Moi aussi, je suis musulman: Rai, Islam, and Masculinity in Maghrebi Transnational Identity

Abstract

This article focuses on North African music as a fertile and explosive site of gendered and transnational Maghrebi identity, exploring two separate yet related paths. The first is Rai versus binary, which article demonstrates to be a falsely constructed combat zone that serves to further political interests of FIS (Islamic Salvation Front), FLN (National Liberation Front), and financial interests of Western music industry. The second focus is on role of gender in Rai, and increasing masculinization of genre. The article's goal is to reveal complex intersections of Rai, Islam, and masculinity in construction of transnational Maghrebi identity. Introduction In a postmodern world where globalization, migration and cyberspace have blurred national and territorial boundaries, identity continues to play a vital role in a network of shifting and overlapping categories that work to construct and deconstruct each other. In this article I focus on as a fertile and explosive site of Maghrebi identity. (1) Rai, originally a Western Algerian/Eastern Moroccan musical genre, traces its roots back to early twentieth century. In its contemporary form (from 1970s onward), it has followed Maghrebi immigrants to Europe, and recent release of duet Desert Rose (1999) featuring British Sting and Algerian Cheb Mami, has increased its visibility as a global phenomenon. Typically, is associated with youth and immigrant subcultures, and often described as risque or vulgar. (2) Yet as this article will demonstrate, is a much more complex phenomenon that speaks to multiplicity of a gendered and transnational Maghrebi identity. In order to explore this complexity, my article follows two separate yet related paths. The first focus will be on seemingly, but not necessarily, adversarial relationship of and Islam, whose conflict has been promoted for different reasons by its Islamist (3) opponents and its Western proponents. I will demonstrate how Rai versus binary is a falsely constructed combat zone that serves to further political interests of FIS (Islamic Salvation Front), FLN (National Liberation Front), (4) and financial interests of Western music industry. The second focus will be on role of gender in Rai, and increasing masculinization of genre. My goal is to reveal complex intersections of Rai, Islam and masculinity in construction of a transnational Maghrebi identity. While considerable attention is being given to economic impact of globalization, similar scholarly inquiry into cultural and political ramifications of globalization is only beginning. In light of recent and ongoing political crises involving young Middle Eastern men and Islam, it is foolish and perilous to ignore cultural and political elements, or to accept simplistic explanations that compartmentalize and too often demonize the Other. My hope is that this paper will help both to demystify and to complicate role of Islam in one kind of Maghrebi identity, that of transnational Maghrebi cheb, or what singer Cheb Mami would call North Parisian, or young man of suburbs or la banlieue. (5) Setting Stage: The Rai-Islamist Battlefield Mahmoud Zemmouri's 1997 film 100% Arabica (6) takes place in suburbs of Paris. While ostensibly a showcase for singing talents of Khaled and Cheb Mami, this comedy also raises issues and questions that lie at heart of this article. Is there really an irreconcilable division between and Islam? If not, why have Islamists chosen to position themselves in direct opposition to singers? What does represent to them, and to larger Maghrebi community? And what role does play in constructing a kind of transnational Maghrebi masculinity? In 100% Arabica, two young male Islamists hide their religious garb under Western clothing in order to attend a neighborhood concert. …