The story
Festival International de la Tidinit in Nouakchott
The Festival International de la Tidinit is a Nouakchott festival dedicated to the tidinit, the traditional lute central to Mauritanian griot (iggawin) music. Its fourth edition was formally opened by the Minister of Culture, confirming the event as an established, ministry-recognized fixture, though detailed programming for individual editions was not extensively documented in available sources.
Within Mauritania's rich but often under-documented traditional music scene, the tidinit occupies a foundational place: a plucked lute, generally strung with three or four strings, played by male griots known as iggawin who have historically served as hereditary musicians, praise singers, and oral historians within Moorish Bidhan society.