The asefru (pl. isefra) is a poetic composition of the
Berber literature of
Kabylia
Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region
Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which ...
. It is a sort of short
sonnet with a ternary structure, formed by three
strophes
A strophe () is a poetic term originally referring to the first part of the ode in Ancient Greek tragedy, followed by the antistrophe and epode. The term has been extended to also mean a structural division of a poem containing stanzas of varying ...
of three
verses each. The
rhymes
A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...
follow the pattern AAB AAB AAB, while the length of the three verses of each strophe is 7 + 5 + 7 syllables.
It is a relatively new
meter
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...
compared to those from traditional poetry, probably born around the middle of the 19th century, and the poet who has indissolubly linked his name to this type of composition is
Si Mohand Si Mohand ou-Mhand n At Hmadouch, also known as Si Mhand, (Icerɛiwen, Tizi Rached, about 1848 - Ain El Hammam, 28 December 1905) was a widely known Berber-Amazigh poet from Kabylie in Algeria. Called the "Kabyle Verlaine" by French scholars, his wo ...
. The asefru is usually read or recited but can also be sung, and numerous examples of isefra sung are present in the repertoire of different Kabyle singers, such as
Taos Amrouche (for example ''Vaste est la prison'', Vast is the prison),
Slimane Azem
Slimane Azem (September 19, 1918 – January 31, 1983) was an Algerian singer and poet, born in Agouni Gueghrane (kabylie region),that composed hundreds of songs in more than 40 years of artistic life. A great connoisseur and admirer of the po ...
(''Effɤ ay ajrad tamurt-iw'', Grasshopper, leave my country) or
Malika Domrane (''Nnehta'', Sighing).
An example of asefru (Si Mohand):
{{Verse translation, lang=ber-Latn,
Ggulleɣ seg Tizi-wuzzu
armi d Akfadu
ur ḥkimen dg' akken llan
A neṛṛez wal' a neknu
axiṛ daεwessu
anda ttqewwiden ccifan
Lɣ
werba tura deg uqerru
welleh ard a nenfu
wala leεquba ɣer yilfan
,
I swear, from Tizi Ouzou
up the Akfadou's pass
none of those shall command me
I break but I do not bend
I'd rather be damned
there where pimps govern
Emigration is my destiny
God, better is the exile
than the law of Pigs
Algerian literature
Poetic forms
Berber culture
Kabylie