Anthropology / Middle East / World Music Goodman BERBER “Sure to interest a number of different audiences, BERBER from language and music scholars to specialists on North Africa. [A] superb book, clearly written, CULTURE analytically incisive, about very important issues that have not been described elsewhere.” ON THE —John Bowen, Washington University CULTURE WORLD STAGE In this nuanced study of the performance of cultural identity, Jane E. Goodman travels from contemporary Kabyle Berber communities in Algeria and France to the colonial archives, identifying the products, performances, and media through which Berber identity has developed. ON In the 1990s, with a major Islamist insurgency underway in Algeria, Berber cultural associations created performance forms that challenged THE Islamist premises while critiquing their own village practices. Goodman describes the phenomenon of new Kabyle song, a form of world music that transformed village songs for global audiences. WORLD She follows new songs as they move from their producers to the copyright agency to the Parisian stage, highlighting the networks of circulation and exchange through which Berbers have achieved From Village global visibility. to Video STAGE JANE E. GOODMAN is Associate Professor of Communication and Culture at Indiana University. While training to become a cultural anthropologist, she performed with the women’s world music group Libana. Cover photographs: Yamina Djouadou, Algeria, 1993, by Jane E. Goodman. Textile photograph by Michael Cavanagh. The textile is from a Berber women’s fuda, or outer-skirt. Jane E. Goodman http://iupress.indiana.edu 1-800-842-6796 INDIANA Berber Culture on the World Stage JANE E. GOODMAN Berber Culture on the World Stage From Village to Video indiana university press Bloomington and Indianapolis This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA http://iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail [email protected] © 2005 by Jane E. Goodman All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions con- stitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Infor- mation Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goodman, Jane E., date Berber culture on the world stage : from village to video / Jane E. Goodman. p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-253-34629-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-253-21784-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Berbers—Algeria. 2. Algeria—Ethnic relations. 3. Algerians—France—History. 4. Music—Performance— Algeria. I. Title. DT283.2.G66 2005 305.89′33065—dc22 2005006229 1 2 3 4 5 10 09 08 07 06 05 For my father, Richard, and my late mother, Arlene Contents Acknowledgments ix Note on Orthography and Translation xiii Introduction 1 part one: circuits 1. The Berber Spring 29 2. Refracting Berber Identities 49 3. The Mythical Village 69 part two: texts 4. Collecting Poems 97 5. Authoring Modernity 120 6. Copyright Matters 145 part three: performances 7. Staging Gender 165 8. Village to Video 184 Epilogue 197 Notes 201 Works Cited 219 Index 233 Acknowledgments This work would not have been possible without the generous assistance, hos- pitality, and interest of a great many people. I take this opportunity to thank them. In some cases, I omit their last names to protect their privacy. Fanny Colonna introduced me to Algeria and welcomed me into her home on numerous occasions. Without her support, I may never have chosen Algeria as a ¤eld site. I am deeply grateful. The ethnomusicologist Mehenna Mahfou¤, whose own work centers on Kabyle women’s songs, made contacts for me in his former ¤eld site and home village, and introduced me to most of the singers and poets with whom I worked. Fully aware that our work would overlap to some degree, he neverthe- less encouraged my project from start to ¤nish. I thank him for his ongoing support and friendship. The Djouadou family, Abderrahmane, Zoubida, Taos (setsi), Larbi, Hacina, and Zakkia, opened their homes and themselves to me, both in Algeria (for ten months in 1993) and the suburbs of Paris (for nine months in 1994 and 1996). They patiently bore with me as I learned to speak Kabyle, met my many ques- tions with generous and thoughtful discussion, and supported my work on every level—showing me how to dance Kabyle-style, assisting me with transla- tions, and making contacts for me with other community members. I owe Abderrahmane, Zoubida, and their family a profound debt that only lifelong friendship can begin to repay. I thank the family of Yamina Tameqwrant (“old”), Bachir, Yamina Tamezyant (“young”), Mohamed, and Abdullah Djouadou, who invited me for many cous- cous dinners and evenings of conversation. Yamina Tameqwrant graciously re- corded and explained her songs, and Bachir spent hours passionately discussing with me the intricacies of local and national politics. Bachir also helped me to develop a census of the village, arranged for me to visit other sites in Kabylia, and bequeathed to me his substantial collection of newspaper clippings on Ber- ber politics. I thank the family of Amar, Zhor, Jejjiga, Na Zahara, Nouara, Hakim, Sabrina, and Karina Djouadou, who invited me sight unseen into their home in Algeria in the summers of 1990 and 1992 and helped me to establish a base in their community. I thank Noura Haddab, who offered her friendship as both of us moved between Algeria and France, and who helped me understand the complexities of diasporic life for young women. Hamid Kacet and Belqacem Beloucif provided invaluable assistance with my work on the village community in Paris. Finally, I extend my thanks to the many other men and women from both the Algerian and Parisian sides of my host village who offered their friend- ship and support, including: Zhor and her family, Na Jejjiga and her family, Unisa and her family, Rosa, Dehbia, Dalila, Amara, Karim, and Saada. I was for- tunate to be able to spend time in several other Kabyle villages as well, and thank in particular Aldjia, Fatima, Farid, Kamal, and their families. Ahmed Semah allowed me to video the children’s chorus he directed. Ammar Lakehal and Ramdane Achab shared with me their memories of the early years of Ber- ber activism in Algeria during periods of follow-up research in Montreal and Paris. Eduardo, Adriana, Pablo, and Anahí facilitated my research in Paris in 1988 and 1990. Halima Belhandouz was an invaluable friend, sounding board, and colleague throughout the research and writing process. My work on new Kabyle song would not have been possible without the sup- port of its creators. Ben Mohamed spent hours patiently explaining his song texts to me; chapters 2 and 5, in particular, bear the fruit of these conversations. Thanks also to Ben’s family—Dominique and Ania—for their generous hospi- tality and for many enjoyable evenings. Idir took time out of his busy perform- ance schedule to meet with me; his music, which I ¤rst fell in love with in 1980, not only provided much of the material for this study but also has added a great deal of pleasure to my life. Lounes Aït Menguellet shared with me both his songs and his stage, allowing me to sing in his 1994 concerts at the Olympia Theater in Paris, and we spent many hours talking about his creative process. I am also grateful to Ferhat Imazighen Imula, the late Matoub Lounes, and members of the group Djurdjura for their time, interest, and assistance. Perhaps the most understated presence in this work is that of Boualem Rabia, a poet, musician, and teacher who is deeply committed to the revitalization of the Kabyle language and culture. Boualem painstakingly helped me to translate dozens of songs and graciously shared with me his extensive knowledge of vil- lage repertoires. Boualem also gave generously of his time, meeting with me almost weekly from April to November of 1993. I hope that his faith in me will be at least partially borne out by this work. Transcribing Berber songs would have been exceedingly dif¤cult without the help of Boualem Rabia, Ben Mohamed, Ramdane Achab, Hacina Djouadou, Noura Haddab, Lakhdar, Jaffar, Mennad, and, in particular, Soraya. I extend to them my heartfelt thanks. I am also grateful to the late Mustapha Aouchiche, founder of the bookstore Editions Berbères in Paris, for lending to me from his personal collection documents that are out of print and unavailable in French libraries, and to the Berber Cultural Association (Association de Culture Ber- bère, ACB) in Paris for allowing me to use their space for interviews and for generally facilitating my work. In Algeria, the Department of Amazigh Studies at the University of Tizi Ouzou Hasnaoua facilitated my stay by hosting me as a visiting scholar and pro- viding library facilities. In France, I had the bene¤t of working with two ongo- ing research groups: the Groupe de Sociologie Politique et Morale at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, under the direction of Fanny Colonna, and the Groupe de Recherches Berbères at the Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, under the direction of Salem Chaker. I thank the mem- bers of both groups for their intellectual and logistical support. x Acknowledgments Earlier versions of chapters 4, 5, and 6 of this work were drafted at the Uni- versity of Michigan–Ann Arbor, where I was a fellow at the Advanced Study Center in the spring of 1997.