Kadi, sedentary Touareg woman, of French father, wearing her jewels (Djanet / Algeria / 1968)

Young sedentary Tuareg woman in party outfit (Djanet / Algeria / 1961)

In the camp, life melts away in little drops of time that you sip with relish. Every nomad loves to play. The favourite pastime is a kind of checkers game with stones, some of which are pebbles, others camel dung balls. There are endless discussions between the individual moves. - Algeria - 1966

Feminine adornment. The silver chest pendant is the jewel in a woman's outfit on her wedding day. Its composition and ornaments are always the same. Around the neck: a kind of necklace composed of cloves, whose fragrance is much appreciated by women. - Algeria - 1966

Feminine adornment. The silver chest pendant is the jewel in a woman's outfit on her wedding day. Its composition and ornaments are always the same. - Djanet - Algeria - 1962

The water service is women's work. The containers are made of bottle gourds. The women carry them from the well to their homes with the help of a rope tied around their foreheads. - In the El Mihan district, Djanet. - Algeria - 1966

Early in the morning, the Koran school is held in front of the mosque of one of the three villages that make up the Djanet oasis. The taleb (teacher) writes a Quranic verse on a wooden board. The student has to repeat it aloud until he knows it by heart. Since everyone has a different verse to memorise and speaks at their own discretion, you can imagine the relaxed atmosphere that prevails here. - Algeria - 1962

Early in the morning, the Koran school is held in front of the mosque of one of the three villages that make up the Djanet oasis. The taleb (teacher) writes a Quranic verse on a wooden board. The student has to repeat it aloud until he knows it by heart. Since everyone has a different verse to memorise and speaks at their own discretion, you can imagine the relaxed atmosphere that prevails here. - Algeria - 1966

At the festival that concludes the thirty fasting days of Ramadan, Djanet throws himself into gala, dons his flaming ganduras. And then the communal prayer takes place in the cemetery to honour the dead. - Algeria - 1966

Two Tuareg couples in festive garb. The woman on the left plays an imzad, the targui on the right has his lance stuck in the sand in front of him. - Djanet - Algérie - 1962

Young sedentary Tuareg woman in festive robe. - Djanet - Algeria - 1962

Tuareg girl from the Djanet region. - Algeria - 1962

The Sahrawi woman makes the "tasufra" from goatskin, decorates it with beautiful patterns and attaches a manual lock made from a leather rope called "sir" to make it easier for the man to open. It is a leather bag with a length of about 1.5 m and a width of 70 cm, which is attached to both sides of the camel. The "tasufra" is used to store food, tea sets and other things that nomads need when travelling. It takes 4 to 6 days to make. Liquids and sharp tools that could damage the camel during the ride are not carried. - Algeria - 1962

The imzad, a one-stringed violin, consists of half a bottle gourd covered with goatskin and a wooden handle. The string is made of horsehair. The bow is a curved piece of laurel rose wood. Only the women play this instrument on festive days. Tuareg poetry is expressed orally. - Algeria - 1962

Young Tuareg woman from the Djanet region. - Algeria - 1962

Tuareg society has a matriarchal structure. This imzad player (the imzad is a one-stringed musical instrument) praises the great deeds of her ancestors as handed down to her by her mother; she is the keeper of tradition. However, the difficult art of playing the imzad is becoming more and more lost. The instrument is made of half a calabash with sheepskin stretched over it, the bridge is made of the wood of the laurel rose. - Algeria - 1962

In the gilded sands of the evening, the inhabitants of Djanet dance. It is the festival of Shebiba, so called because it takes place in the first month of the year, which is called "Shebiba" in Tamashek, the Tuareg language. The two main characters of the festival, dressed in rich robes, twirl the takuba, the sword of the noble Tuareg. The women beat the obsessive rhythm tirelessly with their drum, the Ganga. - Algeria - 1966

One of the main characters of the Shebiba-festival. The jewellery he wears on his headgear is made of silver and comes from the village blacksmith. - Djanet - Algeria - 1966

One of the main characters of the festival. The jewellery he wears on his headgear is made of silver and comes from the village blacksmith. - Algeria - 1966

The inhabitants of Djanet dance the festival of Shebiba. The women beat the obsessive rhythm tirelessly with their drum, the Ganga. - Algeria - 1962

The Takuba, the sword of the noble. As former warriors, the Tuareg are often homesick for their past. In their secret thoughts, they revive the memory of the former rezzous, raids against the caravans that brought slaves and gold up from the south. - Algeria - 1966

This targui crushes dates to free them from the seeds. Dates are rich in sugar and have a correspondingly high calorie content. This earned them the name "bread of the desert". Fibre, minerals such as potassium, calcium and magnesium, and B vitamins make them a healthy snack. The content of the amino acid tryptophan is particularly interesting. - Djanet - Algeria - 1962

Two Tuareg mime a fight with the takuba, the sword of the noble. As former warriors, the Tuareg are often homesick for their past. In their secret thoughts they revive the memory of the former rezzous, raids against the caravans that brought slaves and gold up from the south. - Algeria - 1962

A Saharan Meharist Company (from méhari, the Saharan riding camel) was stationed in Djanet. The Meharists were units of the French army that were supposed to control the areas of the Sahara during the colonial period. They employed regular soldiers, the tirailleurs, and Saharan "suppletifs" recruited among the major nomadic tribes, the Moors, Tuaregs, Toubous or Arabs. The Targui Caïd Bellaï is one of these "suppletifs". He is very tall and measures 2.01 m. - Algeria - 1962

Somewhere in the Tassili, a Targui returns home; and nothing in his posture, nothing in his surroundings, nothing in his clothes yet makes us think that the mineral resources of the Sahara will one day turn him into a man of the distant 21st century. And yet ... ! - Algeria - 1962

Portrait of a Touareg of the Kel Idjera-Ajeroven tribe. Algeria - Tassili n'Ajjer - 1993

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