In July of 1969, Algiers hosted the first Pan-African Cultural Festival, a groundbreaking event for post- independent Algeria as well as for the continent of Africa. Run by the Ministry of Information and Culture along with the Organisation of African Unity, the festival celebrated African cultures while also providing a political platform for anti-colonial struggles. Nicknamed the “Mecca of Revolutionaries”, Algiers became a magnet for movements of independence and African-American jazz artists, including Nina Simone and Archie Shepp, who performed with Algerian musicians. Three months later, marked by the experience, Shepp returned to Algeria to shoot a film in the desert with Tuareg musicians. Directed by Ghaouti Bendeddouche, Archie Shepp chez les Tuaregs captures
the energy of the festival and the saxophonist’s transformative journey as he seeks to reconnect with his African roots. The work, often mistakenly identified as Théo Robichet’s short, Archie Shepp in Alger (1971), was presumed lost for a long period of time. A phantom work, Archie Shepp chez les Tuaregs still stands, nevertheless, as a unique testimony to a fleeting yet fundamental moment, where music and cinema bring about a return to one’s roots, at once intimate and collective.

Nabil Djedouani