Western Sahara
All countries-
Album review: Tartitʹs "Amankor/The Exile"
Lapping at your consciousness
With "Amankor/The Exile", the Kel Tamashek band Tartit have produced another cultural treasure for the rest of the world to appreciate. Their original intent may have been to keep their own culture alive, but in the process they have succeeded in bringing the sound of the desert into all our lives. By Richard Marcus
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Crowdfunding for translations of Arabic literature
A new way to reach a wider readership
The "A Bird is not a Stone" crowdfunding campaign may not have gotten as much press as British scientists seeking to fund a moon landing through online donations, but it certainly made a ripple among Arabic literary translators. The success of this campaign showed that crowdfunding can be an important tool in bringing Arabic literature into European languages. By Marcia Lynx Qualey
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Western Sahara conflict
The curse of resources
In times of economic crisis and rising unemployment in North Africa, Western Sahara's natural resources have become fiercely contested treasures. The new balance of power resulting from recent political developments in the region could lead to a renegotiation of the conflict. By Susanne Kaiser
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Aziza Brahim's CD "Soutak"
Music of beauty from a barren land
Relatively few people will have been familiar with the music, culture and history of the Sahrawi people of north-western Africa before Aziza Brahim arrived on the music scene. Brahim has not only won an award for her original soundtrack to the film "Wilaya", she has also released three albums. Her latest album, "Soutak", spent three months at the top of the World Music Charts Europe in 2014. A review by Richard Marcus
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The Status of Western Sahara
A Forgotten Conflict
The conflict over the status of Western Sahara has been simmering for four decades between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Sahrawi independence movement Frente Polisario. Efforts to find a solution to the deadlock appear to be paralysed – a fact partly due to a lack of international interest. By Annett Hellwig