“We were asked to prepare for a parade, we went on a bus without knowing where we were going”: in 1962, the Cherchell music conservatory begins an unforgettable tour.
by
This torchlight, Mohamed Batache has been waiting for him for sixty years. His patience will finally be rewarded under the night sky of Tipaza, a coastal city located nearly 70 kilometers west of Algiers. The troop of young musicians, which he recruited and trained, is invited to participate on Monday July 4 in the parade in the streets of the ancient Roman city, which kicks off the celebrations of the 60
For weeks, the orchestra, affiliated with the scouts of Cherchell and haloed by the price of the second best fanfare in the country, repeats the military song chosen by the teacher. “The next generation is assured,” smiles Mohamed Batache, with the satisfaction of the duty accomplished.
He was almost their age when he participated in the festivities organized during the proclamation of the country’s independence. At the forefront, like his students today. The operation had been assembled in the greatest secrecy by officers of the National Liberation Army (ALN), while the Algerians went to the ballot box for the referendum on self -determination, held on 1 sup> July 1962.
At the time, Mohamed Batache attended the National Conservatory of Music of Cherchell where he learned to play the saxophone. “We were asked to prepare for a parade. We got on a bus without knowing where we were going. We had barely had time to make a bag,” recalls the youngest of the fanfare, who came from blow his fifteen candles.
“Celebrate victory over colonialism”
Training takes place in the headquarters of the Wilaya IV, a regiment of the revolutionary army, suspended on the steep slopes of the Tellian Atlas. Conditions are rudimentary, iron discipline. In a heat to melt the asphalt, the budding musicians with their instrument go back and forth at the head of a procession in which the maquisards, in tight order, learn to walk in step. “It was brand new for them. They had never done that before,” said the saxophonist of the band.
After three days of rehearsal, on the morning of July 3, they start an unforgettable tour. First Médéa, then Blida. At each stopover, a jubilation crowd, which shatters shackles and constraints imposed by a long colonial domination. “Tahia El Djazaïr”, “Istiklal” … The cries tearing the air still resonates in the ears of the concertist. “We were hosted with families. The welcome was warm. It was a moment of communion and reunion,” recalls Mohamed Batache.
You have 65.71% of this article to read. The continuation is reserved for subscribers.