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The ideals of tolerance and cultural exchange associated with the interfaith past of Muslim Spain (al-Andalus) have become a symbol for Andalusian regionalism and for the integration of Moroccan communities. Nowhere is this more keenly felt than in the context of music. In cities such as Granada, Moroccan and Spanish musicians actively promote the ideals of intercultural dialogue through the performance of repertoires such as flamenco and Arab-Andalusian music that allegedly possess a shared cultural history. In this article, we examine the interrelationship between music and ‘intercultural regionalism’, focusing on how music is used by public institutions to ground social integration in the discourse of regionalism. Against a backdrop of rising Islamophobia and the mobilization of right-wing populist and anti-immigration rhetoric both within Spain and internationally, the authors consider how music can be used to promote social integration, to overcome Islamophobia and to tackle radicalization. We advance two arguments. First, we argue that the musical interculturalism promoted by a variety of institutions needs to be understood within the wider project of Andalusian regionalism. Here, we note that musical integration of Spain’s cultural and historical ‘Other’ (Moroccans) into Andalusian society is promoted as a model for how Europe can overcome the alleged ‘death of multiculturalism’. The preferential way to achieve this objective is through ‘intercultural regionalism’, envisioned as the combination of regional identity-building and intercultural interactions between communities that share a common cultural heritage. Second, we assess some of the criticism of the efficacy of al-Andalus as a model for contemporary intercultural exchange. Combining approaches in political science and ethnomusicology, we focus on one case study, the Fundación Tres Culturas (FTC). Through interviews with figures within the FTC, we examine why this model has become partly insufficient and how it is borne out in the sorts of musical activities programmed by FTC that seek to move beyond the ‘andalusí’ myth. We conclude by recognizing the continuing regional and international importance of this myth but we question its integrating capacity at a time of radical political, economic and environmental upheaval.

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The notion of a shared history across the Mediterranean is central to a number of Spanish-Moroccan musical collaborations, which draw on the notion of convivencia: the alleged peaceful coexistence between Christians, Jews, and Muslims in medieval Spain. In this article, I explore the relationship between a ‘musical’ convivencia and Moroccan immigration in Spain, focusing on two prominent case studies: Macama jonda (1983) and Inmigración (2003). Spanning a twenty-year period, I argue that these two productions illustrate shifting responses to Moroccan immigration at distinct historical moments: the post-Franco era and post-9/11. These two productions illustrate the malleability of the convivencia myth, employing it for distinct social and political purposes. I argue that Macama jonda and Inmigración should be read as products of shifting political and cultural relations between Spain and Morocco, and Spain's negotiation of its Muslim past.

, the emergent populist party Vox gained seats in the Andalusian parliamentary elections, the first far-right party to enter government since the Franco regime. This political earthquake in the Spanish system was a long-time coming: right-wing populism has been on the rise in Spain fuelled by the aftermath of the financial crisis, debates around immigration, and the refugee crisis. As a result, Moroccan immigrants in Spain have increasingly become the target of racism and Islamophobia, mapped onto a perceived cultural incompatibility between European secularism (not to mention Spanish Catholicism) and Islam. Andalusia, the southernmost autonomous region, is home to one of the largest Moroccan expatriate communities in Spain, with millions of Moroccans having migrated in the last 30-40 years in search of better economic opportunities. In Granada, where research for this article is based, there exists a somewhat contradictory relationship with the Moroccan "other." While this broader increase in Islamophobia and anti-immigration rhetoric is visible in graffiti statements such as "moors get out" and rising support for right-wing populism in the city, 1 Granada is also a living museum to the cultural legacies of Muslim Spain or al-Andalus (711-1492) and the alleged interfaith coexistence [convivencia] and dialogue between Christians, Jews, and Muslims. 2 A utopian reading of al-Andalus as "a model of tolerance and coexistence" (Anidjar 2006:235) is an intrinsic part of both the tourism industry and local identity constructions in Granada, as well as across Andalusia.