From Collective Song to Individual Expression

Metamorphoses of Kabyle Women’s Singing

Résumé

Kabyle women’s singing constitutes a centuries-old intangible heritage rooted in ritualized collective practices, accompanying major social events and women’s daily activities. This oral tradition, transmitted from generation to generation by women, fulfills essential functions of social cohesion, transmission of ancestral knowledge, and expression of the female condition. The advent of sound recording and media coverage in the twentieth century profoundly reconfigured this heritage, enabling the emergence of individualized artistic figures such as Hnifa and Chrifa, thus breaking away from traditional collective anonymity. However, contempo-rary social transformations, rural exodus, education, urbanization, abandon-ment of agricultural practices, have generated a widespread erosion of these collective vocal practices in Kabyle villages. Paradoxically, the Covid-19 health crisis catalyzed a revitalization movement, with the resurgence of female vocal groups and the establishment of the Lla Yamina Prize. Nevertheless, this renaissance raises questions about the authenticity of practices and the transgression of original sociocultural codes. Contempo-rary new female voices embody a path of creative renewal, combining heritage fidelity and aesthetic innovation, while asserting political positions for Amazigh identity and women’s rights. The future of this heritage will depend on the capacity to reconcile preservation of its integrity with adaptation to contemporary realities. This study thus examines the tensions between tradition and modernity in the transmission processes of intangible cultural heritage undergoing transformation