SONGS OF THE AURÈS
Texts, rhythms and melodies from the chaouis repertoires
April 14 to 18, 2025
TEACHING PROGRAMME
The aim of this course is to introduce the students to the repertoire of a very local region: the mountainous east-central part of Algeria.
From love songs and mystically inspired qasidas to dance melodies and rahabias, this course will explore the Algerian repertoire of the Aurès region, handed down from generation to generation.
Like dance, the bendir is a central element of Auresian rhythm. Using the bendir will make it easier to understand the highly elaborate structures of Chaoui songs.
The course will focus on learning the melodies, basic rhythmic systems and ornamentation of the Aurès repertoire.
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVE
At the end of the course, trainees will be able to :
1. Sing themes from an oral world music repertoire.
– Memorise and reproduce the themes studied from an oral world music repertoire.
– Apply collective playing methods relating to the tradition studied.
2. Use vocal techniques appropriate to the oral tradition studied.
– Repeat the specific vocal techniques of the Chaoui oral tradition.
3. Interpret musical themes from a world music repertoire, respecting stylistic elements.
– Use vocal timbres characteristic of the oral tradition studied.
– Practise rhythmic forms used in the musical tradition studied.
– Apply the ornamentation characteristic of the Chaoui musical tradition.
– Use improvisation or variations characteristic of the musical tradition studied.
4. Analyse themes characteristic of the Chaoui oral tradition.
– Recognise and identify the stylistic elements of a repertoire from the oral tradition studied.
– Describe and analyse a repertoire from the oral tradition studied.
– Contextualise the themes studied in the oral tradition studied.
CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION
Open to all.
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PRESENTATION OF THE SPEAKER
Born in the Aurès region, Houria AÏCHI left to study sociology in Paris in the 1970s.
She was teaching sociology when, in 1985, she began performing traditional songs from her childhood (lullabies, love songs, etc.), accompanied by traditional instruments (gasba, bendir).
She recorded two albums in this vein.
She also took part in the music for Bernardo Bertolucci’s film ‘Un thé au Sahara’ (1990).
She took part in the recording of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s album “Heart Beat” in 1992.
Her third album, “Khalwa”, produced in collaboration with Henri Agnel, was devoted to the sacred songs of Algeria.
She recorded another album paying tribute to Algerian female voices in 2015.
The theme of her latest album, released in 2022, is the courtly love of the Aurès.