I Treni Di Tozeur - Lyrics, Historical Background

Lyrics, Historical Background

The train line referred to in the lyrics runs from Metlaoui in the north through the Gorges of Seldja in the Atlas Mountains to Tozeur on the border of the Sahara desert in the south, the frontier mentioned is subsequently the Tunisian-Algerian. The track was built in the early 1900s at an enormous cost of both state finances and human lives in order for the Bey of Tunis (the King of Tunisia) to travel in grand style to his winter palace in the oasis town of Tozeur and largely also to impress foreign dignitaries on visit. There was originally only one train set, built in Paris in 1910 and this was an official gift from the state of France to the Bey of Tunisia when the country was a French protectorate. With all five carriages painted deep-red it was colloquially named 'Le Lézard Rouge' (The Red Lizard) by the oppressed and empoverished Tunisian people and was seen as a symbol of both the emperor's power and extravagant Western-influenced life-style and the French imperialism.

After the bankrupt Tunisia became an autonomous republic in 1957 and the then reigning Bey from the Husainid Dynasty had lost both his political influence and his substantial inherited personal wealth, the train set with its luxurious Belle Époque interiors of brocaded velvet armchairs, overhead antique-globed lighting, brass fittings, mahogany marquetry and panoramic windows was confiscated by the new government but due to its symbolical value stored in a depot and left to its destiny. After some thirty years in decay it was however restored by the Tunisian state and the SNCFT (La Société National de Chemins de Fer Tunisiens) and today the Red Lizard and the train line Metlaoui-Tozeur, often referred to as the North-African Orient Express, is again running and one of the country's greatest tourist attractions.