Transnational Habitus: Mariem Hassan as the transcultural representation of the relationship between Saharaui music and Nubenegra records Luis Gimenez Amoros Submitted in partial fullfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Rhodes University PhD (thesis) Department of Music and Musicology Supervisor: Dr Lee Watkins I Abstract This thesis expands on primary field research conducted for my MMus degree. Undertaken in the Saharaui refugee camps of southern Algeria (2004-2005) that research - based on ethnographic data and the analysis of Saharaui music, known as Haul 1- focussed on the musical system, the social context of musical performance and the music culture in Saharaui refugee camps. This doctoral research examines Saharaui Haul music as practised in Spain and is particularly focussed on its entry, since 1998, into the global market by way of the World Music label, Nubenegra records. The encounter between Saharaui musicians and Nubenegra records has created a new type of Saharaui Haul which is different to that played in the refugee camps. This phenomenon has emerged as a result of western music producers compelling Saharaui musicians to introduce musical changes so that both parties may be considered as musical agents occupying different positions on a continuum of tradition and change. Nubenegra undertook the commodification of Saharaui music and disseminated it from the camps to the rest of the world. A musical and social analysis of the relationship between Nubenegra and Saharaui musicians living in Spain will form the basis of the research in this thesis. In particular, Mariem Hassan is an example of a musician who had her music disseminated through the relationship with Nubenegra and she is promoted as the music ambassador of the Western Sahara. I collaborated with her as a composer and performer on her last album, El Aaiun egdat (Aaiun in fire), in 20122 and gained first hand insight into the relationship between Mariem and Nubenegra. This thesis reflects on this relationship and my role in facilitating this encounter. 1A Bedouin musical style of the Hassanya speakers in Mauritania, Western Sahara, south-western Algeria, southern Morocco, and north-eastern Mali 2 Aaiun is the capital city of Western Sahara II Acknowledgments I would like to thank to everyone who has contributed to the completion of this thesis. However, this thesis is especially dedicated to Mariem Hassan and Nubenegra´s director, Manuel Dominguez. I also dedicate this work to Hugo Westerdahl, Gabriel Flores, Vadya Mint El Hanevi and Zazie. They have been part of Hassan´s band and we have travelled together during two years presenting Hassan’s album, El Aaiun egdat (2012). They have been essential in the experiential part of this thesis. I would like to thank to Dr. Lee Watkins for his contribution in my personal career. He has been my supervisor since 2011 for the completion of my MMus and PhD. He has been the most influential ethnomusicologist in my academic career. Hence, Dr. Watkins has been an example of efficiency and professionalism at Rhodes University from which I have been positively influenced. I also like to thank to Camalita Naicker and Jo Collet for proof reading this thesis. They have contributed to improve my English. Finally, I thank to my family for their unconditional support. III Declaration of originality I, Luis Gimenez Amoros declare that this assignment is my own work written in my own words. Where I have drawn on the words or ideas of others, these have been acknowledged using complete references according to the Departmental Guidelines. IV Table of contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………ii Acknowledgement……………………………………………………………………..iii Declaration of originality……………………………………………………………...iv Table of contents…………………………………………………………………..……v List of Figures………………………………………………………………………….ix List of Tables……………………………………………………………………….…xii List of Transcriptions……………………………………………………………..….xiii List of interviews………………………………………………………………...……xv List of songs…………………………………………………………………………..xvi Glossary……………………………..…………………………………………….....xviii Chapter One – Theoretical and transnational framework of “Saharaui music recorded by Nubenegra ………...….……………………………..……………………1 1.1 Introduction……….………………………………………………………..………..1 1.2 Researching Saharaui music and its relationship with Nubenegra………………..…4 1.3 Historical framework: decolonisation and forced exile……...……….…….……..…6 1.4 Transnational studies in ethnomusicology: Its limitations, the use of habitus and other theoretical concepts contributing to the study of transnational music.…………..13 1.5 Transnationalism and habitus applied to ethnomusicological studies: The metaphor of hubs, transcultural capital theory and the politics of globalisation……………...…..29 1.6 Research methodology: Rice and the multidimensional study of music in relation to the transnational habitus in Saharaui music recorded by Nubenegra………………………..…………….....…………………………………….41 1.7 The application of Rice’s metaphors in the chapters of this thesis……………..….48 Chapter Two –Translocal capital in Saharaui music: Identification through cultural values and nationalism in the refugee camps………………………….…..53 2.1 Origins and social contextualization of Saharaui music in Trab el Bidan: griots and Haul; the lailas; the children of the clouds; from nomad to sedentary life………….....55 V 2.2 Musical and cultural values found in translocal Saharaui music in the camps: Haul modes, rhythms, traditional instruments, and forms of interactions between the musicians and the poets……………………………………………………….………..62 2.3 Cultural values in Saharaui poetry: Sufism and religious poetry in relation to Saharaui nationalist songs………………………………….…………………..………65 2.4 The igagwen in Mauritania and Saharaui musicians: Cultural memory and innovation………………………………………………………………………………69 2.5 Sedentarisation and national consciousness of Western Sahara……………….…...72 2.6 The RASD, international agents, and their political interpretations about the conflict of Western Sahara………………………………………………………………...…….80 2.7 Azawan and syncretism: The concept of translocal capital for the Saharaui people………………………………………………………………………..………….84 Chapter Three –Transcultural capital: The relationship between Saharaui music and Nubenegra records………………………………………...……………………..87 3.1 Nubenegra: Manuel Dominguez and his contact with Saharaui music before 1997………………………………………………………….…………………………90 3.2 Formal agreements between an institutional Hub and a human hub: Nubenegra and the PF to promote Saharaui music by using social memory and a commercial interest……………………………………………………………………………….....95 3.3 Nubenegra´s promotion of Leyoad: Selection and possibilities of creating a Saharaui band to promote the trilogy Sahraui, from translocal to transcultural………..……..101 3.4 The dissemination of Saharaui music during Leyoad´s performances by Nubenegra and in the recording studio by western producer……..……………………………….105 3.5 The album “Mariem Hassan and Leyoad” (2002): The first commodified product of Saharaui music as a result of its dissemination………………………………...…..…109 3.6 Nayim Alal and its commodification of Saharaui music through Alberto Gambino: The first attempt to create a Saharaui solo artist…………………………………...…112 3.7 Another type of Saharaui musical commodification through western agents: Hugo Westerdahl remixes of Saharaui music recorded by Nubenegra (2007) and Mariem Hassan´s collaboration in the album Hechizo de babilonia by Luis Delgado Delgado (2000)………………………………………………………………..………………...118 VI 3.8 Nubenegra as the main agent for the dissemination, commodification in Saharaui music: Possibilities and limitations of the record label to distribute and promote the Saharaui music recorded by Nubenegra……………………………………………………………………………..125 3.9 Nubenegra and its distinctive relationship with Saharaui music: Self-Reflexivity on Manuel´s interaction as an integral agent in Saharaui music…………………………130 Chapter Four -Mariem Hassan: The construction of a transcultural representative of Saharaui music……………………………………………………………………135 4.1 Biographical notes: National and translocal views on Mariem Hassan before Nubenegra (1974-1998)……..…………………………….…………………………..138 4.2 Nubenegra´s decisions for choosing Mariem Hassan as the representative of Saharaui music recorded by Nubenegra……………………………..……………………...……………………….142 4.3 Deseos: The first representation of Mariem Hassan as solo artist……..……….…144 4.4 Shouka: Mariem represented as the ambassador of Saharaui music…….....……..153 4.5 El Aaiun egdat: cosmopolitan agency in Saharaui music…………..……..………164 4.6 Representation of Mariem Hassan by Nubenegra in the specific agents of the global market…………................................................................................................………168 Chapter Five –El Aaiun egdat: Innovation in the transcultural capital of SMRN……………………………………………………………………………...…179 5.1 Nubenegra´s proposal to be Mariem´s composer and guitarist in the album El Aaiun egdat………………………………………………………………………..…………181 5.2 Mariem Hassan, international musicians, translocal poets and Nubenegra: The compositional process in Villena (Spain)……………………………………………..183 5.3 Bimusicality in El Aaiun egdat: multimusical, cosmopolitan and traditional….....188 5.4 Multimusicality: Musical influences related to the Haul modal system and not recognised as cosmopolitan………………………………….………………………..191 5.5 Cosmopolitan bimusicality: Musical styles recognised globally used in Mariem´s music…………………………..………………………………………………………199 VII 5.6 Traditional bimusicality: A Spanish guitarists