Tishoumaren

Tishoumaren, Tishumaren, Tichoumaren, or Tichumaren, (ⵜⵉⵛⵓⵎⴰⵔⴻⵏ in Neo-Tifinagh script) is a style of music in northern Africa. The musical style took shape as an expression of the difficult sociopolitical situation of the Tamasheq people (or Tuareg, as they are commonly referred to by others) after colonial powers left North Africa. The word Tishoumaren is derived from the French word , meaning "the unemployed". Sometimes simply called "guitar music," the style takes inspiration from the emergence of the Tamasheq as a people and a culture amidst violent turmoil in post-colonial North Africa. Today, the style remains politically critical, although it has become less associated with the violent rebelliousness that started it.

The Tamasheq live in a region of North Africa that covers large portions of the Sahara across the modern-day national boundaries of Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Chad, and to a lesser extent, reaching into Burkina Faso and Nigeria. At the turn of the 20th century, the Tamasheq were subjected to French colonial government after lengthy resistance. With the departure of colonial powers in the 1950s and 1960s, the lands inhabited by the Tamasheq were split primarily between the four new countries of Mali, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Chad. For the next few decades, natural resources diminished due to increasing desertification while the post-colonial political and economic structures struggled. As a result, the Tamasheq have encountered hardship for survival in a number of ways.

In 1973, a major drought forced many of the Tamasheq people throughout the deserts to reconsider their traditional way of life as nomadic herders. Many took refuge in urban centers across the region, but with many lacking 'formal' education, the Tamasheq were largely unemployed. The term ishumar began to be used describing young Tamasheq. A unique culture began to arise among many of the economically and politically marginalized youths, sometimes rebellious or revolutionary in nature, reasserting a cultural pride.

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