Music of Libya

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Various kinds of Arab music are popular in Libya such as Andalusi music, locally known as Ma'luf, Chabi and Arab classical music.[ citation needed ]

The Tuareg in the south have their own distinctive folk music. There is little or no pop music industry. Among the Tuareg, women are the musicians. They play a one-stringed violin called an anzad, as well as a variety of drums.

Two of the most famous musicians of Libya are Ahmed Fakroun and Mohamed Hassan.

Among Libyan Arabs, instruments include the zokra (a bagpipe), flute (made of bamboo), tambourine, oud (a fretless lute) and darbuka, a goblet drum held sideways and played with the fingers. Intricate clapping is also common in Libyan folk music.

Traveling Bedouin poet-singers have spread many popular songs across Libya. Among their styles is huda, the camel driver's song, the rhythm of which is said to mimic the feet of a walking camel.

During the 2011 revolution, the Berber singer Dania Ben Sassi went viral with her songs praising the sacrifices of the Libyan people, sung in Amazight. [1]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Demographics of Libya</span>

Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The Libyan population resides in the country of Libya, a territory located on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, to the west of and adjacent to Egypt. Libyans live in Tripoli. It is the capital of the country and first in terms of urban population, along with Benghazi, Libya's second largest city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tambourine</span> Handheld drum with metal jingles

The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head. Tambourines are often used with regular percussion sets. They can be mounted, for example on a stand as part of a drum kit, or they can be held in the hand and played by tapping, hitting, or shaking the instrument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tifinagh</span> Abjad of the Tuareg languages

Tifinagh is a script used to write the Berber languages. Tifinagh is descended from the ancient Libyco-Berber alphabet. The traditional Tifinagh, sometimes called Tuareg Tifinagh, is still favored by the Tuareg Berbers of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria, northeastern Mali, northern Niger, and northern Burkina Faso for writing the Tuareg Berber language. Neo-Tifinagh is an alphabet developed by Berber Academy to adopt Tuareg Tifinagh for use with Kabyle; it has been since modified for use across North Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berbers</span> Diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa

Berbers or the Berber peoples, also called by their contemporary endonym Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migrations to the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their usage of Berber languages, most of them mutually unintelligible, which are part of the Afroasiatic language family. They are indigenous to the Maghreb region of North Africa, where they live in scattered communities across parts of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and to a lesser extent Tunisia, Mauritania, northern Mali and northern Niger. Smaller Berber communities are also found in Burkina Faso and Egypt's Siwa Oasis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tuareg people</span> Berber confederation of the Sahara desert

The Tuareg people are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern Algeria, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. Traditionally nomadic pastoralists, small groups of Tuareg are also found in northern Nigeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Algeria</span>

Algerian music is virtually synonymous with Raï among foreigners; the musical genre has achieved great popularity in France, Spain and other parts of Europe. For several centuries, Algerian music was dominated by styles inherited from Al-Andalus, eventually forming a unique North African twist on these poetic forms. Algerian music came to include suites called nuubaat. Later derivatives include rabaab and hawzii.

Moroccan music varies greatly between geographic regions and social groups. It is influenced by musical styles including Arab, Berber, Andalusi, Mediterranean, Saharan, West African, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Mali</span> Aspect of Mali culture

The music of Mali is, like that of most African nations, ethnically diverse, but one influence predominates: that of the ancient Mali Empire of the Mandinka. Mande people make up around 50% of Mali's population; other ethnic groups include the Fula (17%), Gur-speakers 12%, Songhai people (6%), Tuareg and Moors (10%).

Ethiopian music is a term that can mean any music of Ethiopian origin, however, often it is applied to a genre, a distinct modal system that is pentatonic, with characteristically long intervals between some notes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Uruguay</span> Music and musical traditions of Uruguay

The most distinctive music of Uruguay is to be found in the tango and candombe; both genres have been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Uruguayan music includes a number of local musical forms such as murga, a form of musical theatre, and milonga, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish and italian traditions and related to similar forms found in many American countries.

The Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, and its music is marked mainly by Indian, East African, and Arab influences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Niger</span> Overview of music traditions in Niger

The music of Niger has developed from the musical traditions of a mix of ethnic groups; Hausa, the Zarma-Songhai, Tuareg, Fula, Kanuri, Toubou, Diffa Arabs and Gurma and the Boudouma from Lac Chad.

North Africa has contributed considerably to popular music, especially Egyptian classical music alongside el Gil, Algerian raï and Chaabi. The broad region is sometimes called Maghreb, and the term Maghrebian music is in use. For a variety of reasons Libya does not have as extensive nor popular a tradition as its neighbours. Folk music abounds, however, despite frequent condemnation and suppression from governments, existing in multiple forms across the region—the Berbers, Sephardic Jews, Tuaregs, Copts and Nubians, for example, retain musical traditions with their ancient roots.

Tunisia is a North African country with a predominantly Arabic-speaking population. The country is best known for malouf, a kind of music imported from Andalusia after the Moors expulsion in the 15th century. Though in its modern form, malouf is likely very dissimilar to any music played more than four centuries ago, it does have its roots in Spain and Portugal, and is closely related to genres with a similar history throughout North Africa, including malouf's Libyan cousin, Algerian gharnati and Moroccan ala or Andalusi. During the Ottoman era, malouf was influenced by Turkish music. However, Tunisian repertoires, styles and also instruments remain distinctive – the ʻūd tūnsī is an emblematic case. This is a close relative of the 'uds associated with Algeria and also Morocco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic music</span> Musical traditions of the Muslim world

Islamic music may refer to religious music, as performed in Islamic public services or private devotions, or more generally to musical traditions of the Muslim world. The heartland of Islam is the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia. Due to Islam being a multi-ethnic religion, the musical expression of its adherents is vastly diverse. Indigenous traditions of various part have influenced the musical styles popular among Muslims today. The word "music" in Arabic, the language of Islam, is defined more narrowly than in English or some other languages, and "its concept" was at least originally "reserved for secular art music; separate names and concepts belonged to folk songs and to religious chants".

Berber music refers to the musical traditions of the Berbers, a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Arab migration to the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their usage of the mostly mutually unintelligible Berber languages. Berber music varies widely across North Africa. It is stylistically diverse, with songs being predominantly African rhythms and a stock of oral literature.

<i>Dabke</i> Levantine folk dance

Dabke is a Levantine folk dance. Dabke combines circle dance and line dancing and is widely performed at weddings and other joyous occasions. The line forms from right to left and the leader of the dabke heads the line, alternating between facing the audience and the other dancers. In English, it can be transcribed as dabka, dabki, dabkeh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Libya</span>

Libyan culture is a blend of many influences, due to its exposure to many historical eras. Libya was an Italian colony for over four decades, which also had a great impact on the country's culture. Once an isolated society, Libyans succeeded in preserving their traditional folk customs alive today, now recognized by many as the most "pure" extant form of Arab culture found outside the Arabian Peninsula. Libyan culture places strong emphasis on family, tribal bonds, loyalty, solidarity and faithfulness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of North Africa</span> Overview of the culture of North Africa

The culture of North Africa encompasses the customs and traditions of art, architecture, music, literature, lifestyle, philosophy, food, politics and religion that have been practiced and maintained by the numerous ethnic groups of North Africa. North Africa encompasses the northern portion of Africa, including a large portion of the Sahara Desert. The region's commonly defined boundaries include Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara, stretching from the Atlantic shores of the Western Sahara in the west, to Egypt's Red Sea coast in the east. The United Nations' definition additionally includes Sudan in the region. The inhabitants of North Africa are roughly divided in a manner corresponding to the principal geographic regions of North Africa: the Maghreb, the Nile valley, and the Sahel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desert blues</span> Musical style of the Sahara region

Tishoumaren or assouf, internationally known as desert blues, is a style of music from the Sahara region of northern and west Africa. Critics describe the music as a fusion of blues and rock music with Tuareg, Malian or North African music. Various other terms are used to describe it including desert rock, Saharan rock, Takamba, Mali blues, Tuareg rock or simply "guitar music". The style has been pioneered by Tuareg musicians in the Sahara region, particularly in Mali, Niger, Libya, Western Sahara, Algeria, Burkina Faso and others.

References

  1. Merolla, Daniela (2020-01-02). "Cultural heritage, artistic innovation, and activism on Amazigh Berber websites". Journal of African Cultural Studies. 32 (1): 42–59. doi:10.1080/13696815.2019.1624153. ISSN   1369-6815. S2CID   197689713.