process of a Tuareg transnational society

The history of the Tinariwen band speaks volumes concerning current Tuareg mobility’s and their relationaships to post‐colonial territoriality. Their history is rooted in the border area between Mali and Algeria, between and Timyawin. Both villages are small distant1 across the Algerian border town of Timyawin downstream of the Tessalit wadi, from Tessalit south‐eastward in Mali. All Tessalit inhabitants have long been in contact with those of Timyawin: this is the area of the Irregenaten tribe and their traditional area of nomadisation.

Inteyeden from Timyawin and Ibrahim from Tessalit were brought up together in Timyawin, have known each other since childhood; they were to be guitarists leaders of Tinariwen. During the bloody 1963 suppression in Mali, the northern Kel Adar crossed into Algeria. As a child, Ibrahim ag El Habib, who was to be the guitarist leader of Tinariwen, scratched its first chords on the “guitare‐bidon” (can guitar) in Timyawin where he took refuge with his sister and his uncle after his father was assassinated and his family properties destroyed by the army in 1964. Their musical adventures will definitely seal their friendship and embark them on an extraordinary cultural adventure of the Tinariwen band. They belong to the first ishumar generation, born at the time of the independences and their songs make its social chronicles for two decades. Between the 60s and 70s, more than 50 % of Kel Adar groups flew to the Ahaggar in Algeria bringing with them many orphans. Family dispersal and social marginalisation are some of the consequences of this diasporic movement.

This historical fracture was the start of cultural and identity reconstructions for the post independence Adar Tuaregs in particular and for many Malians and nigeriens Tuaregs in particular. It forced on them a new kind of mobility so far unknown within the very ancient tradition of mobility. This was the time of the exodus, on foot, towards Southern Algeria for these nomads fleeing the army after losing their livestock in the droughts of 1968‐1974. In small groups, they walked to Tamanrasset with only a five‐litre water can to brave 700 km to the Hoggar Wilaya. This is the “can

1 80 km environ. 3

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Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress. road” as the first Ishumar call it then2. Successive waves of young men left home and started a new adventurous way of life, faced with hostile authorities and state borders depriving them of any citizenship. Consequently, they crossed these borders illegally or, as they say in French, “en fraude” [afrod]. When included in their vocabulary, “afrod” has been referring to various smuggling cross‐ borders activities. They started smuggling on foot, as a kind of subsistence economy during the droughts of the 80s, in dangerous conditions (Ag Ahar, 1990). At the time, the word ashamur referred to various exclusion forms of citizenry and education, shared by all Tuaregs, in Mali as well as in Niger, as mentioned in these verses: “[On the road to exile] We have no [nationality] papers, no education [litt. books] other than our amulets3. This particular diasporic movement reached the southern Tuareg general migrations mixing economic and political factors in the context of a difficult and long lasting post‐colonial transition of the Tuareg groups living at the periphery of the new states following the colonial era. From the 1970s on up to the 80s, a series of political and economic factors, including droughts, brought about new migration waves originating from the Azawaŕ valley and Tamesna (Niger and Mali), Aïr (Niger) and Adar (Mali).4 The Tuareg political movement and 90s emerged from this postcolonial process by the end of the 70s (Boilley 1999; Lecocq, 2002) based on the teshumara social mouvement of mixed malian and nigerien tuareg youth. The Kel Adar brought with them their poetical and musical traditions and turned them in a creative process in an urban context, between the modern instrumental tone of the guitar and the vocal melodic repertoire of the rural female drum. It constituted the point of their musical innovation and appeared as a musical revolution and a support of teshumara identification. Tinariwen Band born in the late 70’s, emerge in this particular musical and social background made up of mixed urban tinde, “can‐guitar” and women refugee’s poetry:

Oh mother! Since I left for Libya persevering,

I finally arrived! But I cannot settle in no way

2 Sing., ashamur or shumera, plur. ishumar. From the French [chômeur] (unemployed person) a word used during the South Algerian exile as early as the end of the 60s Cf. Claudot‐Hawad, 3 “Wer legh elkad faw iktaben /Kunta weddegh i ishraden”. 4 Most Tuareg groups were affected at one time or another by political exile, by seasonal labour migration or by droughts. The pastoral economy was distressed by two extreme droughts (1968‐1974 and 1984‐1986). Most nomad families took refuge in urban centres, where shanty areas popped up and became de facto ghettos for destitute refugees around Arlit, Niamey, , Agadez, Tamanrasset, and on the border posts between Algeria, Mali and Niger. Young men, for their part, mostly from Kel Adar(Mali), Kel Aïr or Kel Azawaŕ (Niger), migrated into an informal exodus circumscribed to convergent cities (Tamanrasset, Ŕat, Sebha, Sebha, Ubari) of the Tuareg regions in the Southern Algeria and Southern Libya. 4

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I search for the necessary money through all means

But it desperately refuses to accumulate […]5

As a reformulation of the traditional rural tinde (female drum and ), it represented a cultural reproduction value in this social crisis context. The guitar tuareg music was performed in parties (zahuten) also became a strong anchoring point for mobile and flexible youths in their travels and activities. They also represented a forum for free speech and debates on the Tuareg’s situation in their countries or among exile communities. Teshumara, as a social and cultural group and belongings, developed itself upon new solidarities, outside lineage affiliations, because ishumar had to solve basic problems such as housing, job opportunities, illegal mobility, mutual financial aid, and conveying information gleaned during their many trips between the various localities in their range. Cross border travels either in 4 wheel drives or by walk related to risk control typifies their clandestine mobility, connecting them to several identities, territories and strategies, which they call teshumara, as a substantive. The ishumar have been the link between the various tuareg diasporic communities, keeping in touch with their original groups and generating a wide network.

The Tinariwen band joined the Tuareg organization which was created in Libya, between 1978 and 1980. The leaders encouraged them and supplied them with guitar and equipment. Militant poets offered them several compositions that they turned into songs:

Friends hear and understand me You know, there is one country One goal, one religion And unity, hand in hand Friends, you know there is only one stake to which you fettered are And only unity can break it 6

They also perform many songs just telling about their feeling of oppression and their appeal to revolt: Youth of Sahara, we warn you

Do not believe that we are unable

5 Tinariwen, Aman Iman : Ahimana (track 4), 2008. 6 “Imidiwan segdet teslem”: 1978, Libyan period. One of the first tunes (Belalimat 1996) of Tinariwen band adapted from a poem of Intakhmuda Ag Sidi Mohamed (Klute, 2001). Transcription and translation in French: Belalimat 1996.Translation in English: Lecocq 2002. 5

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To reverse the procedure This new world, we are crushed there Because it woke up first I tell you, courage, courage, courage! Let us rise, do not to let the time escape us Together, let us rise and let us join up Please my brothers; let us unite in order to up rise7

Tinariwen tunes immediately became the musical cult of the tuareg nationalist movement and of all youth in exile both in Algeria and in Libya. It spread to the native regions of the migrants (Mali, Niger) thanks to tape recorders and cassettes, and to the underground strategies of mobility and diffusion. An intense phenomenon of tape duplication of the performances and the exchange of recordings developed among Ishumar. The power of alluding to the ashamur song at the time depended on several mechanisms such as the emphasis of the historic country (imidiwan win akal‐in / nak ezaghagh el‐ghurba), the allegory of the reinvested homeland (as‐Sawt el wahush), the permanent reaffirmation of social and family links beyond absence, the construction of political solidarities, the call for action, in an address fraternized on the “phatique” mode (Belalimat 2003):

I live in deserts [tinariwen] Where there are no trees and no shades Veiled friends, leave indigo [turban] and veil You should be in the desert Where the blood of kindred has been spilled That desert is our country [akal] and it is our future Kel Tamasheq [Tuaregs], how are you? Where ever I am, I think about you8

All these themes being performed through the narrator’s song subjectivity. Till the peace agreements in mid 90, the band performed as a flexible and mobile association serving the purpose of the tuareg political movement. The performances were motivated and connected to social and historic circumstances from the beginning (end 70s to mid 90s). One song relate directly to the main

7 Tinariwen, 1981. (from Belalimat, 1996) 8 Song from Tinariwen (1979). Translation in French (Belalimat 1996) and in English Lecocq 2002. 6

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Algerian expulsions cycle which occurred in 86 to push back Malians and Niger Tuaregs draught refuges from Tamanrrasset to borders Malian and Nigerien border posts9:

Friends, listen to me I will tell the truth till you hear it The expulsions you are the victims of are hitting us Oppression has broken the elders who mattered to you Friends listen to me I will tell the truth till you hear it The expulsions you are subjected to Oppression has broken all wise men that mattered to you It is a shame on our future It has broken the history that mattered to you Companions, we tell you this: Better to die than to live this life Friends, we do not accept this pain, this pain Friends, listen to me I will tell the truth till you hear it.10

The same year another musician of Tinariwen, Keddu Ag Ossad, famous among ishumar for his revolutionary personality, has integrated ‘Libyan Army Commando’ and participate with many others Tuareg to the last Libyan offensive (see Lecoq, 2002) in Aouzou (Tchad). During this fight he composed this song addressed to Tuareg Revolutionnary movement still in construction at this time:

Si l'armée touarègue s'unissait Elle gagnerait toutes les batailles Face aux occidentaux, face aux musulmans Les quatorze soldats en question ont battu l'armée française

9 Bellil et Dida (1995) : En 1984‐85, la sécheresse accentue sa prise sur le Sahel, provoquant une nouvelle arrivée de "réfugiés" provenant cette fois‐ci de l’intérieur et même du sud de : l’. Considérant certainement que le "seuil" est atteint, les autorités algériennes procèdent en mai‐juin 1986 au refoulement de nombreux Touaregs installés à Tamanrasset. Les dépassements parfois dramatiques auxquels ont donné lieu ces expulsions ont suscité une campagne de dénonciation dans la presse internationale. » 10 Inteyeden, Tinariwen, Imidiwan ahi segdem (Belalimat, 1996)

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Postée dans une montagne dangereuse Bravement, ils se sont battus Vous qui êtes restés derrière, que dites‐vous? Nous envisageons l'avenir que vous l'acceptiez ou pas

***

While people were migrating northward, the ishumar music was penetrating southward, within Malian and Nigerien territory and nomad homeland society. Many tuareg groups concerned with those kind of political crisis or with dispersal were maintaining imaginary relationship through tapes and songs. The music of Tinariwen and Takrsit n akal (Tuareg Niger Band created in Libya in 88 and performing ishumar music) circulates and reaches the media while still underground, and in a context

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Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress. of the gestating conflict with the States. The cassettes are smuggled back home, sending a message and raising awareness, telling that an armed Tuaregs movement is being organised and may come to liberate them and avenge the crimes they endure. In the 80s, the genre gained widespread acceptance, especially among the Ishumar from Niger in Libya. A troop of Ishumar guitarist from Aïr (Niger) appeared in 1988 around Abdallah Imbadougou, called Takrist‐n‐Akal, “the land building”. Almost all new ishumar groups of the 2000s have been taught guitar by musicians of these two first bands. In 90/ 91, the rebellion attack and conflict is open. Musicians joined the mountains where rebels are settled in northern Mali and northern Niger. After peace agreement, musicians made a progressive return to homeland. They made a big tour in all Tuareg regions, even in and Niamey where Tuareg community discover their faces for the very first times even they have been listening and singing their songs for years thanks to tape migration.

Post war ishumar tunes: national and transnational music evolutions After peace agreements, both in Mali and Niger, that music became in next to no time the music of the Tuareg youth in their national context (Algeria and Libya where it emerged but also Niger, Mali and Burkina contexts), as well as that of the capitals (Mali, Niger) where it is as much a mode of cultural and identity expression as a means of entertainment and cosmopolitan gatherings. The bands bloomed and opportunities to perform diversified. The music became the support of youth’s danced festive practices openly based on mixing gender and close to former Takemba luth style and dance enjoyed by the previous generations11. The music took over the most part of the private spheres (marriage, baptism) and performances assumed several roles and functions. In the middle of the 1990s, at the outcome of the politics of rebels in Niger and in Mali, the alguitara music performances go along with the peace process agreements and lose their clandestine and subversive characteristics in this new context. The urban youth seizes it immediately as new groups bloom and the Ishumar guitar becomes the most popular music among Tuareg youth. The 1990s are a transition period from an underground music, politically very connoted, towards a popular music the youth can identify with and make theirs. Ishumar music recent development is nowadays part of both national and transnational processes. In Mali, in 1999, a new dimension of Tinariwen’s history began, following a meeting between the French band Lo’Jo and Tinariwen. They produce their first western CD (Radio Tisdas Session, 2000)

11 See Card 1998 and Belalimat 2008 9

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Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress. and launched “the Festival au Désert of Essakan” (Tombouctou area), designed as a global scene of exchanges and meetings between local, Malian and western musicians and devoted to the Malian peace process. “The festival au desert” became the stepping stone of their western broadcasting. Within a few years, Essakane became the arena for cultural and musical tourism in Northern Mali and a cultural instrument at the service of the reconciliation and the developmentist discourse concerning the northern region. It is also a place for intercultural connections with multiple dimensions which we cannot start to approach here in detail. The festival became the centre of attention and promotion for the local bands in search of western producers. Beyond these issues, the increase in the number of cultural festivals12 these last few years shows a strong desire for integration into national development policies through culture, allowing rural communities or peripheral and enclosed areas such as the Adar to promote their region on the national scene.

As it followed the youth turn back to homeland and their engagements into national citizenship integration, it also related to transnational mobility as a creative process thus the diasporic framework stayed and most and the ishumar social and territorial equation still occurs.

The music as a pointer to Tuaregs’ cross­border and transnational inter­connectivity As we have seen, the history of Tuaregs’ postcolonial migratory processes generated a resizing of social and family relations. Interconnectivity between various ‘points’ in the network is crucial in a system of distant social relationships where the various communities regularly interact and communicate between the most remote area (Libyan Fezzan) and the closest homeland. Before telephones reached the Sahara, cassettes were (and still are) one of the main dissemination means for music. Cassettes (tapes) were the media of the 80s and the 90s as we stretched previously : they crossed the borders with the ishumar illegal mobilities, and then circulated within the transnational Tuaregs’ space. They are cheap and resistant to harsh desert conditions. Tape‐players still play a part as a media and as a means of cohesion between scattered groups. They are also and have always been a safe and efficient interpersonal means of communication where the beneficiary could receive various contents on one cassette. The private cassette travels from hand to hand, or when a relative is travelling to a distant point in the network. Usually, the cassettes are handed directly to the beneficiary and it is anyway a good excuse to visit relatives and circulate the news (isalan) which is

12 Essakane, and also festival, traditional gatherings of Tamadasht (Menaka), Ségou festival, Tessalit camel fair, etc. 10

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Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress. the sociological catchword for Saharan communications. Gathering information and communicating within the group remain fundamental social practices which became even more important with the territorial fracture of the groups. The beneficiary can receive a private oral message on cassette, or taped poetry, or receive as a gift a private music recording, i.e. a recording made especially for him or her. These practices fit into the network of established social relationships; they abolish distances, and maintain an active solidarity within a segment of the network or throughout the transnational network.

With the development of cyber communication and telefones technologies in the Sahara and Sahel, the Tuareg guitar bands are played on the Internet today and exchanged as digital formats, thus generating a new system of local, translocal and of course global music exchange. The recent advent of telephones in the Sahara and in the Sahel increased the network of transnational communication systems. Telephones have become a fundamental parameter in consolidating sahelo‐saharan Tuaregs’ transnationalism. The Internet is also well on the way to increase the density of the links between scattered communities. As far as music is concerned, one can draw up various assessments: - Within the last decade, telephones and Bluetooth technologies have totally taken over the exchange and circulation practices of music: an evening performance or a musical piece taped by young Kel Adar from Sebha can be heard within three or four days in Tamanrasset, depending on travelling opportunities, and reach the Algeria‐Mali border (2000 kms (environ) away). The MP3 file will circulate from hand to hand, from telephone to telephone, from encounter to encounter, and circulate easily thousands of kilometres away from its first emission/reception. In the end, the circulation system is the same. - The settlement of a cultural (artistic) matrix based on transnationalism: in 2008, within a few months, the song Aïcha13 ( Band, ) became the most popular hit among the young Tuaregs, between Sebha, Djanet, Tam and Kidal. It started as a street song, a kind of ritornello sung by children in South Algeria and Libya. Rhissa (who did a stint as bass player with Terakaft) made it into a song by developing the poem14. The theme was rearranged by Ghousman of Kidal’s Tamikrest band that incorporated it in his repertoire (available on myspace_tamikrest).

13 http://www.myspace.com/tamikrest 14 « Comment va Aïcha, qui est dans le ruisseau, qui ressemble à une fleur qui a grandi au bord de l’eau. Si seulement on pouvait avoir deux cœurs, un pour vivre avec et l’autre que je donnerais à Aïcha pour qu’elle se réjouisse à jamais. Je l’aime vraiment, mon cœur le sait, mais elle, où est‐elle à présent ? Mon âme brûle » 11

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Though the details of the chains of transmission are not known, it is remarkable how quickly musicians assimilate all artistic matter coming their way from beyond the borders. This is also evidence of the homogeneity of musical forms and of the formalisation of aesthetic criteria within which music is created, beyond border and national logics. Mobility and creativity are thus strongly linked to the current musical process, and their translocal networking contributes to the emergence of a Saharan tone in its own right. - A musical and political heritage forged in exclusion, and social and political struggles, but based on local musical heritages of their homeland: comment tamayot song. - Within the younger generation of Kel Adar musicians (the third since Tinariwen), the interknowledge is very high (often alongside with artistic rivalries). Nephews, cousins and children of the pioneers all grew up together or within the same circle of family ties between Tamanrasset and Sebha; they were brought up with Tinariwen hits and all of them, while still very young, tirelessly repeated the classics of the band on their can . The pioneers also often invested time in teaching guitar to all young ishumar present. Japonnais, Keddou, Inteyeden (Tinariwen) and Abdallah Imbadougou (Takist n akal), amongst others, are known for putting themselves out to teaching songs to any motivated youngsters who crossed their path. The song aman win kawalnin or aswagh e shay de Inteyden (vérifier) is well known by all young musicians as a practice piece because it is easy to play. It deals with musical transmission of repertoires and techniques of the song “patrimony” of Tinariwen. - The formation of an original musical culture reaching beyond the initial confrontation and asserting itself both within the national framework and within the transnational society: Amidi nin de Kanna et Adanne (Tombouctou) also became a transsaharan hit travelling across the borders along the Tuaregs Malian networks. - The music is given publicity through the mediq between transnational communities, either physically through youngsters travelling along the “diasporic”/ circulation axis, or digitally with the development of the Saharan cyberspace. MP3 files are sent via Internet or via the latest telephone technology which is penetrating the Tuareg space through Libya (from the Middle East or Asia)

Les ishumar, passagers clandestins de leur propre territoire La teshumara est donc marquée depuis ses débuts par un processus à double face qui a inauguré une sous‐culture (subaltern culture) taillée à la marge : pas de papiers, pas d’éducation, et des stratégies

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Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress. de survie fondée sur une connaissance intime du terrain, des réseaux de solidarités étendus, une mobilité rapide, flexible et précaire. Ils ont une pratique du transnationalisme forgé en dehors des citoyennetés, qui s’est nivelée culturellement et dynamisé par le bas, à la marge (exclusion, pas d’instruction, ni de scolarisation, théorie du passager clandestin) mais qui a aussi créée une histoire commune aux touaregs, qui les poussé dans des solidarités inédites et convergentes: Le mouvement des ishumar a permis aux touaregs du Mali et du Niger de renouer les contacts avec les Touaregs algériens et libyens de façon progressive, constante, multiple et mais aussi contradictoire (cf. dida Badi) depuis 40 ans. Le transationalisme des ishumar est paradoxal en ce qu’ils sont les passagers clandestins de leur propre pays et projetés dans des formes multiples de marginalité: pas de citoyenneté, pas d’instruction et brutalement déterritorialisés. « On voyage entre les pays, on fait les touristes Mais quand on rencontre la police, Boom, bang, ça cogne direct, pas de discussion. On n’a pas de visa, on n’a pas de passeport !»15 The close links between state borders and relegated national citizenships appear in lyrics as metaphors where roads are described both literally and figuratively as economic and cultural dead ends. Nearly 15 years after the peace agreements, the return of Tuaregs rebellion in 2006 and 2007 both in Northern Mali and in Northern Niger are not a sign of successful integration in those Saharans areas in both countries. Hindered walking represents the current political dead ends (Claudot Hawad, 2006). Walking alone in the black night, “afrod”, leads to the “maquis” and to war, as this song seems to tell us:

Roads are cut, borders closed With no mount, walking is painful We walk in the black night My heart illuminated by the obvious My friend with whom I shared so many ordeals Our shared words entered obscurity Our grief is sour, we endure, we are relegated far behind Because I drank many times the water of secrecy Today I am in the mountains and each one of us is on one’s guard16

15 Terakaft, 2008 : " we travel between countries, we make tourism but when we meet the police, boom, bang, fight express, no discussion there. We have no visa, we have no passport! " 13

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Ce mouvement social relève de stratégies économique de survie dans un contexte économique sinistré, non régulé ou corrompu, aux zones frontalières non intégrées17. Circonvolutions périlleuses des ishumar : se déplacent généralement sur un itinéraire propre à leur réseau social, les ishumar ne sont souvent d’ailleurs pas forcément motorisés dans ce cas, se déplacent souvent en ayant recours aux « fraudeurs », les passeurs qui transportent marchandises et personnes d’une région frontalière à une autre sans quitter le territoire historique des Touaregs. Les occasions de passager clandestin qui vont de l’Algérie au mali transportent quasiment tout ce que l’Adar consomme : denrées alimentaires, gaz, essence. L’Adar en tant que 8e région du Mali est une jeune entité administrative (1992), suite au pacte national entre les fronts touaregs et l’Etat du Mali. Le retard de la région en termes de développement économique par rapport au reste du pays est criant. L’économie régionale se base sur deux activités majeures, le commerce et l’élevage de subsistance. La situation de sous‐ développement de l’Adar la place au défi d’atteindre la plupart des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement de l’ONU. Récemment, le président du Mali a lui‐même reconnu la situation socialement et économiquement potentiellement toujours ‘explosive’, et entre les lignes, pris acte des relations historiques et économiquement vitales nouées au cours des dernières décennies entre les Adar maliens et algériens transfrontaliers: «Quand je parle du nord du Mali, c’est comme si je parlais de l’Algérie. Gao, Tessalit et Kidal sont pour moi la dernière wilaya de votre pays. Ce sont des régions très pauvres. Il n’y a pas de routes, de centres de santé, d’écoles, de puits, de structures de base pour la vie quotidienne. En fait, il n’y a rien. Un jeune de cette région n’a aucune chance de pouvoir se marier ou réussir sa vie, sauf peut‐être de voler une voiture ou de rejoindre les contrebandiers. Alors, donnons‐leur une chance pour qu’ils ne prennent pas les armes. Je n’ai pas manqué de dire à mes amis algériens de ne pas oublier que cette région est une wilaya de votre pays vu les relations étroites qui lient nos deux populations. Il faut qu’il y ait une vaste coopération dans le domaine du développement, qui reste la seule parade contre toutes les menaces… Pour gérer ces menaces, il faut que l’Algérie sache qu’elle a une wilaya de plus qui est Kidal.»», a déclaré le président malien Amadou Toumani Touré au quotidien algérien El Watan (1) en mai 2009. At the beginning of the XXI century, Ishumar guitar tunes can be understood as music in tension between both contemporary national integration processes and Saharan transnational political agencies regarding new uprisings in Northern Niger (since 2007) and Mali (2006). This process implies

16 Terakaft, Akh Issudar, Song “Haran bardan” of Leya Ag Ablal (Track 9), 2008. Traduction : Nadia Belalimat. 17Inser historique cooperation frontalier Mali / Algérie. 14

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Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress. a fundamental questioning concerning the ways of socioeconomic development of the Saharan peripheries of the regional States. The ishumar’s transnational mobility such as we tried to sketch it here raises the question of the necessary consideration of saving the cross‐border societies, and their integrations in the economical processes at the national scale.

Les Tinariwen, symbole de l’intégration frontalière à venir de l’Adar algéro­malien ? Le cas de Tessalit (Mali) et de Timyawin (Algérie).

L’économie régionale se base sur deux activités majeures, le commerce et l’élevage de subsistance. La situation de sous‐développement de l’Adar la place au défi d’atteindre la plupart des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement de l’ONU. Au niveau des structures de prestation et de diffusion de la musique, la situation de l’Adar est paradoxale. La culture populaire de l’Adar (malien et algérien) est en effet caractérisée par des pratiques festives et festivalières vivantes mais son réseau d’encadrement et de promotion et d’insertion dans les politiques publiques ou l’économie de la culture est fragile et disparate. En dehors des quelques festivals importants, elle se caractérise par son isolement des réseaux formels nationaux de la culture et par le manque de relais régionaux au niveau national. Les Festivals naissent de la volonté des autorités locales, notables, cadres, artistes, artisans et autres hommes de culture de la région. Ce sont des festivals des arts et culture touarègues, pour un public de nomades principalement, mais aussi pour les festivaliers venus du reste du Mali, d'Afrique, d'Europe, et d'ailleurs. Ils programment de la musique, la danse, les arts poétiques touaregs, l’artisanat, parfois les techniques et savoirs traditionnels. Ils sont utilisés par les communautés comme forum de communication civique et social et comme moyen de promotion de leur région au niveau national. Ils sont porteur de développement à divers degrés, et crée des opportunités économiques pour les populations locales. Plus généralement, la région transfrontalière de l’Adar est doublement isolée des circuits commerciaux maliens. Du côté algérien, la région est en voie d’être reliée au réseau routier national et bénéficie d’une activité économique en croissance du fait de la nouvelle politique algérienne d’exploitation de son grand sud. Le retard en termes d’infrastructure des deux régions et d’insertion économique est patent : pas un seul kms de routes goudronnées des deux côtés, des localités sous‐ équipées et dont l’intégration économique n’a véritablement commencé il y à peine 10 ans. Les coopérations économiques transfrontalières bi‐nationales entre le cercle de Tessalit et la wilaya de Timyawin sont inexistantes bien qu’elles aient été l’objet d’une clause signée dans le pacte nationale

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Nadia BELALIMAT – Aborne conference – September 2009.

Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress. de 92 et les accords d’Alger de 2006. En 1960 la première commission transfrontalière algéro‐ malienne se réunit et établit les bases de la coopération transfrontalière. Le décret d’application est publié seulement …en 2007. En 2007, une nouvelle commission s’est réunit et a posé les bases de la promotion de la coopération décentralisée entre les trois wilayas du sud et les gouvernorats du Nord. Les enjeux économiques (et politique localement) potentiellement induites par les manifestations festivalières sont nombreuses : tourisme culturel, désenclavement, promotion du territoire au niveau national, promotion des lignages dans le jeu partisan et politique local. C’est aussi un baromètre des conflits ou de l’insécurité de la région. Le Festival d’Essouk (Kidal) a été interrompu pendant 3 and du fait de la reprise de la rébellion dans le Nord. Tessalit et Timyawin ont aussi leurs festivals depuis deux ans. La création et l’affirmation de la localité et de la périphérie saharienne passe aujourd’hui de plus en plus par l’organisation de festival culturel. Pour les festivals de l’Adagh, ils s’appuient sur la notoriété internationale du groupe Tinariwen et sur la vitalité des groupes de guitare qui foisonnent aujourd’hui, tant en ville qu’en brousse. La fin de l’année 2008 a été importante pour le rapprochement des communes transfrontalières, berceau des Tinariwen. La dernière édition Festival du chameau de Timyawin, organisé depuis deux ans à la fin décembre, a été marqué par un concert charnière et symbolique à plusieurs titres tant pour le groupe qui en a été l’invité de marque que pour le rapprochement des communautés frontalières : Ce concert marque en quelque sorte leur retour en Algérie et consacre l’influence culturelle déterminante de leur musique pour tout le sud algérien, apport que l’on peut constater à travers plusieurs évolutions : la retransmission d’un concert des Tinariwen à la tv nationale dans une localité perdue sur la frontière saharienne en dit long sur le chemin parcouru par les Kel Adar en Algérie. Elle en dit aussi beaucoup sur la reconnaissance de « l’histoire algérienne » du groupe. Cette reconnaissance alors que le groupe fête ses 30 and d’existence cette année, prend aussi acte de la diffusion de ce style au‐delà de ces frontières ethniques. À Tamanrasset, la vogue du style ishumar s’étend aujourd’hui auprès de la jeunesse algérienne du Nord immigrée au Sud qui joue et chante du Tinariwen sans en comprendre le sens18. Il témoigne aussi de l’importance de la guitare touarègue en générale et du groupe Tinariwen comme acteur local du moteur de l’intégration des territoires frontaliers algéro‐malien dans les politiques culturelles nationales. Né dans la marginalité et la relégation des citoyennetés, grandi dans une lutte armée qui a abouti à l’intégration de la dimension

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Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress. touareg dans la nation malienne, devenue la mascotte des grands noms du rock après les années 2000, les Tinariwen, seraient‐ils en passe de boucler la boucle, d’incarner la jonction nécessaire des coopérations frontalières et de servir de pont culturel entre les deux rives du Sahara ?

Références • Ag ahar E. (1990), « L’initiation d’un ashamur », in Claudot‐Hawad H., Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée, n° 57, Edisud, p. 141‐152. • Bellil R. & Dida B. (1993), « Évolution de la relation entre Kel Ahaggar et Kel Adar », in Claudot‐Hawad H., « Le politique dans l’histoire touarègue », Les Cahiers de l’IREMAM, Aix‐ en‐Provence, p. 95‐110. — (1995), « Les migrations actuelles des touaregs du Mali vers le Sud », in Études et documents berbères n° 12, Paris, INALCO, p. 79‐98. • Belalimat, Nadia, La guitare des ishumar. Émergence, circulations et évolutions. Copyright Volume ! 6, 2008. • Belalimat Nadia, ‘Le chant des Fauves”, Poésies chantées de la résistance touarègue contemporaine du groupe Tinariwen, Mémoire de maîtrise, Université Paris X‐ Nanterre, 1996. • Belalimat Nadia, ‘Qui sait danser sur cette chanson, nous lui donnerons la cadence », Musique, poésie et politique chez les Tuareg, in Terrain n°41, septembre 2003. • Bellil Rachid, Dida Badi, « Evolution de la relation entre Kel Ahaggar et Kel Adar », in Le politique dans l’histoire touarègue edited by Hélène Claudot‐Hawad, Les Cahiers de l’IREMAM, Aix‐en‐Provence, 1993. • Boilley Pierre, « Les , Un siècle de dépendances, de la prise de Tombouctou (1893) au Pacte National (1992) », Kartala, 1999. • Card Wendt Carolyn, “Tuareg Music”, in Africa, The Garland Encyclopedia of Word Music, 574‐594, Ruth M. Stone Editor, Garland Publishing Inc, NY and London, 1998. • Claudot‐Hawad Hélène, « Sahara et nomadisme. L’envers du décor », Revue des Mondes Musulmans et de la Méditerranée, n° 111‐112, Edisud, Aix‐en‐Provence, 2006, p. 221‐244 • Klute Georg, Die Rebellionen der Tuareg in Mali und Niger (Habilitationsschrift, Siegen University, 2001. • Lecoq Baz, ‘That desert is our country » Tuareg Rebellions and Competing Nationalisms in Contemporary Mali (1946‐1996), Academisch Proefschrift, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2002. • Pliez, Olivier, Villes du Sahara, Urbanisation et urbanité dans le Fezzan libyen, coll. Espaces et milieux, Paris, 2003, CNRS Editions, 200 p. • Rasmusen Susan, "Moving Beyong Protest in Tuareg Ichumar Musical Performance," Ethnohistory vol. 53, no. 4 pp. 633‐657, 2006. • Hawad, « La teshumara, antidote de l’Etat », in Tuareg, Exil et résistance, published by Hélène Claudot‐Hawad, Revue du Monde Musulman et Méditerranéen n° 57, 123‐138, Edisud, 1990.

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Draft ‐ PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE – Work in progress.

Discography (by date) • Tinariwen, Imidiwan (Compagnions), Independiente and J.P Romann Production, 2009 • Moussa Bilalan Ag Ganta, 2008, Tchixene, autoproduction. • Etran finatawa, 2008, Desert Crossroads, Network. • Ishumar, Compilation, Reaktion, 2008. • Timtar, Timtar, autoproduction, 2008. • Terakaft, 2008, Akh issudar, Jean‐Paul Romann & Tapsit • Terakaft, 2007, Bismillah, Th e Bko Session, Tapsit. • Tinariwen, 2007, Aman Iman. Emma Production. • Desert Rebel, 2006, Desert Rebel. Production Original Dub Master Sarl. • , 2006, Abacaboc, Crammed Discs. • Toumast, 2006, Ishumar. Village Vert Production. • Etran Finatawa, 2005, Introducing Etran Finatawa, World Music Network. • Takist‐n‐Akal, 2004, Afrikya, production Association CYRAV. • Tinariwen, 2003, Amassakoul. Triban‐Union Production. • Tinariwen, 2000, The Radio Tisdas Sessions. , Lo’Jo & Triban‐Union Production

Web : Tuareg Guitar Bands • Tinariwen : http://www.myspace.com/tinariwen • Tinariwen : http://www.tinariwen.com • Terakaft : http://www.myspace.com/terakaft • Ibrahim Jo : http://www.myspace.com/ibrahimdjo • Kel Assouf : http://www.myspace.com/amazightouareg • Koudede : http://www.myspace.com/koudede • Rissa Wanagli: http://www.myspace.com/rissaagwanagli • Sidi: http://www.myspace.com/forsidi • Tamikrest : http://www.myspace.com/tamikrest • Tidawt : http://www.myspace.com/tidawt • Tuareg Music Web site : http://www.tamasheq.net/

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