Bibliography

« The Sahara, that ocean of stone and sand, is an immense legend that will not be dispelled any time soon.» 

These deeply felt words are those of Farida Sellal, president of the association Sauver l’imzad; she spoke them during a public meeting in Tamanrasset.

Full of passion, she has just brought out a book, Sahara, royaume des silences, with Casbah éditions — a beautiful book that returns in part to this indelible passion, that of the local music, the imzad, and that of a region, the south of the country. The writer had already published, in 1991, a gripping and moving book, Farès, reissued by Casbah édition, in which she recounts an atrocious, indescribable suffering. The book, as has always been explained since its release, is an indictment against «indifference and inhumanity in the face of a desperate situation ». « When the pain lies at the very depths of oneself, and there is no alternative, writing remains the only escape that allows the anguish to be drawn out », it was further explained upon reading this painful account of a grieving but courageous mother who confronts everything for her son.

The indifference of which the readers and the narrator speak is perceptible not only in the face of more individual problems, but also with regard to the heritage of an entire country — and the imzad is very much a part of it. Farida Sellal took the trouble to set up an association, one of the most active in the south of the country, to reclaim this part of ourselves of which we cannot let go without wounding ourselves. The imzad is that single-stringed instrument of Tuareg music, used exclusively by very elderly women, stocky in build, but whose wisdom commands the respect of many. Few of them remain, and the only ones who hold the tradition are very old. Transmission between generations is scarcely easy, it is maintained. Several initiatives have been taken by Mme Sellal, such as the creation of stamps devoted to the imzad in Tamanrasset, which she would like to develop in collaboration with several institutions. She began her career as a telecommunications engineer, within the postal and telecommunications administration of the south, which would remain her passion throughout the rest of her life.

There are images that are worth more than the most finely turned speeches. Were we to need another proof to establish the soundness of this premise, we would have only to open the magnificent work that Farida Sellal has just published with Casbah Editions, bearing as its simple title, but in letters of silver, the word « Imzad ». For here is a book that seizes us from the very first image — the one that, illustrating its jacket, depicts the modestly veiled face of a young Tuareg woman — and then leads us through a learned itinerary into a world that the illusory pursuit of modernity came within a hair of burying in final oblivion. This world is one of the facets of Tuareg culture which, having awakened the sensibility of a great lady, was able, thanks to her, to take the paths   of rebirth. The great lady is Farida Sellal, whose lens has known how to capture the striking photographic sequences that reveal, through a single-stringed instrument — a masterpiece of women’s craftsmanship whose sound carries far — an immemorial heritage. Relating in words and images her immersion in the world of the imzad, Farida Sellal shows us how she was able to labour for the rescue of this art and, first of all, by what course: strong in an awareness of the threat that weighed upon it and in the conviction that its cultural, historical and identitary weight is of the kind that merits every sacrifice, she succeeded in having it inscribed on the list of the cultural heritage of humanity in December 2013. This « imzad adventure » gave rise to a beautiful book of an editorial quality nothing less than remarkable under our skies. The images — scenes, landscapes and portraits — are a delight for the eye ; the texts, where scholarly information sits alongside extracts from the many poems associated with the imzad (in their original text and their French translation), are documentary treasures.

One senses, as one advances throughout the three hundred and some pages that make up this volume, how deeply the author invested herself in this publication, made not only to take an honourable place in the finest libraries, but also to be an invaluable work of reference.

« Imzad » by Farida SELLAL – Casbah Editions 2016- 340 pages.