PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/53726 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-09-29 and may be subject to change. RHYTHMS AND RHYMES OF LIFE MUSIC AND IDENTIFICATION PROCESSES OF DUTCH- MOROCCAN YOUTH Miriam Gazzah Cover illustration: Bert Smits, www.bertsmits.com Cover design and lay-out: De Kreeft, Amsterdam ISBN 978 90 8964 062 8 E-ISBN 978 90 4850 649 1 NUR 761 © ISIM / Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam 2008 Alle rechten voorbehouden. Niets uit deze uitgave mag worden verveelvoudigd, opgeslagen in een geautomatiseerd gegevensbestand, of openbaar gemaakt, in enige vorm of op enige wijze, hetzij elektronisch, mechanisch, door fotokopieën, opnamen of enige andere manier, zonder voorafgaande schriftelijke toestemming van de uitgever. Voor zover het maken van kopieën uit deze uitgave is toegestaan op grond van artikel 16B Auteurswet 1912 jº het Besluit van 20 juni 1974, Stb. 351, zoals gewijzigd bij het Besluit van 23 augustus 1985, Stb. 471 en artikel 17 Auteurswet 1912, dient men de daarvoor wettelijk verschuldigde vergoedingen te voldoen aan de Stichting Reprorecht (Postbus 3051, 2130 kb Hoofddorp). Voor het overnemen van gedeelte(n) uit deze uitgave in bloemlezingen, readers en andere compilatiewerken (artikel 16 Auteurswet 1912) dient men zich tot de uitgever te wenden. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Rhythms and Rhymes of Life Music and Identification Processes of Dutch-Moroccan Youth Een wetenschappelijke proeve op het gebied van de Letteren PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen op gezag van de rector magnificus prof. mr. S.C.J.J. Kortmann, volgens besluit van het College van Decanen in het openbaar te verdedigen op 8 september 2008 om 13.30 uur precies door Miriam Gazzah geboren op 16 maart 1977 te Vaassen Promotores Prof. dr. C.H.M. Versteegh Prof. dr. A.I. Tayob (Universiteit van Kaapstad, Zuid-Afrika) Copromotor Dr. K. van Nieuwkerk Manuscriptcommissie Prof. dr. W.H.M. Jansen Dr. M.W. Buitelaar (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen) Dr. F. Reysoo (Universiteit van Genève, Zwitserland) Contents Acknowledgements 7 Notes on transcription 8 Introduction 9 1. Moroccans in the Netherlands: Roots, facts, and figures 11 2. Changing policies 14 3. The field of study of Dutch-Moroccans 26 4. Youth culture, music, and post-migration identity 27 5. Methodology 38 6. The structure of this thesis 46 1. Theorizing identity: music and youth culture 49 1. Introduction 49 2. The dynamics of identity 52 3. Ethnicity 61 4. Applying identity theory in post-migration context 68 5. Music, youth culture, and identity 74 6. Conclusion 78 2. An outline of the Dutch-Moroccan music scene 81 1. Mapping out the scene 81 2. Popular genres 86 3. Categorization of events 103 3. Music, events, and identification processes 113 Introduction: My experiences at a concert 113 1. The pivotal position of shaabi in the Netherlands 116 2. The importance of weddings and getting to know shaabi 120 3. An expression of Dutch-Moroccan groupness 128 4. Conclusion 138 4. Music, Islam, and gender 141 Introduction: My experiences at a concert 141 1. The Islamization of events 146 2. The debate on the compatibility of music and performance in Islam 152 3. The consumers’ views on the compatibility of music, performance, and Islam 157 4. The producers’ views on the compatibility of music, performance, and islam 169 5. The complex position of female performers in Muslim communities 171 6. Conclusion 186 5. Dutch-Moroccan hip-hop and stereotypes 189 1. Theory on stereotyping 191 2. Stereotypes 197 3. Strategies of resistance 198 4. Hip-hop as musical resistance 203 5. Maroc-hop’s origins and the importance of the Internet 207 6. Maroc-hop’s lyrics: A categorization of themes 215 7. Conclusion: An overall analysis 229 Conclusion 231 Suggestions for further study 239 Appendix 243 Notes 245 Bibliography 253 Summary in Dutch 271 Curriculum vitae 279 Acknowledgements This study would not have been possible without the help and sup- port of a number of people. Thank you to the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) that provided me with financial and academic support throughout this project. ISIM creates an inspiring academic environment and I have greatly benefited from it in the course of writing this thesis. ISIM’s lunches, outings, and seminars have given me inspiration and motivation to proceed, also during hard times. Special thanks to my (former) colleagues: Prof. Asef Bayat, Prof. Anne- lies Moors, Dr. Linda Herrera, Drs. Nadia Sonneveld, Dr. Martijn de Koning and drs. Dennis Janssen. Thank you to the TCMO department (Department of Arabic and Islam) at Radboud University who generously adopted me as a colleague. I thank my TCMO colleague Drs. Nicolet Boekhoff-Van der Voort for all the talks, cups of coffee, lunches and for listening. Thank you Drs. Annemarie Hinten- Nooijen (Radboud University Nijmegen), drs. Simone Boogaarts-De Bruin (Amsterdam University) and dr. Linda Duits (Amsterdam University). Thank you to Dr. Bibi Panhuysen and Evelyn Raat at Imagine IC, Amsterdam. Thank you: DJ Nadia, Bad Brya, Rapti Miedema, Liane van der Linden, Maria Souad Bouanani and Sanaa Makhlouf. Thank you to all the respondents without whom this project would not have existed. I thank them for their cooperation, trust and frankness. Many special thanks to my family: Samir and Fairouz, Amin and Sara and Oma Smits! Thank you to the families Gazzah, Sghaier, Filali, Gourar in Tunisia. Thank you Nina and Alfred, Bert and Naomi, Kees and Olga. Last, but most important of all, I thank my parents Kuna Smits and Mohamed Gazzah for always standing by me and inspiring me with their support, encouragements and advice. 7 Notes on transcription In the transcription of terms in Arabic and Arabic names, no diacritic signs have been used except the c to indicate the Arabic letter cayn and the ' for the Arabic letter hamza, with the exception of the word shaabi. This word is used as a genre label for ‘popular Moroccan folk music’; on the inter- net and in music shops. On the compartment labels it is usually transcribed without diacritic signs. Terms that are common in the English language or toponyms are transcribed in their most common English form, for example, burqa, jihad and Mecca. These words are not written in italics. In other cases, I have used italics to indicate the Arabic origin of the words, for example, hadith, culama or anasheed. In this dissertation parts of song lyrics are cited and translated from Dutch into English (fair use). I have tried to get in touch with the rightful authors of these texts to ask permission for citing and translating them, but this was to no avail. 8 Introduction Ahmed (organizer of Moroccan concerts): “Music does something to people. Being together [during a concert] also touches people, it gives them a certain identity; as if…it’s like they are all going to Morocco on a boat. You feel…you are separate, but you are one. That is a feeling that I cannot explain to you. You know? We all have that same feeling. And then [when the boat arrives], then you see your country. With a concert, it’s the same thing: a feeling of solidarity comes over you. You want to share the music with each other, just like you want to share food. That is the feeling it gives.” Amal (freelance journalist): “It is not like the music is there and you are outside of it, you know….You are the music…. [During a concert or party] I have to dance. I have to! It is shyness that can stop me, but when I start dancing, then euhh…wonderful!” M.G: “Do you notice what is going on around you..?” Amal: “Ehmm, well you see, I am, of course, a Moroccan girl and we are always aware of who is watching us, because anything can and will be used against you in a court of law. Ha-ha.” Aisha (student): “[Music is] the soundtrack of my life. I like that phrase. And I really believe it. There are songs that when you hear them, doesn’t matter if it is ten or fifteen years ago, you know exactly what you were doing at that time, what happened, that kind of stuff. Yeah, it is…background, it is a frame of refer- ence, it is décor, it is experience, atmosphere…” Music is everywhere in our contemporary society: in shopping cen- tres, in elevators, on the radio and on TV, when you are put on hold during a telephone call, in aeroplanes and so on. In his book Musicofilia, neurologist Oliver Sacks explains that, for human beings, listening to music is a neuro- logical as well as an aural, emotional, and physical activity. Our brain is neu- rologically sensitive to the sounds, rhythms, structure, and melody of music. 9 RHYTHMS AND RHYMES OF LIFE Music is able to arouse very powerful emotions, such as happiness, lust, sadness, and other emotions. When human beings hear music, they (uncon- sciously) move their muscles to tap to the beat, they mimic the facial expres- sions of the musician, or use a specific body language to express emotions (Sacks 2007: 9).