Al Khadra Mabrook

Al Khadra Mabrook
Native name
الخضرة منت مبروك
Bornc. 1934 (1934)[1]
Tiris, Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara)
Died2021(2021-00-00) (aged 86–87)[1]
El Aaiún refugee camp, Tindouf, Algeria
Pen nameAl Khadra
OccupationPoet
NationalitySahrawi
GenreSahrawi oral poetry
SubjectSahrawi resistance and struggle for independence

Al Khadra Mint Mabrook (Arabic: الخضرة منت مبروك; c. 1934 – October 2021), known as Al Khadra, was an internationally recognised Sahrawi poet.

Biography

Al Khadra was born circa 1934 in Tiris.[2] Her family were Bedouin and her childhood was spent moving through the region so her family could find grazing for their animals.[2] She learnt poetry from a young age by listening to others perform.[2]

The first poetry she learnt celebrated female beauty, but after the movement for self-determination from Spain started in the 1970s, her poetry changed to become socially conscious and celebrate the military achievements of the Polisario.[3] Al Khadra is one of several poets, whose work has become a vital part of cultural resistance for the Sahrawi people.[4][5] She is the only female Sahrawi poet to have documented the Western Sahara War from 1976 to 1991.[6] Subjects of her poems include the Moroccan Western Sahara Wall, also known as the Berm; the Polisario's first tank; the refutation of "Moroccanisation" of her homeland; and providing fuel for "revolution".[4]

In 1975, she was forced to move to the Tindouf refugee camps by the Moroccan army.[3] In 2012 she was living in the El Aaiún refugee camp.[7]

Al Khadra died in October 2021.[8][better source needed]

Media

Al Khadra's granddaughter is the singer Aziza Brahim, who has performed poetry by her grandmother worldwide.[9] The album Mabruk is dedicated to Al Khadra and records her work with backing by electric guitars and drums.[6]

In 2012, Al Khadra was the subject of a documentary film entitled Al Khadra: Poet of the Desert, screened at the Africa in Motion Film Festival that year.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b @AzizaBrahim1 (15 October 2021). "Tweet from her granddaughter, Aziza Brahim, announcing Ljadra's death" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ a b c Berkson, Sam; Sulaymān, Muḥammad (2015). Settled Wanderers. London: Influx Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-9927655-4-5.
  3. ^ a b Berkson, Sam (23 September 2020). "Voices of a lost homeland: The poetry of Western Sahara". Middle East Eye. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  4. ^ a b Calleja, Jen (20 September 2015). "Verfreundungseffekt – Poets Of The Rifle: Cultural Resistance From Saharawi Refugee Camps". The Quietus. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  5. ^ "'Settled Wanderers': Kickstarter for Collection of Sahrawi Poetry". ArabLit Quarterly. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  6. ^ a b Posada, Violeta Ruano; Moreno, Vivian Solana (2015). "The Strategy of Style: Music, Struggle, and the Aesthetics of Sahrawi Nationalism in Exile" (PDF). Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World. 5.
  7. ^ "Poets of Protest – Poet of the Desert (2012)". Scottish Documentary Institute. 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  8. ^ @AzizaBrahim1 (15 October 2021). "Tweet from her granddaughter, Aziza Brahim, announcing Ljadra's death" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  9. ^ "Africa Beats: Aziza Brahim voices Western Sahara blues". BBC News. 20 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  10. ^ Bisschoff, Lizelle (2013). "Representing Africa in the UK: Programming the Africa in Motion Film Festival". Research in African Literatures. 44 (2): 142–162. doi:10.2979/reseafrilite.44.2.142. JSTOR 10.2979/reseafrilite.44.2.142. S2CID 144036092.