The story
International Cultural Festival of Diwan Music in Bechar
A national festival dedicated to diwan, a Sufi ritual music tradition rooted in Algeria's communities of sub-Saharan African descent, institutionalized in 2007 and centered on the deep-toned guembri instrument, female musicians and trance rhythms, now based in the southwestern city of Bechar after years staged in Algiers.
Diwan traces back to sub-Saharan African communities brought into the Maghreb centuries ago along slave-trading caravan routes through Ghana, Timbuktu and Mali, and the Sufi ritual music their descendants developed centers on the guembri, a deep-bodied stringed instrument, and on the visible presence of female musicians within its ceremonies.