Kel Tamacheq, Solo Performances: Ajjo Emini, Amenou Aguissou

The international popularity of Kel Tamasheq groups, from Tinariwen, les Filles de Illighadad, Mdou Moctar, to Bambino, with their roots in Ishumar songs, have created a strong 'Touareg brand': guitars, repetitive riffing, pentatonic melodies, and majestic stage outfits.  This style has overshadowed more intimate musical genres, the Anzad melodies, Tendé songs, and Tehardent repertoire, of earlier generations.  

The Anzad, a one-string fiddle, remains the instrument the Kel Tamacheq consider most representative of their unique artistic and poetic universe.  Exclusively played by women, the Anzad accompanies evenings of verse, healing ceremonies, and courtship rituals.  Despite the symbolic power of the Anzad, there are ever fewer performers of the instrument.  

Just about a year ago, Ajjo Emini, one of the instrument's most iconic performers passed away, leaving this world on January 11, 2020, in Tamanrasset, Algeria. She was in her early nineties.  Ajjo Emini was born in Ingal, a small town near Agadez, in Niger (Ingal is host to the world-famous annual Cure Salée festival).  Ajjo was one of the first Kel Tamacheq artists to gain widespread recognition through her recordings.  In the 1960s, she made a series of recordings for the national radio, La Voix du Sahel.  Here is a 25-minute recording of solo Anzad, most probably made in a radio studio, either at La Voix du Sahel in Niamey or, more likely, for the popular 'Elan n'Ashak' program on Radio Nomade FM, Agadez, which promotes Kel Tamacheq philosophy and values.  

Download Ajjo Emini - Anzad Melodies

The Tendé is a drum made by stretching a skin over a mortar.  The drum is also usually played by women, to accompany simple melodies sung during community celebrations, for weddings, births, or to welcome guests.  The melodies are lead by a principal singer accompanied by the celebrants, who sing the refrains and clap a steady ostinato.  This is another recording I found in Niger.  I can't, however, confirm when or where this recording was made. 

Download Tendé - Unidentified Artists

The Tehardent is the instrument of the Aggutan (professional musician), the Kel Tamacheq equivalent of the griot.  It is a three-string lute that spread from the Timbuktu-Gao area throughout the Kel Tamacheq universe in the 1960s and 1970s.  This cassette features a suite of solo Tehardent melodies performed by Amenou Aguissou, about whom, unfortunately, I know nothing.  This is a live-to-boombox recording that I found in Nouakchott in the late 1990s.  

Download Amenou Aguissou - Tehardent Melodies

For more information on Kel Tamacheq instrumental traditions, I encourage you to read Eric Schmidt's The Guitar and the Revolution of Tuareg Culture.  Thank you to my friend Aghali Abdou for his help.  The atmospheric picture was taken from this site.  

Enjoy!!