Berber music

Berber music refers to the musical traditions of the Berbers, a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migration to the Maghreb.[1][2] Their main connections are identified by their usage of the mostly mutually unintelligible Berber languages.[3][4] Berber music varies widely across North Africa. It is stylistically diverse, with songs being predominantly African rhythms and a stock of oral literature.[5]

Ancient Berber music is stylistically diverse, with styles including pentatonic music, such instruments as the oboe and the bagpipes, and African rhythms along with singing.[6] These ancient musical traditions have been kept alive by small bands of musicians traveling from village to village, entertaining at weddings and other social events with their songs, tales and poetry.

Most Berber music is of the village- and urban-folk musical variety. Berber music and culture is influenced by the Berber people's long-standing struggle to achieve basic language rights and identity recognition in modern North African societies, aside from aesthetics and style.[7]

  1. ^ Andrews, Jonathan (30 April 2019). The Missiology behind the Story: Voices from the Arab World. Langham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78368-599-8. Berber: A collective term for the indigenous peoples of North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs during the expansion of the Arab empire in the seventeenth century.
  2. ^ Skutsch, Carl (7 November 2013). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Routledge. p. 211. ISBN 978-1-135-19388-1. Berber is a generic name given to numerous heterogenous ethnic groups that share similar cultural, political, and economic practices.
  3. ^ Fields, Nic (26 January 2011). Roman Conquests: North Africa. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-84884-704-0. It must be said that modern Berbers are a very diverse group of peoples whose main connections are linguistic.
  4. ^ Baldauf, Richard B.; Kaplan, Robert B. (1 January 2007). Language Planning and Policy in Africa. Multilingual Matters. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-84769-011-1. Most languages of the Berber branch are mutually unintelligible.
  5. ^ Morgan, Jason; Falola, Toyin; Oyeniyi, Bukola A. (3 May 2012). Culture and Customs of Libya. ABC-CLIO. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-313-37860-7.
  6. ^ "The Berbers". Al-bab.com. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)