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Timbuktu, no Mali. Cidade de lendas e ainda centro nevrálgico do comércio do sal vindo de Taoudenni, um lugar desolado, 700 quilómetros para norte. The Last Salt Caravan acompanha esta caravana de salicultura varrida pelos ventos do deserto que, ao longo dos séculos, transporta o sal sob o sol escaldante das planícies áridas. O documentário é de Março de 1999 e tem a duração de 43 min..
The Last Salt Caravan
Timbuktu in Mali – city of legends, and still a centre for the salt trade. Salt comes from Taoudenni, a desolate place 700km away in the north. From here, it has been carried by camel for centuries. This wind-swept, sun-drenched film follows the ancient salt caravan.
Mali in north-west Africa. Once ruled by a mighty dynasty and one of Africa's wealthiest countries. Today it's one of the world's poorest. In the Middle Ages Timbuktu flourished in trade and culture. A kilo of salt was worth a kilo of gold. The trade still exists; despite the harsh conditions young people are signing up to become caravan drivers. Work is scarce. The Persian word "caravan" means protection of trade, and larger caravans were more secure. The nomadic Tuareg have traditionally chosen this trade. Ali, is a Tuareg, a desert Nomad. Shrouded in blue tunic and scarf to avoid inhaling the desert, he prepares his caravan of camels for the journey to the bleak salt mines of Taoudenni. Ali knows the desert well - travelling this route for many years. During the day he navigates by the sand ripples and the form of the dunes. At night the stars point the way. This is an unearthly world. But Ali's heart is heavy - his family is still in a refugee camp in neighbouring Mauritania, victims of Mali's civil war. Shortly outside Timbuktu we cross a caravan laden with salt blocks, which has just made it back after 40 days' walk. Skeletons of animals which fell along the way are witness to the often deadly price of crossing the desert. At a nomad camp Mahamud tells us 'I love the way we live. Things were only hard during the civil war. They took my goats and camels and simply slaughtered them'. And then at last, the first water well. Camels can live for 2 weeks without water, and a thirsty animal can drink over one hundred litres in one go. Stories are exchanged over green tea. And the caravans continue to pass…Before the civil war tourists who were fascinated by the nomad culture of the desert used to come here. Ali spent 4 years as a desert guide showing them his way of life. But in 1990 the civil war changed all that. This godforsaken Place was forsaken by even the tourists. Left to live out a harsh life in quiet solitude. The war started when the Tuareg rebelled against the government. They wanted to win autonomy but the army hit back mercilessly. Only last year did all groups agree on peace. For five years, the entire north of Mali and almost half of the country was an impassable war zone. The 80’000 refugees have slowly been trickling back since 1996. They are no longer nomads, they want to settle.At the salt mines life is even harder. 6’000 years ago this was a huge lake from the river Niger. The salt is a remnant of that time. Miners hack painful blocks of salt from the earth. Poor quality slabs are carved from the first layers. Beneath lies the salt that is highly prized. Every layer has a name. First comes 'the white', then 'the daughter', 'the top beauty' and then 'the beautiful'. The working conditions are inhuman. Salt eats into the skin in sun which burns without mercy. For three long months Baba will quarry salt here. His home is made of salt. It keeps neither wind nor cold out at night. Increasingly, black men - descendants of the former slaves of the Tuareg - do the hard work. 'Salt workers often die here. We don’t have medicine and the water is salty. We must buy drinking water every day' says Baba.Camels, are by far the most highly performing beasts of burden. We get to know them as never before. They are great source of comfort to their fellow beasts of burden: man. Their dung provides fuel for cooking and their milk sustenance. Each morning, the cranky creatures rise with the sun and stretch and moan as their front legs are unbound. Each night they moan even louder as their legs are bound up to stop up them running away. The dextrous traders bridle the animals with care, avoiding their foul yellow teeth. Once linked together, the camel train resign themselves to their fate. As do the desert nomads.
via The Journeyman
Publisher: Journeyman
Length: 43mins 30secs
Location: Mali
Copyright: ©Marion Mayer Hohdahl
Published: 1 Jan, 1999
Last Updated: 26 Nov, 2010
Ref: 552
Cf. também um outro documentário: Tuareg's Return Home (Mali, Maio de 1997)
Resumo:
A report on the plight of the nomadic Tuareg people of the Sahara.
For centuries the deserts of northern Mali have sustained the Tuareg; herdsmen known as the 'blue people' of the Sahara. But, in the 1990s the combination of droughts and civil war forced most to abandon their herds and flee to refugee camps in Mauritania. Now Moussa Ag Mohammed is returning to his land; but the loss of his herds, and the remorseless advance of the desert, means his ancient lifestyle is doomed. Mohammet Ali, whose lineage can be traced back twelve hundred years, digs with pitiful tools to maintain an ever sinking well against the dusty backdrop of the desert plains. He refused to fight or flee during the war, sticking by his philosophy 'If it is hot where you are, it's even hotter somewhere else'. Orphaned Faty and her brother tend their precious market garden on a patch of sand outside the village; every last drop of water must be pumped by hand. The Tuareg are still pessimistic that their way of life will die out as their children migrate to the towns for an 'easier' lifestyle.
E para acompanhar, nunca é de mais sugerir que se percorra o trabalho dos Tinariwen:
Tinariwen no BBC Folk Festival, em 2005
Segue-se um excerto de uma 'jam session' dos Tinariwen com o mítico Robert Plant, durante um concerto em Paris, a 7 de Abril de 2007. A péssima qualidade do som e da imagem são perfeitamente sofríveis, diante da pérola que representa vê-los a interpretarem juntos a tremendíssima malha dos Led Zeppelin: Whole lotta love.
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Estive por diversas vezes com os Tinariwen. Muitas delas entrevistando-os, outras apenas assistindo às suas actuações em Portugal ou no estrangeiro, integrados em Festivais ou em concertos exclusivamente seus. Nunca aconteceu de ficar um registo vídeo de nenhuma dessas ocasiões. Porque vale a pena relatar a sua história de viva voz, deixo um especial sobre o grupo – Music of Resistance: Tinariwen – realizado pela TV Al Jazeera em Fevereiro de 2009.
As tribos nómadas tuaregues passaram por anos de seca e guerra civil. A única constante através desta dificuldade tem sido a música de Tinariwen.
Os elementos do grupo são kal tamashegs (tuaregues) e foram em tempos soldados rebeldes treinados na vizinha Líbia do coronel Kadhafi. Após anos de luta e violência decidiram depor as armas e lutar com uma arma diferente: a música.
Documentário: "Music of Resistance: Tinariwen"
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O grupo é um dos mais importantes na corrente de renovação que, nos últimos 15 anos, tem influenciado a música tradicional tuaregue. Vozes, palmas, percussão, guitarras (“limpas” e distorcidas), uma execução irrepreensível e soluções musicais surpreendentes, têm-lhes valido um reconhecimento internacional crescente. Imidiwan: Companions e Amassakoul curvaram o Mundo em reverência e coleccionaram prémios. Aman Iman: Water is Life é o seu terceiro e mais recente álbum.
Documentário oficial: "Tinariwen - Amam Iman: Water is life"
Clip de apresentação
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Resumo:
Legendary poet guitarists and soul rebels from the southern Sahara desert, this documentary extract features performances of '63' under a tree in the desert 'Matadjem Yinmixan' in a tent in Tessalit, as well as a short interview with founder Ibrahim. In 1963, shortly after independence, the Touaregs of Mali rise up against their new masters. This revolt is brutally suppressed. It is followed by terrible droughts which force thousands of refugees from Mali, Niger and Libya out on the road. It's in the pain of exile that the Teshoumara is born. This movement proclaims the existence but also the necessary evolution of the Touareg people. This is when the guitars of the group Tinariwen first began to be heard.
# Para ouvir no iTunes: AQUI (id=212053410&s=143444)
# Tinariwen: Site | MySpace
Para dar conta do muito que fervilha no panorama musical da região, fica o relato de George Azar nos bastidores de uma das últimas edições do Festival do Deserto, conceituado evento, organizado pela comunidade Tuareg do Mali.
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A fechar, algo mais sobre o povo Tuateg:
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