In Niger, preserving the cultural practice of the Imzad strengthens women's role as messengers of peace
The Imzad - a single-stringed bowed instrument - is a cornerstone of Tuareg culture, and has been part of life in Algeria, Mali, and Niger for centuries.
For the Tuareg, the Imzad is more than an instrument—it's an expression of identity and a call to respect the ashak, a code of conduct and shared values. As a traditional Tuareg saying goes, “You can't have anything... but with the Imzad, you have honor, courage and bravery.”
In a society where men generally occupy public space, female Imzad musicians are an exception. Only women play the Imzad, and these musicians assume powerful roles within the community. However, the legacy of the Imzad was gradually dying out, with the tradition no longer being passed on from the older generations.
When an imzad player says something, many people respect what she has to say.
- Tamlait Tababekou, an Imzad musician from Niger
The young women learned to make an Imzad from local materials: a gourd, tanned leather, horsehair, and wood.
In 2016, the Initiative for Community Cohesion in Niger (ICNC) began supporting local musician Tamlait Tababekou to organize teaching workshops where she was able to pass on her knowledge to 15 young girls in Agadez. Another Imzad master, Almadinaht Ibrahim, ran a parallel workshop with 15 girls in Gougaram, a small town further north in the Sahara desert.
In each workshop, women aged between 14 and 30 learned to make the instrument from local materials - a gourd, tanned leather, horsehair and wood. They then decorated the instrument and learned to play it.
Would you like to learn how to make an Imzad? Take a look at this brochure.
Here, women play a key role in educating young people and recognizing potentially dangerous changes in behavior. Female Imzad players have an added advantage: they have an influential public role in society and are seen as agents of change with the power to make a real difference in their communities. To find out more, visit this USAID Medium article.
We believe that local culture and identity are key factors in making a community more resistant to extremist ideology. In a conservative society like Niger, cultural activities give women access to a public space to voice relevant messages in a way that is perceived as culturally appropriate.
— Marilena Crosato, Community Mobilization Officer, IOM Regional Office for West and Central Africa
Women with the imzads they've made
Lessons Learned on Community Engagement
- In practice, it is important to look for creative ideas that are linked to community needs. The practice of Imzad in Niger was disappearing but was still greatly valued by the community.
- Community engagement strategies work best when they build on existing cultural practices and are implemented in stages. In this case, it involves making the Imzads, learning to play them, then organizing community events and disseminating messages. It's essential to allow sufficient time for the development of technical skills.
- Make sure that participants will be self-sufficient by the end of the project cycle. In this case, developing the tool was part of the sustainability guarantee.
- Produce accessible tools for sharing knowledge, such as the illustrated booklet on imzad commissioning a local artist. This booklet includes a comic strip on one of the traditional stories of how this music came to be. To prepare, artist Sani Djibo had to attend the workshop and spend time with the woman who ran it, listening to her stories. The first hand-drawn designs were shared with an experienced Imzad player and others for feedback before being finalized.
Young women take part in imzad training in Agadez.
Summary
- Imzad players, traditionally women, are highly respected and valued as community leaders. Enabling more young women to learn and practice this practice was therefore an organic form of empowerment.
- In Niger, women have few public decision-making spaces at community level; art and culture are accepted spaces where they can express their specific needs. The women who were trained were able to share messages of peace as well as more specific gender-related messages through imzad music, such as concerns about safety and the negative impact of certain male behaviors in the community.
- The transmission of traditional cultural knowledge can strengthen intergenerational links between young people and elders.
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