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ASIAN MUSIC
Spring/Summer 1997
75
79
ArabMusicEnsemblesin Tunis 83
Davis:Traditional
Plate 4. Salah El-Mahdi ('ad) with amateur ma'lif ensemble in
Tunis. (Author: 1996.)
Notes
This articleis a revised and extendedversion of a paperread at the second
meeting of the study group of the InternationalCouncil for Traditional
Music on 'The Anthropologyof Music and MediterraneanCultures,'hosted
by the Levi Foundationin Venice, June 1995. My researchfor this articleis
based on fieldwork in Tunisia spreadover several visits between 1982 and
1996. Unless otherwise specified, my data derives from participant
observation and interviews. I am grateful for a fellowship awardedby the
Social Science ResearchCouncil (US) and the National Endowmentfor the
Humanities to supporteighteen months field work in Tunisia in 1982 and
1983. Above all, I thank all my Tunisian colleagues who have so
generously sharedwith me theirknowledge, experience and insights.
1
andalusiyyasee Guettat1980.
11
The ensemble and the Institutein which it is based are named after the
famous Ottomanpatronand amateurof the ma'u1f,Muhammadal-Rashid
Bey (d. 1759). In this article, I follow the Tunisian custom of using the
single term 'Rashidiyya'to referboth to the ensemble and the Institute.
12 In examining the concept of tradition as
applied to secular song in
San'a', capital of the Yemen Arab Republic, Philip Schuyler observes that
'tradition'is considered on the best authorityas the appropriatetranslation
of turath when used in the sense of 'cultural heritage' (Schuyler
1990/91:52-53). Likewise, Salwa el-Shawan uses the term 'tradition'with
reference to the Egyptian musical repertoryknown as al-turath. For the
founders of the Rashidiyya and subsequent generations of Tunisians,
musique tunisienne traditionelle has broaderconnotations, including not
only the ma'10fcanon itself, designatedal-turathby the Ministryof Cultural
Affairs, but also more recent compositions whose style is recognizably
Tunisian;in this context, the ma'lof is consideredthe ideal representativeof
Tunisian style. Following Tunisianpractice, I also use the term 'tradition'
more generally to distinguish the older types of performance practice,
patrons and venues associated with the ma'luf, from their modern
counterpartsas introducedby the Rashidiyya.
13 The Rashidiyya was founded in a landmark
year for the Tunisian
nationalistmovement: in 1934, HabibBourguibafoundedthe Neo-Destour
Partywhose policies of active resistanceto the FrenchProtectoratewere to
lead Tunisia to Independencein 1956. Tunisiansconsider this coincidence
to be significant, providing a symbolic link between the goals of the
Rashidiyya and the broaderobjectives of Tunisian nationalism. This link
was reconfirmedafterTunisianindependencewith the appointmentof Salah
El-Mahdi, leader of the Rashidiyya, as head of the Dept. of Music and
PopularArts in the Ministryof CulturalAffairs.
14 I explore the
relationship between the Rashidiyya and the first
generationof popularmedia singers and composers in Davis 1996b:318-19.
15 Numerous sources (e.g.
D'Erlanger 1917:93; Abdul-Wahhab1918:116;
Guettat 1980:179-80; El-Mahdi 1981:26) attest to the vital role played by
certain Sufi brotherhoods,particularly the 'Isawlya and the 'Azuziya, as
genuinely classless centers for the instruction and performance of the
ma'10f. Both d'Erlanger's informants for the North African traditions in
Vols V and VI of La MusiqueArabe learnedthe ma'lf in the lodges of the
'Isawiya: Shaykh Ahmad al-Wafl belonged to the highest ranks of the
bourgeoisie, while Shaykh Khumais Tarnan was son of an artisan
(1949:382-83). I describe the ma'lof activities of the Sufi lodges and its
References
Abdul-Wahab,Hassan Husni
1918 "Le dv61lopmentde la MusiqueArabeen Orient,Espagneet
Tunisie,"Revue Tunisienne24:106-117.
Danielson, Virginia
1988 "TheArabMiddleEast"in PeterManuel(ed.) Popular
Musics of the Non-WesternWorld: An Introductory
Survey. Oxford University Press.
1996 "New nightingalesof the Nile: popularmusic in Egypt since
the 1970s,"Popular Music 15/3:299-312.
Davis, Ruth
1989 "Linksbetween the BaronRodolphed'Erlangerand the
Notationof TunisianArt Music"in Ethnomusicologyand the
Historical Dimension,Ludwigsburg:PhilippVerlag: 47-59