Born: 4 March 1913, Tunisia
Died: 2 April 1976
Country most active: Algeria
Also known as: Marie-Louise-Taos Amrouche, Marguerite-Taos
Algerian writer and singer Taos Amrouche became the first modern Algerian woman to publish a novel in 1947, the autobiographical Jacinthe noire. It is also one of the earliest novels published in French by a North African woman writer.
Born the only girl among six brothers to a Kabyle (a Berber ethnic group) family, they were forced to flee Tunisia to escape persecution after their conversion to Catholicism. Their Kabyle culture significantly influenced both her writing and music – she sang in Kabyle and her writing style reflected Kabyle oral traditions. She was also active in Berber concerns and co-founded the Académie berbère in 1966.
Her mother was the famous Kabyle singer Fadhma Aït Mansour, and Amrouche later used the pen name Marguerite-Taos in honor of her mother’s Christian name, Marguerite. Amrouche began collecting and interpreting Kabyle songs in 1936 with her mother and brother Jean. She received a scholarship in 1939 to research connections between Berber and Spanish songs at the Casa Velasquez in Spain. Her debut album, 1967’s Chants berbères de Kabylie, was a collection of traditional Kabyle songs translated into French by Jean, and was a major success.
Published works:
Jacinthe noire (1947)
La Grain magique (1966)
Rue des tambourins (1969)
L’Amant imaginaire (1975)
Discography:
Chants berbères de Kabylie (1967)
Chants De L’Atlas (Traditions Millénaires Des Berbères D’Algérie) (1970)
Incantations, méditations et danses sacrées berbères (1974)
Chants berbères de la meule et du berceau (1975)
Au Théatre De La Ville (1977)