Par
Arnaud Gicquello
Published on
Oct 21, 2024 at 3:02 a.m.
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This year, music from the Maghreb will be featured at the Sailors’ Crosson the occasion of the Bogue d’or festival of traditional culture in Upper Brittany. THE Saturday October 26, 2024during the Chicass’nozfrom 9 p.m., three musicians from the Diwan of Biskra will take over the stage of the big top. They will offer songs from their repertoire inspired by a ceremonial calling for dance and trance.
Biskrait is the name of the city which constitutes the great eastern gateway to the Algerian Sahara. There we practice the diwan, a ceremonial from southern Algeriastrongly mixed, which establishes a junction between the two Africas: the black and the white.
” The ceremony of the diwan is very ritualized», explains Ilyan Zekri, development manager of the association “Improvised arts”, based in Orne, which produces Diwan de Biskra. “It is with music, songs and dance that is accomplished the ascent to the spirit world . »
“A Saharan opera”
Originating from orality, the traditional music of the diwan exists for centuriesand have been adapted for shows in the 1990s. The musical group took the name from the ritualized ceremony and “it is Camel Zekri director of the Diwan of Biskra from 1992 to 2022, who structured this projectand contributed to perpetuating this cultural heritage by importing it, particularly in France,” continues Ilyan Zekri.
The tradition dates back to early 20th century when Biskrawelcomes populations from the sub-Saharan region. Gate of the desert, the city becomes a crossroads where multiple languages and customs coexist . The music bears the traces of this miscegenation cultural. ” THE instrumentsall have for origin black Africa like the “benga” or “ganga”, which designates in Biskra and Niamey, the circular drum with two skins. »
The ceremony also includes dances, songs, percussion and tranceswhere colors and melodies have great symbolic importance. “From this point of view, we can perhaps see in the diwan a kind of Saharan opera. »
A song remembered
In 2008musicians from the Diwan of Biskra – who are not the same as those of 2024 – had already performed at the Golden Bug . “They notably performed a song which is one of the repertoire classicsof the County, “Souda ya soda”, which has since remained in Breton memories. The musicians planned to replay this song during the Chicass’noz . »
The evening of October 262024 is coming festive and dancing“like the diwan ceremonies in Algeria. The group will play the repertoire in a version arranged for three musicians, alternating the rhythms and songs of the Diwan as well as the voice and bagpipe playing. And to hear Ilyan Zekri, the public will not be disoriented by the African team: song to answer , bagpipes (our check is arab), bombs (ghaïta), the similarities with Breton musicare more numerous than it seems.
Strong links with Brittany
Moreover, two days earlier, the Thursday October 24 the group from the Maghreb will perform in Le Canal theaterfrom Redon. Members will share the stage with three Breton musiciansincluding the singer and bell ringer Maud Madec. On the menu, a new repertoire nourished by the rhythms and languages of each country.
“The musicians of the Diwan have a very strong connection with Breton culture. The term “diwan ” thus has the particularity of being present in several languages. In Algeria, it means “meeting, assembly”,et in Brittany “to germinate, to emerge from the ground” . From this astonishing polysemy between Arabic and Breton emerged this unique creative project, entitled Diwan Diwân, or the musical meeting of Brittany and Algeria. »
After immersive training in the land of the fennecs, under the direction of members of the Diwan of Biskra, the six Breton and Algerian musicians, gathered in residence at the Le Canal theater, will thus put together a unpublished repertoiremixing Breton and Algerian culture.
” This collective creation he will propose a musical hybridization nourished by the rhythms and languages of each country, but also similarities of orality and song systems to respondspecific to traditional music from Algeria and Brittanythus covering both horizons”, promises Ilyan Zekri who believes that this show will reveal the links which are being consolidated with Brittany.
“Diwan Diwân” concert at Le Canal theater, Thursday October 24 at 8:30 p.m. Okba Soudani: direction, derbouka, karkabous, singing, drums; Hamma Araba: singing, karkabous, drums; Samir Hausa: chekwa (bagpipes), ghaïta; Jean-Félix Hautbois: percussion, vocals; Maude Madec: vocals, bombs; Camille Stimbre: violin.
By reservation on 02 23 10 10 80. Prices: from €5 to €19.
The three musicians from the Diwan of Biskra will also perform at the Croix des Sailors, on Saturday October 26, on the occasion of Chicass’noz, from 9 p.m. One-day pass: €7; three-day pass: €20; free for under 18s.
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