Brotherhood music in Tunisia from the place of worship to the production of shows
Tunisia, since history, has presented a sociocultural variety that can be translated by the multiplicity of repertoires or musical genres, traditional or popular, where each genre is part of a playing territory or a sound space that is not only defined geographically, but obviously by the sociocultural identity that encompasses it. However, socio-economic changes (migration, music industry), political (consolidation ≠ marginalization) and technological (social networks, digital media, diffusion), greatly influence the evolution of society and these artistic practices. In this context, we will present two musical practices in Tunisia; the ˋwâmryya repertoire (Tunisian religious brotherhood) and the Stambâlî repertoire (cult of possession among the Tunisian black community). How did these two genres present themselves in their original sociocultural spaces (Instruments, functions, …)? How was the uprooting of the initial social universe done?
That said, we will follow the evolution of these practices from the place of worship with all that it presents of originality and imprint (spaces, instruments, songs, dances, reactions), until its detachment from its territory towards a universality imposed by the impact of a society in continual transformation, to arrive at the production of shows from these original repertoires towards updated configurations.
Keywords: identity, Tunisian music, production
Biography
Ouassim Chahed, Musician violinist and Doctor of Musicology (2021) from Paul-Valéry University Montpellier 3. Currently Assistant Professor at the Higher Institute of Music, University of Sousse/Tunisia. Research areas: Ethnomusicology, Comparative Musicology, Analysis of traditional and popular Arabic music.
University of Sousse / Higher Institute of Music, Tunisia – wassim.chahed@gmail.com