Hommage to N’ba

After different experiences, it was the lovely and very gifted sculptor Ismail Aboulaabas who guided me to the Sagru family.

In spite of the stress of upcoming university exams, we had an extraordinary exchange which touched the hearts of both of us.

M'barek Oulaarbi, nick-named N'ba, with his honest and direct activities against poverty and suppression of the "Amazighe" people (berbers), hit an open door with me as I had been active in international development work in the past.

What impressed me most, were his efforts to honour traditional values. In a society where cultural tradition is being passed on verbally, aged people become "living treasures"!

N'ba expressed his universalism by brush and pencil and through his songs this charismatic friend of mine became the megaphone of a whole generation!

Above all, he loved his country, especially his home region in the Southeast of Morocco, and its people.

He was loved - but also envied!

We have a saying: "Where there is a lot of light, there is also a lot of shadow." N'ba got to know this shadow too well...

The time until our next meeting was a very turbulent one. While I spent a couple of months in Asia, N'ba reached one of the highlights of his career. Concert followed upon concert - and parallelly he still studied.

2010 was a fateful year for him - in many ways. He was honoured as best Amazighe artist of the year (Institut Royal de la Culture Amazighe, IRCAM) and starred with his big berber idol Idir at a concert in Tanger. Soon after that, he had the chance to deliver his message across the borders of Morocco to Europe. That's how we (finally!) met again - in Switzerland.

When we hugged, I immediately knew that something was wrong with him. Friends of mine and myself, all traditional healers, we all felt N'ba's strong intoxication.

Therefore, all conversations were postponed to the time when I would be returning to Morocco. Until then, we were convinced, M'barek would have recovered from this physical weakness from which he had suffered a couple of months already. N'ba knew that I had looked into his soul, as we were so-called "soul mates".

In my country, because of my work, they call me "lawyer of the soul". Now, that no physical limits hinder him anymore, M'barek Oulaarbi's soul even participates in my workshops.

N'ba's song lyrics make my clients cry. And I know that there would have been so much more which he would have loved to do for his people!

A huge loss for his family, for his friends and for his people!

N'ba reached the hearts of people beyond all borders and will remain amongst us - a lively flame of truth - inextinguishable!

German version