Constantine to host the International Cultural Festival of Malouf music from 23 to 28 October

The International Cultural Festival of the Malouf music will be held from October 23 to 28 at the regional theater of Constantine, east of Algeria.

• The fourth edition of this cultural event will be dedicated to the dean of Constantine’s Malouf, the late Sheikh Abdelkader Toumi, and will gather hundreds of local and foreign participants, including the Spanish troop led by the famous Bigonia Olivida.
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• A female choir by “El Azifat” association from Tunisia is also expected to participate in the cultural event, as well as troops representing Morocco, Libya, Syria, Turkey and an exceptional selection of Palestinian musicians from Gaza.
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• The Malouf is an heir to Music Algerian classical music descendent of the Arab music based on a system of 24 Noubats, which are the theoretical rules that remain unchanged since the late ninth century. These Noubats were maintained through oral tradition in which melisma and other ornamentations are difficult to be symbolized by the rating system borrowed from the West.
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• This kind of music is ingrained in the culture of several large cities of the Maghreb, Fez, Tlemcen, west of Algeria, Algiers, Constantine, Annaba, East of Algeria and Tunis.
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• Based on melodies, the Malouf music has been influenced by areas where it was perpetuated, three schools are that of Tlemcen (claims to Granada), of Algiers (claims to Cordoba) and finally that of Constantine (claims to Seville).
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• The word Malouf, comes from the Arabic word Maalouf (familiar), which means accustomed to the tradition, or more precisely in the tradition, and one of its faithful was Cheikh Raymond.
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• Hadj Mohamed Tahar Fergani is the most famous singer of the Malouf music, his real name Reganne, son of Sheikh Hamou, Hawzi famous singer, was born May 9, 1928 in Constantine. Backed by his brother Abdelkarim, he learned embroidery, a craft popular in his hometown, then, at age 18, he decided to devote himself entirely to his vocation is music. It begins as fhel player (piccolo) in the orchestra Omar Benmalek, before turning towards the kind Sharqi (Eastern Egyptian-inspired) in association Toulou ‘el Fajr (dawn) . His warm and powerful voice impresses in interpreting songs of Oum Kalthoum and Mohamed Abdel Wahab. A little later, after having tried Hawzi style (popular in the suburbs of Tlemcen), on the advice of the famous Sheikh Hassouna Amin Khoja, he turned to Malouf, the kind of Andalusian origin, most rooted in Constantine, but also in Annaba, Tunis and Tripoli, where his father taught him the essential basics.
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•  In 1951, Annaba, he pointed to a musical contest, he won first prize, and in the process, recorded a first album that requires, at a time, as a popular singer and master of Malouf. In contact with the great masters of the Arab-Andalusian Algerian such Abdelkrim Dahmane Ben Achour and Dali, he perfected his art, managing to control the inventory of three schools in Algiers and Sana’a, Tlemcen and his gharnati Of course, the Malouf Constantine with his keener elsewhere.
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• Won several occasions and honored both nationally and internationally, Hadj Tahar Fergani remains a major reference and invited all the essential cultural events where quality takes precedence over the artistic fad.
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• His acute sense of melody, his unparalleled genius in improvisation, the richness of his style, his skill in handling the violin, held upright, and his daring to go beyond its limits have school and for him, it is the best reward for such a long career in motion.