Sword Forms – Timbuktu

The nomadic women of the desert are a hardy and evocative people. Wrapped in black cloth from head to toe, they reside under the unrelenting sun of the Sahara.
The Tuareg have been burdened by severe drought and an embattled existence for the last decade, but one can still find them at peace in their strong element of music. They gather in the dunes near their desert camps to sing and dance. The women’s songs include tinde nomnas, songs of exorcism, and ezele, dance songs. The shrouded women play the tinde and water drums and shrill their high pitched lyrics across the expanse of sand and dune.