Paper short abstract:

This paper explores anticolonial songs from the Rif (northern Morocco) and their incorporation into contemporary protest songs. I analyze how anticolonial sentiments are evoked through music, conveying current feelings of oppression, while expressing hope for the future of the region.

Paper long abstract:

This paper explores anticolonial songs from the Rif (northern Morocco) and their incorporation into contemporary protest songs, circulating between Morocco and the Riffian diaspora in Europe. The Rif is a distinct Amazigh (Berber) region, which has been subject to violence at various levels. From chemical warfare by the Spanish colonial invaders to severe state repression and violent rebellions after independence, to massive migration to Europe. During the Rif War (1921-26), clashes occurred between the Spanish colonizers and Riffian tribes. During this period, numerous anticolonial sung poems were created, called 'izran.' This oral tradition is a rich source of historiography from the perspective of the colonized, recounting the various events that took place on the battlefields and beyond. Later, these songs have been appropriated in adapted arrangements by a variety of artists to voice pressing socio-political concerns of the region in the postcolonial period. This paper focuses on one anticolonial song called 'Dhar Obarran' (Mountain of Obarran), a site where during a major battle in 1921, the Berber tribes defeated the Spanish army. I examine the song's content, form, and origins and trace its course across contemporary reworkings and their circulation between Morocco and Europe (particularly the Netherlands). Drawing on theories of 'soundscape' (Feld 1982; Hirschkind 2006) and 'empires as aural formations' (Radano & Olaniyan 2016), I analyze how anticolonial sensibilities are evoked through music to convey current feelings of oppression and struggle, as well as to express hope for the future of the region of the Rif.