Andalusian Culture Remains Strong in the Maghreb
2005-02-03
While Al Andalus represents a glorious past to many Middle Eastern Arabs, people of the Maghreb region continue to embrace aspects of Andalusian culture. They inherited the culture from Andalusians who settled in North Africa after their expulsion from what is now southern Spain.
("Andalusian Music," "Interview with Dwight Reynolds," Afropop.org – 2001-2003; "Alhambra," Greatbuildings.com; "Tunisia's Andalusian Heritage," Contemporary Review – 01/07/00)
 [File] Alhambra, Granada |
In the Arab collective memory, Al Andalus remains a time and place when Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in an atmosphere of tolerance and peace. For some 800 years between the 8th and the 15th centuries, Al Andalus was an intellectual and creative centre of the Western world.
Cities like Cordoba, Granada, Seville and Toledo -- though politically divided during much of their history -- made important contributions to the fields of art, architecture, science, philosophy, literature and music. The cities produced key figures such as the great philosopher Ibn Rushd (1126-1198) and Moses Maimonides (1134-1204), an influential Jewish philosopher who later became Saladin's physician.
 [File] The interior of the Cordoba Mosque |
In the eighth century, armies of Arabs and Berbers led by Tariq Bin Ziyad conquered much of the Iberian Peninsula and unified it for the first time under Islamic rule. Al Andalus, as the territory came to be known, was administered by a provincial government based in Cordoba, which quickly became the most important centre for learning in the West. Pope Sylvester II (950-1003) is believed to have studied mathematics, science and mechanics in Cordoba and Seville. This pope is credited with introducing Arabic numerals, the decimal system, and Arab knowledge of astronomy to Europe.
The Christian armies of Aragon and Castille defeated the Almohads, a North African dynasty that had been in control of much of Al Andalus, in 1212. The armies reduced most of Al Andalus, except Nasrid-controlled Granada, into principalities that paid tribute to the northern Christian kingdoms. The Alhambra, a magnificent palace that was meant as a physical realization of Islamic paradise, was the last major Islamic monument to be built before the Christian armies started the process of ousting Muslims and Jews. Islamic rule ended in the Iberian Peninsula after eight centuries when Granada fell in 1492, the year Christopher Columbus arrived in America.
Arab ancestry was not common to all Andalusians. The majority of them were either North African Berbers, Iberian converts to Islam or Jews who lived in harmony with Muslims and Christians. The non-Christians began to leave Andalusia as early as the 11th century when Toledo was occupied by Alfonso VI, king of Castille. The last group to leave was the Moriscos, who had nominally converted to Christianity to avoid being expelled. According to historians, the eventual expulsion was due to them not assimilating quickly enough.
Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia were natural destinations for the exiles.
Fez in Morocco became home to Muslim and Jewish refugees from Toledo, Cordoba (which fell in the 12th century) and Seville (which fell in the 13th century). A section of Fez is known today as the Andalusian Quarter. Tetouan was completely rebuilt and repopulated by Granadan refugees.
Many communities in Morocco still identify themselves as Andalusian. Cities such as Diaz, Torres, Medina, Molina, Borras and Banzi still boast of such heritage.
In neighboring Algeria, Tlemcen became a haven for expelled Jews. The Moriscos settled in Oran. In Tunisia, some Moriscos re-converted to Islam but continued to speak and read Spanish for several centuries.
 [File] Moorish and Christian Musicians from the Cantigas de Santa Maria (13th Century) |
Andalusian impact on North African culture has been profound and continuous. Orchestras in Fez, Tangier and Tetouan still use Andalusian instruments and music dating back to 9th century singer and composer Ziryab. Andalusian music in Morocco is still referred to as ala and has long been encouraged and promoted by official authorities.
Andalusian migration created a renaissance in all forms of Tunisian art and architecture. Mosques, palaces and homes were decorated with colorful tiles reminiscent of buildings in Cordoba and Granada. Testour, 50 miles west of Tunis on the banks of the Medjerda River in the nation's ''Andalusian Countryside,'' is a near replica of an old Andalusian town with its tiled homes, street names and two-courtyard mosques. Blonde and blue-eyed children, undoubtedly descendents of Iberian Muslims, can occasionally be seen playing in the streets.
Andalusian music also survived in Tunisia, where it is called malouf. The Rashidiya, an Arabic music conservatory established in 1934, continues to preserve and study Andalusian music in its original form.
Andalusian music had a tougher time taking root in Algeria, where French occupation authorities and later religious fundamentalists tried to crush it. It luckily survived as underground music in cities such as Tlemcen and Oran, inspiring many young musicians to modernize the form and take it to new heights. In Oran it helped shape rai music, one of the most popular genres in North Africa.
Time could not sever the emotional ties between Andalusians and their former homeland but the expulsion of Andalusians allowed their culture to spread to the Maghreb. As a result, they continue to live in and enrich the nations of the Maghreb and the greater world community by their contributions.
Email to a friend
Print version
افنان Posted 2006-11-19
This is a very good subject. I hope I can get your help in finding material on Moroccan architecture!
عامر عجاج حميد Posted 2006-11-25
May the Lord bless you. I need information about the "Moriscos": their history sources, studies about them. May you be successful in your endeavours. Amer Ajajamed Babel University Islamic Studies School
وحيد Posted 2006-12-04
Blessing of God be upon you! I am in need of this valuable information. Could you help me more in my educational research under the title: "Effects of the Andalusian civilization on Algerian life" (Music, architecture, Sufism, clothing, food etc...). Thank you in advance Wahid Lyon II University, France
mohamed yassine Posted 2006-12-30
Long live Andalusian music!
الياس Posted 2007-01-17
God bless you!
sara Posted 2007-02-07
Very well
ادم Posted 2007-02-08
My comment is very good
دلي Posted 2007-09-29
Thank you very much for this information. I ask you to provide me information about the family name Kaouki, is it Andalusian? And what's the origin of the word?
سلمى لعويني Posted 2007-10-01
This is very good information and I hope that you'll provide me with more information about the States of the Arab Maghreb.
انور محمود زناتي Posted 2007-10-01
Andalusia, the promised haven, the Andalusian society. The social life always reflects, without doubt, the literature and culture of the era and interact with it. And we see a luxurious, indecent, respectable or worried product. All this is the result of the life of the people and the feelings of the nation (), namely the Andalusian. The Andalusian nation ad gathered different races with different religions and traditions, Arabs, Berbers, Sicilians, Jews and Spanish. Among Arabs are Nizaris and Kahtanis, and Berbers belong to different scattered tribes. Even among Spanish there were those who converted to Islam and those who preserved their Christianity (). At that time, their were many contradictions in the society…There were many princes, ministers, poets and authors as well as poor people with humble jobs and farmers. The rulers and rich people wasted a lot of money in building palaces…
salma Posted 2007-11-20
The shapes of buildings which represent the Moroccan architecture.
رباب Posted 2007-11-26
I study at the sixth year of the secondary education I want more information about the topic of Andalusian music, its history and origins.
مايا Posted 2007-12-16
Honestly, this topic is very important to me especially because I’m Spanish from the city of Maya in the North of Spain. But fate decided that my grandfathers left their lands to go to the North of Morocco, therefore, I have a Moroccan citizenship and I want to go back to my country of origin, but I’m still claiming the right to return, but my request wasn’t answered until now.
kouki Posted 2007-12-26
The history of Al Alia from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, shows the Kouki family is of Moorish origins.
cristiano-soussou Posted 2008-01-17
I want please a topic about: - the history of Andalusian music - rhythms and Nawbate, the instruments used in the Andalusian music. Abdelkarim Rais. Mohamed Bajdoub.
جمال بن عمار الأحمر الجزائري الأندلسي الخزرجي Posted 2008-02-15
I thank the brothers working in the site of “Magharebia” for this information, I also thank all the brothers interested in this topic. I wrote about this topic in a detailed way under the title “Andalusians of Algeria: a comatose case or a forgotten case” on the site hoggar.org. you can visit it by copying and pasting these words on the google search tool. The last king of Andalusia spent his life with his family, relatives, servants and maids in Fes. His uncle ‘Zaghal’ died in Tlemcen. The scientific branch of the Moor family moved to live in Bejaia, Jijel and the West of Tunisian. Morocco was affected more than other countries by the Andalusian and urbanization heritage. Andalusians had a union in every country, they had famous tribes before they were broken by France with the titles system. The numbers of people coming from Andalusia settled mainly in coastal Maghreb towns such as Bejaia and Jijel. The historian Nasser Eddine Essaadouni wrote this in many books and researches. I inform my brother Andalusians with whom we all share the love for Andalusia to be united, we call for ‘the right of return’ without neglecting our beliefs because we’re no longer Moors. It is important to get this right legally by moving experts in international law and civil status law. It is important to set up Andalusian associations and unions in our current countries of residence (Maghreb, Eastern, Arab Islamic) meaning the countries of dispersion. Enough dispersion in foreign countries, with our thanks to the Arab and Islamic brothers who comforted us and supported us throughout decades. Let’s create blogs, internet sites, forums, channels, centres and institutes to revive our cause, uncover our history, to know and marry among each other as did our grandfathers before France came to Maghreb countries. Let’s hang on the doors of our present houses symbolic keys to remember our houses of origin. Let’s refer our case to the Nations. Are Zionists better than us. Let’s have the conviction, if we don’t go back, our sons will go back and will thank our efforts. By God, i won’t die happy unless on the earth of the three mosques or Andalusia…
samah Posted 2008-02-17
A very interesting topic but I want to know when has this type of music emerged, thank you.
mudejare Posted 2008-05-03
What a joy it is to finally read you. Finally, I am not the only one passionate about the history of my ancestors. For months I have gathered information. I blindly hold on to it so that it is about all subjects concerning this history. Of course, it is necessary to be careful not to manipulate it, because, ever since the golden ages, Andalusia has been a point of reference for co-habitation, a wave of Western nostalgia has wanted us to believe it was not a golden age but a short time of barbarism. In short, I would like to indeed clarify that in this isolated way we have a chance to have ourselves recognised. We need to unite like our neighbours did. We had the right to because of the funds the King of Spain paid to the Jewish organisations. I wish to create an organisation to make a complaint about Europe’s and France’s genocide, as this is an unjustifiable crime. Of course, this will be treated with a blind eye. We need to be well-structured because this will be a life-long job. As for me, I am the grandson of a republican refugee in France. I live in France today, but have returned to my religion, Islam. I always had doubts about the foundation of our practices, up to the moment before my father made me believe that we were not true Christians, but that for our survival we had always had a double culture. That was the day that I understood a lot of things about my family and that was the day that I had to take on the duty of rehabilitating them, because, this has lived with us through so many centuries and has always been transmitted it to the next generation at the very last moment, its history is admirable in my opinion. Of course, I so loved that my father spoke to me about this before his last day because I understand his last words better.
سارة Posted 2008-05-04
I would like you to provide information about Larbi Ben Sari.
كمال Posted 2008-06-28
God bless you. We hope that you will always remain at our service. We hope that you provide us with the information and data about our history and civilization…
Hafid Posted 2008-09-05
This interesting article unfortunately makes historical mistakes and has many inaccuracies. First, the vast majority of Moors are living in Morocco (see: Wikipedia) and they are recognisable even today by their Spanish last names. Second, the Maghrebis, as is clear by their eyes and hair, which are due to a diverse ancestry, are Roman, Andalusian, European (see: Portuguese, Spanish and British conquests, the French and American presence in North Africa during the 20th Century and, more importantly, the three centuries of Ottoman presence from Algeria to Syria). It should be known that the Ottomans had a policy of having a Turkish father and a indigenous mother. Andalusian music in Morocco and Lybia are different from one another, and that is, most particularly, due to the Ottoman occupation. Fez is far from being the only Moroccan city to have welcomed Andalusian refugees. In this articles this is spoken of as beginning in 1492, when the many exchanges between Andalusia and Morocco really took place after this date—after 1609 to be exact.
Ibraheem Posted 2008-10-08
Have there been ANY anthropological studies or field work done that have been published on Andalusians in Africa? If so, what publications or journals from what Universities or other instituions? Please help me with a response!
We welcome your comments on Magharebia's articles.
It is our hope that you will use this forum to interact with other readers across the Maghreb. In order to keep this experience interesting, we ask you to follow the rules outlined in the comments policy. By submitting comments, you are consenting to these rules. While Magharebia.com encourages discussion on all subjects, including sensitive ones, the comments posted are solely the views of those submitting them. Magharebia.com does not necessarily endorse or agree with the ideas, views, or opinions voiced in these comments. This is a moderated forum. Comments deemed abusive, offensive, or those containing profanity may not be published.
Magharebia's Comments Policy