Paper short abstract:

By following the trajectories of North African migrant musicians based in Europe, I reveal a phenomenon that articulates potentially conflicting dimensions: the artists' own musical pleasure; their professional constraints/opportunities; and the different context of their migration experiences.

Paper long abstract:

By following the trajectories and networks of various North African artists based in the United Kingdom and in France*, it became apparent that a common phenomenon of migrant musicians is to be trapped in a matrix which simultaneously articulates three potentially conflicting dimensions: the artists' own musical pleasure and desires; their professional constraints and opportunities; and the social, historical and personal context of their migration experiences. However, artists have developed strategies which permit them not only to overcome such tensions arising from this matrix, but to use them as a strength. The aim of this paper is to explore two particular aspects of the above-mentioned strategies. Firstly, the process of 'creative memory' in which artists go beyond the apparent antinomy between preserving a so-called musical heritage and developing their own artistic path, is illustrated through the example of the London based band MOMO (Music Of Moroccan Origin). Secondly, the use of local politics to pursue their own cultural, social and political agendas is demonstrated through the activities of a newly born association ('North African Arts'). Whilst musicians and/or musical promoters are well aware of the ambiguous ways in which local politics often regard arts as a mean to promote both multiculturalism and community cohesion rather than to support artistic creation per se, some of them have also understood the strategic potential of their involvement in such actions.

* This multi-site ethnographic fieldwork conducted since 2007 is part of a wider research project funded by the AHRC research programme Diasporas, Migration, Identities (www.tnmundi.com).