Berber festival helps keep language and culture alive.

• published: 23 Jul 2015
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AP Television Agadir, July 1st 2009 1. Various of Raissa Talbensirt an Amazigh singer performing on stage at the Timitar festival 2. SOUNDBITE (Amazigh) Raissa Talbensirt, Amazigh Singer: "The way people enjoy music has changed. But there are still people taking care of our traditional music. The big changes come down to the way music is heard - CD's, DVD's and video clips." AP Television Agadir, July 4th 2009 3. Various of students in the Amazigh class at the Ibn Zohr University in Agadir 4. SOUNDBITE (French) Aischa El Bardoun, student at the Ibn Zohr University, Agadir "All the students are optimistic and enthusiastic to have the same experience because the teaching of Amazigh in Morocco is not a new field. But it it's almost virgin territory, because this is almost the first time this course has been offered and there is a great future if you get a degree in the language." 5. Various of Dr. Ahmed Sabir, Dean of the Faculty of Letters, Ibn Zohr University looking at an Amazigh textbook 6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Dr. Ahmed Sabir, Dean of the Faculty of Letters, Ibn Zohr University, Agadir, Morocco "When we let it be known that we were going to offer a first degree and masters degree in Amazigh language and culture, our anxiety was principally how to control the flood of students who wanted to enrol on the course. As soon as we declared that applications for the course were open hundreds and hundreds of students showed themselves interested in the training. We were obliged to control numbers and to explain that just because you can speak Amazigh doesn't mean you will be able to make a good living in Amazigh." AP Television Agadir, July 2nd 2009 7. Various of Amazigh group Amayno performing their sound check on stage prior to their performance at the Timitar festival 8. SOUNDBITE (Amazigh) Ahmed Boulefra, Musician: "I'd say that our band has been able to be quite creative both when we write songs and come to do the arrangement. We can put quite a lot of innovation into the style of the music that we have now arrived at. This is because some of the instruments are different from those used traditionally, but there is always a certain rhythm and scale in the sound of Amazigh music and of course that shapes our musical work. We have rooted our music in its origins but then have worked out our own path." 9. Various of Adulah Aourik an Amazigh artist with musicians backstage at the Timitar Festival 10. SOUNDBITE (Amazigh) Adulah Aourik, Artist and Amazigh Activist: "What we want is to have Amazigh as the official language in the constitution. We feel that it will be appropriate to alter that part of the constitution that says the official language is Arabic and replace that with Amazigh. We don't want any other language." 11. Various of Amazigh rap group Rap2Bled performing in the street, rapping in Amazigh STORYLINE: LEAD IN: In Morocco more than 50 per cent of the population speak "Amazigh" - the official term for the Berber languages. Amazigh is a group of dialects that are used from the Rif mountains in the north to the plains of Agadir and beyond. Although the language has been purely oral until recently, it is now attracting attention with courses in the language and culture on offer. It is also at the heart of a huge open-air annual concert. STORYLINE: At the annual Berber festival in Agadir, Raissa Talbensirt, one of the divas of Amazigh music performs a song about the struggles her people have been through to gain recognition. Talbensirt is part of a generation who only sings and speaks in Amazigh. Her compositions recall times past. The Amazigh language is not only being protected through music in Morocco. Backstage, musicians have gathered for a jamming session. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3bc6a1f0a5d8c591446fc7e7a5c181e2 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork