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The Tuareg, the legendary desert
people, are undergoing a process of cultural change as the modern world
has impinged upon them and they have partly abandoned their traditional nomadic way of life. Their centuries-old culture is threatened with extinction.
This is also true of music played on the Imzad, the one-stringed Tuareg violin.
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The Imzad consists of a halved calebash, covered with goatskin, often decorated
with painted ornamentation or the Tuareg Tifînagh characters. The string of the instrument is like that of the bow made of horsetail hair.
The Imzad is played only by women who accompany the singing of either one or two men. They sing lyrics in Tamâhaq, the language of the Tuareg, which tell of
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