Article / Artículo / Artigo An Ethnomusicological Approach to Orientalism: The Musical and Historical Study of the Moors and Christians in Villena (Spain) Luis Gimenez Amoros, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
[email protected] Abstract This article examines the historical and musical forms of Orientalism found in the festival popularly known as Moros y cristianos (the Moors and Christians) in Spain and, in particular, the town of Villena in the province of Alicante. Since the 12th century, this traditional festival is mostly celebrated in towns along the eastern Mediterranean coast of Spain which includes Villena. The contextualization of this festival through Orientalism provides an understanding of the exoticization of Muslim-Spanish music through the música festera (the music composed for Moros y cristianos), a musical style with more than four thousand pieces composed by more than three hundred Spanish composers over the course of the last two centuries. This article reveals by conducting ethnomusicological studies using Orientalism, there is a possibility of reconsidering the colonial narrative embedded in the cultural and musical symbolism of música festera. Keywords: Orientalism, Moros y cristianos, música festera, Spanish-Muslim history, Ethnomusicology Un enfoque etnomusicológico del orientalismo: el estudio musical e histórico de las fiestas de Moros y cristianos en Villena (España) Resumen Este artículo examina aspectos históricos y musicales de las fiestas de Moros y cristianos a través del concepto del orientalismo en España y, en particular, en la ciudad de Villena, provincia de Alicante. Desde el siglo XII, estas fiestas tradicionales se celebran sobre todo en las ciudades españolas que se encuentran alrededor de la cuenca mediterránea, incluida la ciudad de Villena.