FAIR TRADE MOROCCAN WOODEN BERBER FLUTE / RECORDER 556/7

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Traditional hand-made Berber Flute made from wood, metal Dimensions 27cm long approx (may vary slightly due to handmade nature of product) available in dark/light. Please check availability before buying if this is vital. each one is unique. The Berbers The Berbers were living in North Africa long before the arrival of the Arabs – their culture probably dates back more than 4,000 years. Today, there are substantial Berber populations in Morocco and Algeria, plus smaller numbers in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Collectively, the Berbers refer to themselves as Imazighen or Amaziah – “free and noble men”. The word Berber comes from an Arabic word, possibly borrowed from the Latin – and ultimately Ancient Greek – barbari, signifying the non-Latin speaking people of the Maghreb. In Morocco, about 40% of the population – approximately 8,900,000 people – acknowledge a Berber identity, though many more claim the ancestry. The origins of the Berbers remain uncertain. The not unusual occurrence of blond or red hair plus blue or green eyes hints at a possible European derivation. The Berbers of Morocco are of three main types which, in turn, are sub-divided into countless tribes: the Riffians of the north; the Chleuhs from the Middle and High Atlas and the Soussi, found in the southwest. The Berbers are most strongly identifiable by their language, which is split into three distinct dialects: Riffi in the Rif Mountains and northern Morocco, Tashelhaït in the High Atlas, Anti-Atlas and the south and Zaian or Tamazight in the Middle Atlas and Central Morocco. All are incomprehensible to most Arabs. The Chleuhs of the High Atlas in Morocco inhabit the river valleys that cut down deeply into the massif. Their villages, with populations of several hundred inhabitants, are often perched high up on mountain crests, at an altitude of more than 6,500 feet. Terraced houses, crowded one up against the other, are built round a communal fortified threshing floor, or grouped around the threshing floor-plus-dwelling of the most important family in that particular community. The mountain slopes surrounding the village are used for either pasturage or cultivation. Wheat, barley, fruits, vegetables, nuts and olives are all grown. If the land is irrigated there may well be two crops a year – cereals in winter and vegetables in summer. Cattle and goats are kept, together with oxen, mules, camels and horses. Sheep are grazed on low-lying land in winter and on the uplands in summer. It was only in the twentieth century that the country was finally subdued by a central city-based government. Until then much of rural Morocco was known as the bled es siba – land of lawlessness – where Berber tribes, led by local Sheikhs, fought tooth and nail, while the more easily controlled city and coastal areas were known as the bled el makhzan or land of government. As a result of this continual unrest, many Berber houses, although they have been standing for many hundreds of years, have often been inhabited for only relatively short periods of time. Whole villages were often abandoned, sometimes for generations, leaving the houses empty and crumbling. When times improved and peace, at least for a short while, reigned then the old houses would be re-occupied, the top floors rebuilt and so the cycle went on. The typical house is flat-roofed and made of pisé – rammed earth or clay – and will have three or four floors. Oxen and goats are penned together on the bottom floor. Scraps are dropped through a hole in the ceiling from the kitchen above – a rather eco-friendly and efficient form of waste disposal. Farming tools and equipment for making flour and grinding coffee are also kept down here. If there is a toilet, this is where you will find it. A better or more prestigious house has a stairway or ladder up to the next floor, both inside and out, thus avoiding the rather insalubrious bottom floor. The kitchen occupies the main floor-space on this level. Grouped round it ... read more

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