The story of dar el imzad
The project to build Dar El Imzad was set down among the recommendations of the international imzad symposium in March 2005.
A general assembly was held in June 2005 to approve the report and the accounts sent to all the sponsors and to the wilaya. It was agreed that we would gather again at the end of the year. On 13 December 2005: the construction project “Dar El Imzad” was adopted unanimously.
A file was submitted to the Property Directorate of the wilaya of Tamanrasset.
A payment schedule was drawn up over four years.
Our challenge was set.
DAR EL-IMZAD
THE INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF ARTISTS
will be the relay point of the Trans-Saharan route
passing through Tamanrasset,
a cultural capital and a place of convergence
of the musical and cultural modes
of Sub-Saharan Africa. »
I was with Seddik Khetali, and that day I said to him: “This will be the heart of our imzad museum”.
Rock engravings beneath the rubbish.
Five kilometres from the town centre of Tamanrasset, on the road to l’Assekrem, Dar El-Imzad, the International House of Artists, comes into being.
Dar El-Imzad is destined to be a space of cultural creation dedicated to the artists of the world and to those enamoured of the traditional arts of the deserts. The complex comprises workshops devoted to the making of Touareg craftwork and of Imzad, others intended for Tifinagh, for song, for imzad poetry and for other expressions (the Tazemart flute, the Tindey drum…).
Dar El-Imzad will be equipped with a stage for music concerts, a studio for audio-visual production, a computer area, a media library, a museum and shops. National and international artists (musicians, painters, sculptors, writers…) may be welcomed in residence.
Sustainable development: Within the fight against poverty, shared wealth, fair trade and a tourism “of the future” suited to the region, the aim was to generate activity and to create lasting employment for women and the young, while safeguarding the ancestral culture and reviving tourism and craftwork in the Grand Sud… All that remained was for me to draw up the project.
The project was in my head, to the great astonishment of all the members, but I was determined and I gave up all professional activity to devote myself entirely to Dar el Imzad.
Dar El Imzad building site Publications — Imzad Béchar
Revue 13h Plan of action
Construction of the enclosure wall in preparation for the second international Imzad gathering of 2010.
To awaken interest and set awareness in motion, I had to draw up, together with the members of the association, a plan of action, defining the objectives to be reached, evaluating them and planning them over time.
Cultural and scientific gatherings at Dar el Imzad were set down each year. We kept our sponsors loyal thanks to the transparency of the reports and the audits carried out. The results on the ground and, above all, the image proudly borne by the Association Sauver l’Imzad were our leitmotiv.
Under the attentive eye of the young and old imzad artists, Cosider worked day and night.
On 11/11/11, we had to inaugurate the first phase: the handover of the classrooms.
The engravings of Dar el Imzad
Note:
Dar El Imzad standing in a wadi, dust is the chief danger for the electronic equipment. The best solution was to cover the floor with kerolite, used in the pharmaceutical industry for the making of talc. This was excellent for all those who walked barefoot.
Slides — Dar El Imzad
The spaces of Dar El Imzad
The activities at Dar el Imzad
Learning the imzad
Making the imzad
Other cultural expressions
Library
Studio
Dance hall
Rehearsal room
Fair trade
Craftsmanship
Activities and events — Dar El Imzad
Dar el Imzad - A center of cultural influence
Thanks to the will of a people and to companies fighting for true sustainable development
a dream has become reality – Dar El Imzad is today a beacon radiating over the whole region.