The Political Aesthetics of Arab Youth Musical Performances in Diaspora

The Political Aesthetics of Arab Youth Musical Performances in Diaspora

Hybrid Identities/Hybrid Music: The Political Aesthetics of Arab Youth Musical Performances in Diaspora Rowa Mohamed Nabil1 Abstract This paper analyzes the interaction between the musical productions and the cultural identity of young Arab musicians in Western diaspora. The theme of ‘hybridity’ tackles questions of cultural identity and identity politics, particularly when the musical performances in diaspora and imposed self-exile voice political struggles in the homeland, and manifest the musicians’ national consciousness. Highlighting political aesthetics and ideologies of transnationalism, the present research examines the musical performances of two Arab bands in Western diaspora. The first is ‘47Soul’, a London-based band of Palestinian origins that fuses the music folklore of the Levant, with electronic sonic systems, in musical hybrids negotiating the Palestinian musical identity. The second is ‘Nas Jota,’ a Sudanese music group and production platform based in the United States of America. Nas Jota produces Arabic hip-hop performances, mixed with African reggae, employing heteroglossic linguistic variations, to articulate political protest against the autocracy of Sudan’s former regime. The paper aims to illustrate the transcultural exchange of musical and lyrical features reflective of the musical hybrids and hybrid identities emerging in light of the diasporic and exilic experiences. The paper places the musical hybrids in the cultural and political contexts of their composition and reception. Offering an interdisciplinary approach, the paper argues that the hybrid identities of these young Arab musicians is represented in the hybridity of the musical fusions. In addition, the engagement of the musical hybrids with national popular struggles in the homeland sheds light on national identity ties. 1 Rowa Nabil, Assistant Lecturer, the Department of English Language and Literature, Cairo University. جملة علوم وفنون املوسيقى - كلية الرتبية املوسيقية - اجمللد 46 - عدد خاص "املوسيقى وهوية الشعوب" - أغسطس 2021م 30 Keywords: musical hybrids, musical fusion, artivism, Sudanese rap, Shamstep, political aesthetics, identity politics. Musical Hybrids: Space for Restoration, Negotiation, & Resistance Arab youth have been taking a stand against the troublesome conditions of their respective communities, varying from social marginalization to state corruption. During the last decade, they have engaged with sociopolitical issues symptomatic of their realities by means of artistic activism. Their artivism -artistic activism- is manifested in committed musical productions that reflect, not just their political grievances and aspirations, but also their cultural identity and national consciousness.2 Despite being constantly pushed to the margin by the stigma of being disruptive social actors, prone to civil deviance, young Arabs have manifested their power in altering the dynamics of politics in the region, by “creating and disseminating messages and images to define themselves on a public stage.”3 Opting for non-violent artistic activism in the face of oppression, young Arab singers and musicians embody the faith and doctrine that Tawfiq al-Hakim has hoped the young generation would institute; “noble ends are reached by noble means!”4 Although there is a long legacy of musical performances and compositions employed as tools of artistic activism in the Arab world, the contribution of young Arab artists in diaspora and self-exile poses questions pertaining to cultural and identity politics. The quintessential intercultural exchange between the ‘local’ and ‘global’ shapes the identities and musical performances of young Arab musicians in Western communities. The ‘glocalized’ exchange of cultural features and musical practices produces transcultural musical hybrids that 2 For further discussion on Arab artivism, and the engagement of young Arab singers and musicians in artistic activism during waves of popular political contention between 2010 and 2013, see Rowa Nabil, “The Young Sing Back” (MA thesis, Cairo University, 2020). 3 Linda Herrera and Asef Bayat, Being Young and Muslim: New Cultural Politics in The Global South and North (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 363. 4 Tawfiq Al-Hakim, The Revolt of the Young: Essays by Tawfiq al-Hakim, trans. Mona Radwan (New York: Syracuse University Press, 2015), 38. جملة علوم وفنون املوسيقى - كلية الرتبية املوسيقية - اجمللد 46 - عدد خاص "املوسيقى وهوية الشعوب" - أغسطس 2021م 31 do not fully comply with either of the initial originary culture, or the globalized practices. In the context of this research, ‘hybridity’ is viewed as the process of creating “new transcultural forms” as a result of the interactions between two existing cultural forms.5 The newness of the hybridized forms, practices, and identities is stressed in contrast to the collaged remixing, or the recitation of existing forms. The transculturality of the hybrid stems from the cross-cultural exchange, during which the existing cultural positionalities contribute- not necessarily equally- in the construction of a new hybridized space. Hybridity is, hence, a ‘third space’ where the two prior positions are simulated, reproduced, and re-presented to give rise to new identifications and representations.6 It is the ‘in-between space’ where tradition and indigeneity provide a partial form of identification in the ongoing process of cultural negotiation during moments of transformation.7 Thus, the hybrid is a space for negotiation between the heterogenous particularities of the local, and the universality of the global. The heterogeneity of the cultural and musical identity is not absorbed or neutralized, as to make room for the adoption and assimilation of globalized features. Instead, cultural hybridity entails that tradition is restored and reconfigured to innovate original significance and meanings, while the present is interrupted to actively mediate self-identification and self-performance.8 In the context of this study, the dynamics of transcultural interaction and negotiation that guide musical hybridity occur in light of forced displacement. As a result, cultural politics as well as contentious politics weigh in the construction of the hybrid identities and musical hybrids. The experience of forced displacement imposed by an oppressor, with limited or no hope of return, has shaped the cultural and musical identities of various young Arab artists. As a direct result of occurring in line with such an experience, the restoration and incorporation of indigenous musical 5 Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin, Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts (New York: Routledge, 2007), 108. 6 Homi Bhabha, “The Third Space,” in Identity: Community, Culture, and Difference, ed. Jonathan Rutherford (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1990), 210. 7 Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (New York: Routledge Classics, 2004), 3. 8 Ibid, 10. جملة علوم وفنون املوسيقى - كلية الرتبية املوسيقية - اجمللد 46 - عدد خاص "املوسيقى وهوية الشعوب" - أغسطس 2021م 32 forms, local linguistic practices, and sociocultural folk traditions acquire then propagate distinctive signification and meaning, compared to their original significance in the existing originary culture. These processes of restoration and negotiation are exceptionally vital for young Arab musicians born in diaspora to refugee parents with no right to return, and for artists born in the homeland but had to resort to self-exile to flee political persecution orchestrated by an authoritarian regime. The diasporic and exilic presence conditions and guides the production of musical hybrids, as well as the construction of the hybrid identity. In the process of constructing new and original musical hybrids, the hybrid interrupts the present dispossession to bring to the forefront heterogenous elements of the homeland. Hence, the reconfiguration of the heterogenous particularity of the musical heritage and cultural tradition is subversive of the imposed detachment and alienation. The performance of hybrid music is a performance of an identity, while both performances tell a story of the self, describing “the social in the individual and the individual in the social.”9 Besides being expressive of the processual defiant self-identification, the political aesthetics of these musical hybrids are instrumental in political resistance and activism. They voice political protest against the oppressive power bloc responsible for the inflicted isolation and dislocation. This power bloc can be a military occupation imposing mass dispossession as in the performances of the Palestinian band 47Soul; or an authoritarian regime operating on basis of political persecution and oppression as in the case of the Sudanese music group Nas Jota. Both 47Soul and Nas Jota create musical hybrids that assert national identity ties, accentuate the artists’ national consciousness, and bridge their commitment to the national struggles of their brethren in the homeland. The musical hybrids discussed in this paper are distinctive fusions of linguistic and musical structures transpiring from what Weiss coins as “intentional hybrids,” which are the products of conscious blends and transcultural fusions.10 The musical 9 Simon Frith, “Music and Identity,” in Questions of Cultural Identity, ed. Stuart Hall and Paul Du Gay (London: Sage Publications, 2003), 109. 10 Sarah Weiss, “Permeable Boundaries: Hybridity, Music, and the Reception of Robert Wilson's "I La Galigo," Ethnomusicology 52, no. 2 (Spring/Summer 2008): 206. جملة

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