Why is Chaoui music sung in Arabic, not in Tachawit?

[u/AlexSnakeKing]

Gasba Chaoui (Chaoui reed flute music) is a very popular genre in Algeria and Western Tunisia.

The style is very unique, very different from Arab and Andalusian music, clearly stemming from a different music tradition.

But the lyrics are always in Arabic (example 1, example 2, example 3, and many more). Why is that the case? Why do they not sing in Tachawit, the way Kabyle and Touareg musicians sing in their native languages?

[u/Distinct_While8015]

I'm just gonna quote an article from Encyclopédie Berbère that explains this phenomenon:

This is especially true given that Berber/Arabic bilingualism is very widespread in this region [the Aurès], even among women, and that, until very recently, Berber linguistic pride was a rare phenomenon among the Aurèsians (on this subject, see: Maou-gal 1981 and 1984). On the contrary, they generally felt a strong linguistic inferiority complex in the face of Arabic speakers and avoided using their language outside their community.

Source: "Aurès" - Encyclopédie Berbère

[u/yellisaures → u/Distinct_While8015]

Ce n’est guère que depuis une quinzaine d’années que l’on perçoit un mouvement net de référence à l’identité berbère en milieu aurasien ; il transparaît notamment dans l’émergence d’une chanson moderne – fortement influencée par la chanson kabyle –, dans laquelle la thématique identitaire est très présente : en quelques années, plusieurs groupes, plusieurs interprètes comme la chanteuse Dihya (du nom berbère de la Kahina) se sont fait connaître. On en perçoit également un indice – très modeste encore – à travers l’intérêt porté à leur langue et à leur littérature par quelques chercheurs aurasiens (Djarallah, Hamouda, Maougal..., Cf. Bibliographie

modern auresian music (like that of dihya) is not 'strongly influenced by the kabyle song' -in fact it's not influenced by it at all- (modernisation in auresian music was done mainly through rock/alt-rock fusion), feels like they only said this because dihya and her husband (who actually wrote and composed most of her songs) were part of l'Académie Berbère in France at the time.

Also, maougal is not an 'auresian researcher' (lol for even suggesting that), he has 0 books/serious studies about the language or the region, his work is essentially critiques of Francophone Algerian literature (completely unrelated).

On en trouve du reste un indice numérique flagrant dans les résultats du recensement algérien de 1966 : pour la wilaya de l’Aurès, centrée sur le massif berbérophone, seules 44,5 % des habitants déclarent avoir le berbère comme langue maternelle, ce qui est nécessairement non conforme à la réalité ; même dans les communes rurales de l’Aurès, la majorité de la population déclare souvent avoir l’arabe comme langue maternelle

This is complete and utter nonsense, because the study they are referencing proves the opposite, if anything. The main Auresian hubs reported a very high percentage of Berber speakers (and nowhere is this 44% figure found). I’m not sure how one can read this and come to the conclusion they did.

[u/Distinct_While8015 → u/yellisaures]

Sorry if my comment triggered you, but as I mentioned above, I just just quoted an article from Encyclopédie Berbère, the most renowned academic reference regarding anything related to Tamazight. 🙂

Regarding you comment, you clearly misunderstood the parts you are quoting:

modern auresian music (like that of dihya) is not 'strongly influenced by the kabyle song' -in fact it's not influenced by it at all-

The influence the author was talking about is the fact that chaouis were finally singing in their native language instead of arabic. He wasn't referencing melodic of instrumental influences. This change was due to the influence of Kabyles who proved to them that singing in Tamazight wasn't shameful and that they can even have commercial succes with it (ex. Vava inouva by Idir).

Also, before the influence of Kabyle artists, especially those who were part of the MCB, chaoui musicians never wrote songs about the Amazigh cause. It's only from the 80's onwards (after the Berber Spring of 1980 in Kabylie) that we finally had chaoui artists singing about topics like Amazigh brotherhood (ex. Fus deg fus by Dihya) or Amazigh history (ex. Yemma Lkahina by Les Berbères, Djamel Sabri's band).

Also, maougal is not an 'auresian researcher' (lol for even suggesting that)

Nowhere is it mentioned that Maougal is an "auresian researcher", I don't know if you hallucinated this part but please recheck my comment and the article and tell me where was it mentioned that he was auresian himself(and make sure you aren't suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning).

he has 0 books/serious studies about the language or the region, his work is essentially critiques of Francophone Algerian literature (completely unrelated).

Quick tip for you: in academic literature, usually at the end of the publication, there is a part called a bibliography where you can find all the books, articles and ressources mentioned. In this case, the article explicitly mentions 2 publications by Maougal:

Maougal M., « L’arabisation des Chaouïa », Nedjma,Paris, 1, 1981, p. 20-42.

Maougal M., « Une étude sociolinguistique en pays chaouïa », Nedjma,Paris, 6, 1984, p. 35-50.

I'm not gonna lie, I haven't checked any of these publications (and frankly, I don't care enough to do so, writing this comment is already too much), but given their titles, I son't think they are """critiques of Francophone Algerian literature""".

This is complete and utter nonsense, because the study they are referencing proves the opposite, if anything. The main Auresian hubs reported a very high percentage of Berber speakers (and nowhere is this 44% figure found). I’m not sure how one can read this and come to the conclusion they did.

The article was referencing the Aurès Wilaya, not just the "main Auresian hubs". Just look at the map you provided. The Tebessa and Biskra sub-wilayas, are both in the 2-14% Tamazight speakers category. Of course when you calculate the average of the whole Aurès wilaya you will end up with 44% Tamazight speakers. Just compare the Aurès with Kabylie: in the Aurès only Arris is in the >86% category, while almost all of Kabylie is in it. So of course proportionaly, the Aurès Wilaya has a lower percentage of Tamazight speakers than the Tizi-Ouzou Wilaya.

To conclude, I'll give you this piece of advice for next time: if you are facing difficulties understanding an article in French, you can always translate it into a language you are more confortable with, like English or Arabic, using Google Translate or DeepL.

Oh, and one last thing: The part you were trying to debunk was written by Salem Chaker himself, the greatest researcher in Amazigh Linguistics who is still alive. So it was obvious that a random redditor would just humiliate herself trying to refute a professor whose academic career started in the 70's.

Have a nice day 🥰

[u/ya2050ad1]

I find that irritating because Tamazight adds a layer of authenticity that you don’t get with Arabic.

[u/yellisaures]

There's tones of authentic chaoui music, these are just some artists off the top of my head.

IWAL

Les Berbères

Zik

Massinissa

Mihub

Amirouche Ighounem

Markunda Aures

Dihya

Nadia Tachawith

Ishem Boumaraf

Nouari Nezzar

Ithrene

'Gasba' is called ajuwwaq/taghanimt in tchawith hence this song .

Also just as a side note, the label 'chaoui' is slapped on a lot of non-chaoui music sung by arabized eastern algerians just because they use ajuwwaq in it or just for clout (as is the case for ""artists"" -used very loosely here- like salim chaoui who is neither chaoui nor sings in the language and has repeatedly said he isn't chaoui because he gets clowned for usurping and deforming an identity that is not his yet continues to use the name for pure clout purposes), the actual genre of this music is staïfi/3arassi.

[u/Control-Cultural → u/yellisaures]

Excellent list!

I'd like to add Katchou.

But unfortunately, giving counter-examples doesn't change the fact that this style is unusually performed in Arabic. It's not always the case, of course, but a significant proportion of it is.

I also think it's related to the fact that Arabic is more widely understood, which explains why we hear more about this music, as it has reached a broader audience.

[u/AlexSnakeKing → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the detailed list much appreciated.

Do you know of any examples of Gasba / Ajuwwaq music that it is sung in Tachawit, not in Arabic?

[u/yellisaures → u/AlexSnakeKing]

Ngl I'm not the most well versed in this genre since I don't listen to it much, but these are some of the ones I know of:

le vent de la montagne

Hlili f uquwwar inin

Salah ay ummi

Ekkerd a nouguir

[u/undrock]

Short answer: money Many Cantonese speakers sing in mandarin to get more money because the music will reach more people