By Rana Jawad For decades, Libya appeared to be starved of talent. The entertainment industry is still virtually non-existent. But since the uprising that toppled the only man allowed to be famous in the country – Col Muammar Gaddafi – Libyans are leaving nothing to chance. In a small music [...]

After decades of restrictions, Libyans can now recognise and celebrate their diversity. By Essam Mohamed The Libyan Amazigh stronghold of Jadu held a cultural festival in November to celebrate the richness and beauty of its culture, as well as the country’s diversity. The event, which ran November 7th through November [...]

Libyans discover video art after four-decades of cultural vacuum under regime of slain dictator Gathafi. By Youssef Ba Libya’s first video art exhibit proved a hit in Tripoli, drawing scores of spectators in a country emerging from 42 culturally barren years under the regime of slain dictator Moamer Gathafi. People [...]

Libya had no film-making culture under Gaddafi: just a handful of cinemas and a propaganda machine. Days after a film sparked violence there, Steve Rose meets the new wave By Steve Rose While the people of Benghazi were ejecting the Islamist militias from their city last Saturday, another smaller but [...]

Recently the use of the term “Arab spring” intentionally mischaracterises the demographics of the region. The Amazigh played an integral role in the fight against Gaddafi, and helped topple his regime and their brigades took part in the liberation of Tripoli, argues Mohamed Eljarh. By Mohamed Eljarh (@Eljarh) Amazigh are [...]

Ingredients of Libya – Sabha Edition

By Steve Inskeep and Allison Aubrey NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep is taking a Revolutionary Road trip from Tunisia to Cairo to see how the countries that staged revolutions last year are remaking themselves. He’s also sharing with us (NPR) here at The Salt what he’s been eating. Dear [...]

To introduce every new day in Libya, even before the coming of light, is the call to prayer. From mosques in separate directions and varying distances come the simultaneous recitations of the Athan, making pre-dawns sound like rhythmic rounds of overlapping melody. The voices, distinguishing in depth, recite God’s name. [...]

London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, in collaboration with the British Council in Libya, opened an exhibition presenting graffiti and paintings by both international and Libyan artists By Ati Metwaly Graffiti works by Libyan artists are featured in the exhibition that will run until 12 April in Tripoli’s Dar Al-Fagi for [...]

Libya under Muammar Gaddafi was an unfriendly home for the Amazigh people. Under the country’s former ruler, restrictions were placed on many tribes using their language or practicing their traditions, in a bid to create a fake unified Libyan identity.

March 02, 2012 - By Alia Al-Senussi Editor’s note: Alia Al-Senussi is a member of Libya’s royal family. Her family was exiled from Libya in 1969 after Moammar Gadhafi’s coup d’etat. She was born in Washington in 1983 to a Libyan father and American mother, and grew up in Cairo, San [...]