 "Google Doodle")
Google Doodle celebrates Taos Amrouche's 111th birth anniversary on March 4, 2024. Taos Amrouche was a popular French singer, author, and folklorist who made Berber literature and culture more accessible.
Taos was born on March 4, 1913, in Tunisia's Tunis where her parents moved from Algeria. The doodle is visible in the region of Tunisia, Algeria and France. She was among the first women who published her novel.
Taos Amrouche Early life
Taos Amrouche completed her early education in Tunisia's Tunis and moved to France to attend university in 1935. People know her as someone who collected and interpreted Kabyle songs with her brother and mother. She also received a scholarship where she got the chance to analyse Spanish and Berber music at the Casa Velasquez in Spain.
She developed her interest in the oral traditions of the Kabyle people and she also visited Algeria to learn more about her ethnic heritage.
Taos Amrouche Career
Taos Amrouche’s first novel, Jacinthe noir (Black Hyacinth), was released in 1947. It was one of the earliest books published by an Algerian woman. The book describes a Tunisian girl who comes from two cultures. Thereafter Taos published another book ‘Rue des tambourins’ (Street of the Tabors) reflecting her childhood where she shared her experience as an Algerian and French person. She also wrote, La Grain magique (The Magic Grain), this book is a collection of her poems, proverbs, and legends.
Amrouche had a deep interest in performing traditional Berber songs in French. Her first successful album was Chants berbères de Kabylie (Berber songs from Kabyle) and thereafter she released four more albums.
Amrouche preserved parts of her oral heritage and connected her with French and Kabyle identities in the form of stories and songs. She actively participated in Berber discussions and she also hosted meetings with Paris home. She co-founded the Académie berbère. A plaque celebrating her art is displayed outside her home.
