Recorded at home with Harmattan dust in the air, Dangash was sick with a cold and only able to sing one song, less than she had planned. Having already managed the group and performance, her sister and friends stepped in to sing as they are more than competent lead singers in their own right, simply taking the response singing role to show respect for Dangash. The variety of three lead voices provides for a good example of Tende personalities and tonal and stylistic variations.
As explained in the interview, there are three kinds of Tende. All of the examples here are Tende for men dancers, except “Tendemen,” which is a Tende-n-Amnas, or Camel Tende. For tende for dancers, the women sing and clap, and the men dance, usually in a counter-clockwise circle and then turn to face the tende group individually or occasionally with a friend. The Camel Tende features a fantasia of men riding camels in a circle around a Tende group clumped into a group in the middle. The trot of the camels can coincide with the tempo making for true animal music magic.
The Tende-n-Goumatan, or Tende of the spirits, is a spiritual healing rite women perform on the outskirts of town or camp, when women sway to music, and spirits are exorcised from their bodies. It is a nighttime ritual.