The Dynamics of Intercultural Music Making in Granada: Everyday Multiculturalism and Moroccan Integration

Abstract

, 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.

Ziryab and Us: Tradition and Collaboration in the Interpretation of an Arab-Andalusian Musical Myth

“…Given the high levels of Moroccan immigration in Southern Spain since the 1980s, the idea of a shared musical history is harnessed by Spanish cultural and governmental institutions to promote the social integration of immigrants and cultural diplomacy with Morocco. 14 While the capacity for such institutional projects to promote integration and actually overcome unequal power relations is questionable, intercultural musical encounters do present one way in which Spaniards and Moroccans might foster mutual understanding and cultural interaction (Machin-Autenrieth 2020 ). Abir and Sergio’s frequent allusions to musical affinity discussed above might be read, therefore, as the playing out of these colonial and postcolonial relations.…”

“… 8 Elsewhere I have written about intercultural music making in the context of Moroccan migration (Machin-Autenrieth 2019 , 2020 ). Also see the work of Ian Goldstein ( 2017 ); Brian Karl ( 2015 ); Brian Oberlander ( 2017 ); and Jonathan Shannon ( 2015 ) who explore similar issues around Spanish-Moroccan musical exchange, the narrative of a shared cultural history and Moroccan migration.…”