Tuareg Camel Folk Music

In this episode, we take a camel-back trip across the Sahara and discover how the Tuareg have immortalized their most beloved animal companion in word and song.

Aminucrus, CC BY-SA 4, via Wikimedia Commons

Tuareg camel names reflect their colorful variety and unique characteristics!

Some Tuareg camel names

I hope you enjoy the episode!

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Watch

• Camel Dance

• Double Bell Music by Tuareg camel caravan drivers in Ténéré desert, Niger, Africa

References

• Andah, Bassey, et al. The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns. Routledge, 2014. pp 65 – 66

• Camels, Sand, and Celebration: The Tuareg Festival

• Rasmussen, Susan J. “Within the Tent and at the Crossroads: Travel and Gender Identity among the Tuareg of Niger.” Ethos, vol. 26, no. 2, 1998, pp. 153–82. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/640675. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

• Rennell, Francis James Rennell Rodd Baron, and Rennell Rodd. People of the Veil: Being an Account of the Habits, Organisation and History of the Wandering Tuareg Tribes which Inhabit the Mountains of Air, Or Asben in the Central Sahara. MacMillan, 1926. p195

• Rodd, Peter Rennell, et al. “Translations of Tuareg Poems.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, vol. 5, no. 1, 1928, pp. 109–12. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/607787. Accessed 21 Apr. 2024.

• Standifer, James A. “The Tuareg: Their Music and Dances.” The Black Perspective in Music, vol. 16, no. 1, 1988, pp. 45–62. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1215126. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.

• Stone, Ruth M., ed. The Garland Handbook of African Music. New York: Routledge, 2008. p269

• What Are Desert Blues? The Wonderful World of Tuareg Music

Songs/Sound Effects (in order of occurrence and with repetitions)

• Sandstorm - Gold Tape: 55 56 Weather Wind by Craig Smith of USC

• Camel moaning in distance and Camels grunt and call from SSE Library: Animals by Craig Smith of USC

• Mythological Africans by Phende

• Camel Song – Tuareg Music Of The Southern Sahara by Tuareg Folkways Records (FE 4470)

• Sandstorm - Gold Tape: 55 56 Weather Wind by Craig Smith of USC

• Akoli Daoel – Imzad solo by Ajjo a Tuareg musician from the Kel Tamesna tribe (Agadez region, northern Niger). She performs this tune in honour of the Nigerien MP and radio journalist, Akoli Daouel (1937-) who is also the chief of the Tuareg tribe of the Kel Tamesna.

• Untraced Tuareg Woman - Berceuse Touareg

• Tinde des Femmes from Hoggar - Music of the Tuareg by Nadia Mécheri & Jean-Louis Lamande

• Camel Song – Tuareg Music Of The Southern Sahara by Tuareg Folkways Records (FE 4470)

• Song of Tuareg Women from An Anthology of African Music: Chad-Kanem by Monique Brandily

• Sandstorm - Gold Tape: 55 56 Weather Wind by Craig Smith of USC

• Caravan Song – Hoggar - Music of the Tuareg by Nadia Mécheri & Jean-Louis Lamande

• Tinariwen Live at Neumos 2011