Arab music, French folklore ? : music, politics and musician communities in contact in Algiers during the colonial period (1862-1962) ; Musique arabe, folklore de France ? : musique, politique et communautés musiciennes en contact à Alger durant la période coloniale (1862-1962)
In this dissertation, we seek to demonstrate that the history of music in Algiers from the 1860s to independence must be apprehended in terms of meeting and transfers between European and indigenous musical expressions. Characterized by live performance and being a point of contact, musical practice has been understood, as early as the beginning of the 20th century, as a means to create and tighten ties between communities; a purpose to which many actors of civil society have worked, increasingly supported by public authorities. Rubbed together, the different musical genres were modelled and consolidated, so that the Algiers's so-called "Andalusian" musical tradition was, in fact, shaped by the dialogue between Europeans and indigenes. Thus, from 1862 to 1962, one can speak of Algerian music's "franco-muslim" path; a path which reveals that the historical significance of Algerian independence in the field of music is as limited as its memorial weight is overwhelming in contemporary nationalist narratives on Algerian music. However, the Algiers musical case might be more telling from a cultural history of modern France point of view: it shows – surprisingly? – that in France, multiculturalism is not tied to imperialism. If one considers for a moment that Algiers, from 1862 to 1962, is not fundamentally "colonial", admits that it has for a time shared a common destiny with the hexagone, and yields to the fact that it hosted a genuine cultural policy aimed at the promotion of diversity, one is led to wonder if Jacobinism, as is often said, is consubstantial to France. ; Dans cette thèse, nous tâchons de démontrer que l'histoire de la musique à Alger entre les années 1860 et l'indépendance ne peut se passer d'une approche en termes de rencontre et de transferts entre les expressions musicales européennes et indigènes. Spectacle vivant et lieu de rencontre, la pratique musicale a été saisie très tôt au cours du XXe siècle comme un moyen de travailler au rapprochement des communautés ; un des principes auquel ont ...