Ahmed Amentag (1927 – November 24, 2015) was a
Moroccan singer-poet (''ṛṛays'') and songwriter in
Tashelhit
( ; from its name in Moroccan Arabic, ), now more commonly known as Tashelhiyt or Tachelhit ( ; from the endonym , ), is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco. When referring to the language, anthropologists and historians prefer the ...
.
Biography
Ahmed Amentag was born in the village of Mentaga near
Taroudant
Taroudant (, ) is a city in the Sous in southwestern Morocco. It is situated east of Agadir on the road to Ouarzazate and south of Marrakesh. Today, it is a small market town and a tourist destination.
History
The Almoravids occupied the town ...
. Thus, his artistic name was Amentag which means "from Mentaga" in
Tachelhit
( ; from its name in Moroccan Arabic, ), now more commonly known as Tashelhiyt or Tachelhit ( ; from the endonym , ), is a Berber language spoken in southwestern Morocco. When referring to the language, anthropologists and historians prefer the ...
.
After leaving the
madrasa
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...
in Taroudant at age 17, he joined a group of rways to play
ribab for them. A few years later, he decided to found his own group of then-famous rways such as
Lhadj Belaid,
Omar Wahrouch, and
Mohamed Demsiri.
During the 1950s, he was a famous rays and toured in
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
and
Belgium
Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...
. He made his first music recording during the later 1960s in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
.
Legacy
Ahmed Amentag authored several famous poems and songs such as:
* ''Bou salem''
* ''Bou chahwa''
* ''Imik ayga zin''
The national festival of rways in 2017 was dedicated to him for his contributions to the musical art of rways.
Death
Ahmed Amentag fell sick during his last years and died on Tuesday, November 24, 2015, in
Dcheira El Jihadia
Dcheira El Jihadia () is a city in southern Morocco. It is located in the prefecture of Inezgane-Aït Melloul in Morocco's Souss-Massa region, 10 km south of the region's largest city of Agadir. The 2014 Moroccan census
The 2014 Moroccan c ...
,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
.
See also
*
Lhadj Belaid
*
Omar Wahrouch
*
Mohamed Demsiri
External links
News report about Ahmed Amentag in the Moroccan national TV 2M
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amentag, Ahmed
1927 births
2015 deaths
20th-century Moroccan poets
20th-century Moroccan male singers
Berber musicians
Berber poets
Moroccan songwriters
Shilha people
Berber-language singers of Morocco