Ten-day musical residency held in the Sahara Desert in Morocco between RedTail Spirit Singers, an Indigenous drum group from Canada, and Génération Taragalte, a young nomadic group from M’Hamid El Ghizlane, Morocco.
Artists
RedTail Spirit Singers
Founded in 2004, RedTail Spirit Singers debuted in Kanehsatà:ke with a very modest idea: to offer options to youth through singing, drumming, and dancing workshops, as well as pow-wow related activities.
Génération Taragalte
Génération Taragalte’s repertoire is inspired by traditional songs that have punctuated the great trans-Saharan caravans throughout the centuries. Like certain Moroccan groups such as the famous Nass El Ghiwane, they reinterpret songs by women poets (like the guedra) and Sahrawi tales, harmonizing them with blues and rock sounds. Their repertoire blends Hassanya and Tamasheq languages.
Exchanging two different rhythms: A traditional drum group – RedTail Spirit Singers from Canada and Generation Taragalte from the Moroccan Sahara, was a hard task. Yet, the result makes it clear to me that indeed music is a language spirits can communicate with.
Abdellah Azizi – Azifoto, Ouarzazate, Morocco
Nathalie Lévesque had dreamed of this musical encounter, amidst the Sahara dunes… with the Pow-wow of Quebec’s Indigenous peoples… Then, three winters later, through sheer determination and hard work, this improbable scene magically materialized in the heart of the night, at the Taragalte Festival, you should have seen the Intercultural Idea Merchant cry with joy. The billions of stars in the celestial vault reflected in her tears of joy: she had dreamed it, and her dream came true, against all odds. The future belongs to dreamers! Hats off, Nathalie!
Robert Dray – Very good music – Cultural activist/Music lover, France
