Morocco Launches ’Awal’ Project to Preserve Amazigh Oral Heritage

According to the initiators, "Awal" (the word, in Tamazight, EDITOR’S NOTE) is a pilot program that aims to archive Amazigh oral arts in Morocco and North Africa. The fight of Soumeya Aït Ahmed and Nadir Bouhmouch is to preserve and perpetuate the words of the ancestors, reports La Vie éco. The first year of the program will be devoted to 180 hours of recording that will be made available to the "Le 18, derb El Ferran" center.

"Oral stories and poems are historical documents. They offer us perspectives on regions where the state had little or no control over the past and give us a view of the so-called ’Bled Siba’ that we cannot necessarily find in official history books or colonial archives," said Nadir Bouhmouch.

Together, they intend to do academic work on this heritage, which will contribute to its enhancement and appropriation by young people. "There seems to be a lack of research on oralities in Morocco," said Soumeya Aït Ahmed. Her wish, she said, is to encourage researchers, amateurs and artists to collectively nourish fruitful reflections on oral arts and their meaning today.