The Majlis is the traditional space of hospitality in Arab and North African homes. It is where one receives guests and travelers, offering shelter and conviviality to those arriving from afar. Hospitality is also the key proposition in Tarek Atoui’s new long-term research and exhibition project At-Tāriq, meaning 'The Nightcomer' or 'The Morning Star'. Here, hospitality extends to what could be called 'poetic hospitality' — an openness to collaboration, a sympathy between sensibilities, a morphology of alliance. The night, after all—in many cultures— belongs to a different order, connected to the unknowable, to intimacy, and the poetic. Atoui embarks on a long-term investigation into rural musical forms of the Arab World along the sub-Saharan roads of pilgrimage and trade.

On his journey, he guides us to the ancestral lands of the Amazigh people, the Tamazgha. In Amazigh culture, Tamazgha is more than a homeland; it is the source and repository of musical, artistic, artisanal, and intellectual traditions. 

– Text written by Daniela Zyman, curator of Tarek Atoui. At-Tāriq. 

In 2025, over the course of 3 years, I will develop The Sahara Chapter, the new iteration of At-Tāriq commissioned by Hartwig Art Foundation in the Netherlands.

The first stop of this journey is At-Tāriq: the Tamazgha Chapter, and saw the day at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid on February 17th, 2025, produced by TBA21. Emerging from two years of exchange with musicians and artisans from Morocco’s Atlas region and well beyond, the opening chapter of At-Tāriq at Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum proposed a space of poetic hospitality, composed around the Majlis.

My ongoing research and artistic journey in Morocco will expand its scope into Tunisia and Algeria, deepening my exploration of the region's rich sub-Saharan cultural and musical heritage. This research in the Atlas of Morocco explores ancient routes that connected the Maghreb with the Arabian Peninsula. Tunisia and Algeria, like Morocco, have long been significant crossroads for migration, trade, and cultural exchange, particularly in their interactions with sub-Saharan Africa. The vast Saharan and sub-Saharan territories of these countries hosted pilgrimage and commercial routes that brought not only goods but also musical traditions, craftsmanship, and cultural knowledge.

These routes played a crucial role in the transmission of skills such as drum-making techniques, the use of animal skins for percussion instruments, as well as knowledge related to pigment, bead-making, textiles, and metalwork.

In the context of Hartwig Art Foundation, my research will not only focus on the historical and cultural exchanges between Tunisia, Algeria, and the sub-Saharan regions but will also engage with the Maghreb diaspora in the Netherlands. I will explore how diasporic communities from the Maghreb continue to engage with traditional practices, adapting them to new contexts and creating hybrid forms that combine both local traditions and contemporary Dutch expressions.

These collaborations will be key in the creation of new sound pieces, crafts, and performances that blend traditional techniques with contemporary artistic methods. Musicians who are part of these diaspora communities often bring instruments and knowledge of musical traditions that have been passed down through generations in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.

–  Tarek Atoui