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To command . . .   . . .  the sound



 


Tuareg Art

 


 





From Berber origin, the Tuaregs, name given by French to the men of the desert,were called Kel Tamasheq or Kel Tiggelmoust (those of the turban of head).They form the only Moslem society in the world where the men wear the veil, called litham.
They are traditionally stockbreeders and sometimes, for some of them, gardeners, but the creative spirit and the skilful hands of the Tuaregs make also jewels...


 




           

 


.. Silver jewels.
Because the Tuareg women have a superstitious fear of gold.
These silver jewels have a symbolic value. Admittedly they are used as savings and as a mean of exchange but each jewel is a message

 

 

 

 

 



A collar evokes an anedocte on the man or the woman. The triangles indicate the wandering tribes living in bush,the isolated points in the center represent the sultan and his ministers.

 



The cross of Agadez represents the pommel of saddle of the camel and the four cardinal directions.


 

 

It was worn by the men and was transmitted from father to son at the puberty accompanied by these words :
"My son, I give you the four directions of the world, because one does not know where you will die"

 

The pendant one represents the palace of the sultan, the pearls indicate the districts,


 

 

 

 

 

Tuareg Art

 

 

 

 



  

 

 

 

 


No Tuareg could manage without the craftsman blacksmith.
He transforms the mineral, vegetable or animal matter. He manufactures and repairs weapons, jewels and tools of the wandering life.He tells the day to day history and engraves the laws of the oral society.
He contributes by his jewels to ward off the bad fates and embellishes the life.
He has the control of fire, this fire at the end of the sword which Kel Tamasheq people needed to be able to gain in nobility.
It thus had the means of taking freedoms with the customary mores.

 

For a long time inescapable, still constituting one of the principal Tuareg castes having in a matrilineal society and with hierarchical values, his social role exceeded his only technical skill. Intermediary, discrete mediator, confidant and manufacturer of the social bond, he is sometimes in charge of fine social missions (proposal of marriage, etc.).

Although attached to such or such tribe, the blacksmiths are dispersed through all the Tuareg country
Settled in the camping of the principal customary chiefs or in the markets,they remain in the service of all.

Léo Dayan


 



           

 

 

 

 

Music : Pantsula Jive - Marimbas out of Africa



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