Carpe Diem #1491 Kabyle, the music of Algerian Berbers

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

What a joy to write a new episode for our wonderful Haiku Kai, the place to be if you like to write and share Japanese poetry like haiku and tanka. This month we are on a journey around the world searching for folkmusic for our inspiration. Yesterday we visited Lapland and listened to Sami music and today we are going south. Today we will visit Algeria especially the region known as Kabyle, the land of the Berbers. Kabyle is not only a region to live in, but it's also the name of the music of that region.

Berber Man (Algeria) (image found on Pinterest)

Let me tell you a little bit more about the background of the Kabyle music.

Berber music refers to the musical traditions of the Berbers, an ethnic group native to the Maghreb, as well as parts of the Sahara, Nile Valley, West Africa. Berber music varies widely across North-West Africa and some of the best known varieties can be found in Moroccan music; Kabyle, Chawi and Gasba music from Algeria; and Tuareg from Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali.

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. 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.



What a wonderful music to listen too. At first I didn't like this music, but after listening to it several times I somewhat started to really enjoy it. I hope you all will have that experience too.

music of heaven
I feel alive again
skylark's song

© Chèvrefeuille

Wonderful, how immodest, but I think this haiku is a beauty and gives me a real feeling of joy and the confidence that there will be a time that life will be like paradise.

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CEST) and will remain open until August 13th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... enjoy the music, become inspired and share your Japanese poetry.