Art and technology help keep North Africa's indigenous Tamazight language relevant

From musicians to podcasters and now world's most popular search engine, 'significant' steps taken to preserve big part of ancient Amazigh culture

Helping to preserve culture and language, Amazigh musicians and dancers entertain at the Imilchil, Morocco Marriage and Betrothal Festival. Getty Images

It is a 2,000-year-old North African language spoken by about three million people and has now been given a global online platform by the world's most popular search engine.

Tamazight is spoken by Amazigh communities predominantly in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia – and awareness of the indigenous language has been growing thanks to artists, musicians and educators across the region.

The addition of Tamazight to Google Translate, facilitating the use of the language's Tifinagh alphabet for online communication and translation, is being described as another “significant” step forward.

“It’s one thing to speak the language,” says Khadija El Bennaoui, a Moroccan events producer and curator. “But it’s another to actually type it online. Previously, we had to use a third language like French for emails or phone messages. Now my language is available, I look forward to learning more about how to write it online, which will be a small challenge.”

The challenge is a welcome one for El Bennaoui, whose remembers when her indigenous tongue was overlooked, dismissed and ignored.

Recalling a childhood in Morocco long before the Amazigh identity was constitutionally recognised in 2011, she says: “We are going back about three decades now, but back then in Morocco I wasn’t allowed to speak my language at school. Instead, we heard Arabic, French, and English.

“Tamazight was viewed as an old and unfashionable language. It was falsely perceived as a language of the lower class and those speaking it were viewed as uneducated or uncultured.”

Morocco's official recognition of its Amazigh community came during the 2011 uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa, a period marked by calls for social reforms.

The growing global awareness of the community was also fuelled by artists and educators. El Bennaoui was part of that movement as a production manager for the inaugural Timitar Festival in Morocco in 2004. The three-day festival, one of the first international events to promote Amazigh arts and culture, and marks its 20th anniversary this week in the coastal city of Agadir.

“While there were other Amazigh festivals before, Timitar gained international attention,” recalls El Bennaoui. “This is because the team looked at themselves as cultural activists and, of course, the political imbursement allowed it to happen in the first place.

“We always felt that arts and culture could play a vital role in promoting Amazigh identity because it reaches out to more people in everyday life than politics and education.”

Songs of identity

French-Algerian musicologist Redha Benabdallah believes Amazigh songs of culture and tradition, dating back to before the arrival of Islam in North Africa 1,400 years ago, have played an integral role in the continuing mission to preserve the Tamazight language. That took on renewed meaning when the Amazigh diaspora established a community in France at the turn of the 19th century.

“The urgency increased further over 30 ago during the Algerian Civil War, when musicians were targeted and killed,” Benabdallah explains. “Many fled to France, raising awareness of Amazigh rights and identity through their nostalgic songs, which reminded people of home.”

Algerian singer Idir, who died in Paris in 2020, is a prime example, Benabdallah notes. Known as the 'King of Amazigh music,' Idir fused modern production with traditional Amazigh instruments like the lotar – a lute with a mellow tone – and the tbal – a forceful bass drum. His popular songs, such as A Vava Inouva and Zwit Rwit, are inspired by traditional folk tales as well as the rugged and mountainous landscapes intrinsic to Amazigh identity.

These works inspired a form of cultural dance, which Benabdallah says is partly inspired by the surrounding wildlife.

“A dance like the Guedra is important,” he says. “It is performed by Amazigh people in the Sahara and the movements resemble the gallops of the camel. What makes it more expressive is that they are accompanied by songs in the Tamazight language about desert life and spirituality. The traditions have been passed down the generations and that’s how the language has always remained alive and vibrant.”

Keeping tradition alive

Despite the rich history, is the Tamazight language and wider Amazigh culture known by the Mena region? It is a question explored by Leila Alaouf in her episodes for Arabic culture podcast series Majhool for Dubai broadcaster Akhbar Al Aan.

The episodes explore different facets of Amazigh culture and their relationship to the Arab world. Alaouf, a French-Syrian-American writer who resides in Abu Dhabi, says respect for Amazigh identity and culture can only be fully realised through acknowledgement from all regional neighbours.

“What Google has done by adding the Tamazight language is a great gesture and it is significant,” she says. “But I think the most important indicator when it comes to a community’s freedom is how the people are able to express themselves in their surroundings.

“The reality is that we still have issues related to internal racism within our Arab countries and communities – and that’s often related to colonialism.

“So while Amazigh culture is recognised and celebrated in Algeria and Morocco, in Tunisia that is not the case for example. That shows there is still some work to do. Imagine this state of cultural schizophrenia, where as an Amazigh you are practising a language that is not recognised in the country you live in – it can be emotionally disastrous.”

Such adversity has only strengthened the need and desire to preserve the language. Morocco’s Tayeb Lmouden, who provides Tamazight language courses online and YouTube channel Learn with Tayeb, says students hail from the Amazigh diaspora in Europe and Mena.

“Many are second-generation families living abroad who want to reconnect with their culture through the language,” he says. “Language is one of the best ways to keep Amazigh culture alive because many of its aspects derive from it. We decorate our clothing with the Tamazight language and sometimes our bodies with henna.”

Lmouden is excited about the opportunity Google Translate offers him to type verbal greetings and begin his classes in original script.

“Azul is a word that actually combines two words. 'Az,' means come closer to us, and 'ul,' means heart. Together, it means 'come closer to my heart,'” he says. “This is the beauty of the Tamazight language. It is old yet still can say so much today.”