Dania Ben Sassi

Dania Ben Sassi, Tamazight: Danya At Sasi, Arabic: دانيا بن ساسي (born 1988) is a Libyan Amazigh singer whose music went viral during the First Libyan Civil War, due to the fact her music praises Amazigh resistance and are sung in Tamazight.

Early life Dania Ben Sassi was born in Belgrade, Serbia in 1988, to a Libyan father from Zuwarah and a Serbian mother. Her father had been forced into exile in Serbia, after fleeing the Gaddafi regime due to his activism for Libyan Berber rights. She studied economics at the University of Belgrade. Tamazight was severely repressed in Libya when Gaddafi was in power.

It is due to the circulation of her songs on the internet that she became an icon during the democratic uprisings that preceded the First Libyan Civil War. The singer has been described as "the swallow of the Libyan Amazigh spring" by the writer Lhoussain Azergui. Amazigh history has inspired much of Ben Sassi's music, for example: Numidya (Numidia), which takes the name of the Numidian Berber kingdom. The fact the song, and her music more generally praises the sacrifices made by the Libyans during the revolution, explains why she has become an icon of the Libyan Amazigh movement. Her music also addresses issues of gender facing Libyan and Amazigh communities.

In 2013 she performed on French television, on a programme on France 2 entitled 'The Night of Ramadan'.

Discography

Tidet/ The Truth - تيدت - ⵜⵉⴷⴻⵜ Agrawli Itri nnegh/The Revolutionary Our star - أكًراولي إثري نًغ - ⴰⴳⵔⴰⵡⵍⵉ ⵉⵜⵔⵉ ⵏⴻⵖ Numidya - نوميديا - ⵏⵓⵎⵉⴷⵉⵢⴰ Abrid n Tilelli/The Path to Freedom - أبريد ن تينللي - ⴰⴱⵔⵉⴷ ⵏ ⵜⵉⵍⴻⵍⵍⵉ Sfeḍ imeṭṭawen-im a weltma/Wipe away your tears my sister - سفض يمطًاون إم ا ولتما