Amazigh Music

Amazigh music is the traditional and contemporary music of the Amazigh (Berber) peoples of North Africa, spanning Kabyle song from Algeria, Chaabi and gnawa-adjacent repertoires from Morocco, and the desert blues of Tuareg groups from Mali, Niger and Algeria. It is sung in Tamazight languages and built on cyclical melodies, call-and-response singing, frame drums such as the bendir, flutes, lutes including the lotar and, in modern forms, electric guitar. Women's choral singing, wedding repertoires and protest song all sit inside the tradition. Since the 1970s, figures such as *Idir* and *Tinariwen* have carried Amazigh music to international audiences without abandoning its language or instrumentation.