Whilst the Algerian population of London is relatively small, conducting research into the performance of Algerian music in the city is not without its difficulties.
The lack of distinct and definably Algerian music venues means that performances take place in various locations across the city, in cafés, restaurants, arts and cultural centres, festivals, nightclubs, pubs, churches, and in one case, the headquarters of an international bank. The musics performed by members of the local diaspora are equally diverse, and include traditional and folk musics (andalus, chaabi, maalouf), popular musics (such as raï), ‘non-Algerian’ musics (such as rap), and a broad range of ‘fusion’ styles, that integrate both Algerian and non-Algerian musical influences. Furthermore, Algerian musicians themselves are a heterogeneous group, including everything from full-time professionals to occasional performers, and from highly trained, conservatoire-educated musicians to total beginners. They also
evidence the diversity of the local Algerian population, in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, wealth and class.
I suggest therefore that there are three broad contexts within which Algerian music is performed in London. The first of these is the performance of definably Algerian musics to predominantly Algerian audiences, such in the case of chaabi music being played in Algerian cafés. The second is as part of explicitly Algerian public events, such as festivals or cultural celebrations, which are open to all but predominantly attract Algerian listeners, and are fertile spaces for the explicit negotiation of Algerianness. And the third is within contexts that attract mostly non-Algerian audiences, such as in restaurants or at large, predominantly non-Algerian festivals, whereby musical performance becomes a means of communicating Algerian culture to those outside of local diasporic networks. Whilst this model offers a continuum of perform contexts, which are far from fixed or entirely discrete, it provides a loose framework for thinking about the performance of Algerian music in the city, and the interactions between Algerian and non-Algerian musicians and audiences.
At the heart of many of these musical events is a desire for social interaction, and performances therefore often serve as a means of overcoming physical dispersal and culture disconnection within London. Musicians and audiences alike frequently voice their discontent at the lack of opportunities for Algerians to meet and share their sense of cultural pride. One musician, who arrived in the city in the late 1990s, speaks of the lack of a definably Algerian area of the city, stating that ‘it’s not like with the Turkish, if you go to Dalston.
You find Pakistanis in Whitechapel. But we haven’t got that special area. You can go to any area, but it’s just like a road, and that is it. But not our own area’64. Like many Algerians in the city, he draws a direct correlation between the lack of defined physical space and a feeling of marginalisation. Members of the local diaspora frequently assert their belief that the city’s authorities and its inhabitants overlook Algerians and Algerian culture because they do not inhabit a particular space within London, and that this makes it easy for them to be
64 Interview, March 2014.
obscured from public view. He goes on to contrast the condition of Algerians in London and Paris, arguing that,
Because France was our coloniser, the first people emigrated to France because we speak the same language. We have got a culture that is common. We know them, they know us, so it is easy to establish our culture there. You go to Barbès, it is Algeria. They are speaking Arabic, you can eat loubia, an Algerian dish, you can eat whatever you want.65 The music is there. Even French people are playing with Algerians, no problem, and they love it. It’s not like here. If you are lucky, you play in a coffee shop. That is lucky! Or you can wait for the festivals or events.66
Contrasts between Algerian life in London and that in French cities, such as Paris and Marseille, are common. Whilst France has become home to the largest Algerian population outside of the bled, it is also somewhere that Algerians often associate with racist and xenophobic discrimination. This results in an on-going debate about whether Algerians are better served by Britain or France: is the lack of a visible ‘community’ and services beneficial or not, and is dispersal and disengagement worthwhile if is avoids the creation of boundaries, both physical (the neighbourhood, ghetto, or banlieue) and social (labels of race and nationality)? As one co-worker, an active musician, argued, ‘when we are spread, it is better for the community to get integrated. Like in France you go to the thirteenth or to St Denis, you will find only Algerians and other Africans’67.
The dissemination of Algerians throughout the city, and debates and disagreements about the unity of the local diaspora, produce questions around the very notion of a cohesive Algerian identity in London. For some, an individual’s nationality (whether born in the bled or the diaspora) is enough provide a sense of Algerianness to ensure diasporic unity. One co-worker, who has lived in London for a number of years and is a keen patron of music, disputes any notion of difference or detachment, arguing that,
It doesn’t matter what you earn. If you are Algerian, that’s fine. Most of the people I know, we don’t have that differentiation between job titles,
65 Loubia is a type of spicy bean stew, made with haricot beans, that is a popular staple food in Algeria.
66 Ibid.
67 Interview, February 2012.
or you have papers or you don’t have papers. For us, if you are Algerian, you are Algerian. We get on fine, there are no worries. We have that solidarity.68
Others are less convinced of claims of Algerian collective solidarity in the city. A number of factors can be used to demarcate difference, including Algerian geography (where in the country an individual or their family originates from), and of particular note, a sense of Berber identity. Although there is no clear Berber cultural movement or sense of Berber nationalism in London (unlike in Paris and other French cities), many individuals are keen to state their Berber identity alongside their Algerian one. Nevertheless, there is a palpable sense of collective Algerian identity, and this underpins many of the musical events that take place in London. It is evident, therefore, that Algerianness remains important, and this provides a stimulus for musicking. For some, a range of cultural events, such as book clubs, film screenings, and political debates, shape their sense of Algerian identity. However, musical events and concerts remain one of the most significant ways in which Algerianness is both performed and mediated, whether in the shape of café-based performances of chaabi, or at large-scale cultural events, where visual and auditory symbols of Algeria are shared amongst Algerian and non-Algerian musicians and listeners.
The social interaction that music events facilitate is often explicitly stated.
Rachida, an andalusi singer and events organiser, argues that ‘I think it’s not so much to do with the music anymore, it’s to do with the gatherings’, suggesting the people attend musical events ‘not to be seen, to see. To meet people. To see who is out there’69. Similarly, musicians speak of musicking as a way of meeting other performers. Yasmine, a singer and ‘ud player who is now very active on the local music scene, recalls that before becoming involved in musical activities, ‘I did know a few people…who came over the same year, that I met at university. But I didn’t have a big network of Algerian contacts before that’70. This is not to reductively suggest that musical performances are purely
68 Interview, March 2014.
69 Interview, 26th July 2013.
70 Interview, 1st March 2013.
social occasions, but rather to note that social interaction is deeply embedded within these events for musicians and audiences alike.
The examples of musical performances discussed throughout the rest of this chapter serve to highlight the diversity of Algerian musical events London, in terms of location, context, intention, musical style and audience. In the process, it becomes clear that musicking serves as both social forum for Algerians in the city, and as a platform for the performative construction, negotiation and reification of contemporary diasporic Algerianness in London.