Clamor

Hocine Tandjaoui’s debut English-language book, presented bilingually in French and English

Hocine Tandjaoui’s poetic memoir, Clamor, is a gripping testimonial to the transnational solidarities forged across the decolonizing world in the 1950s and 60s, from the rarely heard perspective of a child. Set against the backdrop of one of the bloodiest wars of decolonization, Clamor offers an account of the colonial soundscape and a dazzling poetic evocation of Tandjaoui’s discovery of African-American music during his childhood in colonized Algeria. A gorgeously written and translated poetic text or “proème,” Clamor reckons with the music that shaped Tandjaoui’s childhood, the soundtrack of the Black liberation movements in the U.S., and the voices of artists of the African diaspora that rise above the din of war, becoming the soundbox and sounding board of decolonization in Algeria.