Come, Ask My Heart: Voice, Meaning, and Affect among Algerian Sha'Bi Musicians in Paris

• Other Authors: Orr, Christopher C. (Christopher Crandall) (author)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Ethnology; Study and teaching
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2019_Spring_Orr_fsu_0071E_15040

In this dissertation I explore performances of Algerian sha‘bī music in Paris as affectively powerful experiences for the Algerian migrant community. Literally meaning “popular,” sha‘bī developed as a modernized form of colloquial sung poetry among the working class of mid-twentieth century Algiers and has remained a significant mode of cultural expression in the twenty-first century. By comparing a range of formal and informal contexts of performance, I consider the interdependency of place and intimacy in the expression of authority, morality, ecstasy, tradition, and communal belonging in sha‘bī praxis. I eschew dyadic constructions of home and exile and instead explore the idea of place in multiple guises, both real and imagined, as it either constrains or enables shared ecstatic experience among listeners. During successful sha‘bī performances, participants transform physical spaces into places of intimacy by entraining with one another’s emotional states. This state of shared heightened emotion is vested in the role of the shaykh, who moves the audience through skillful execution of sha‘bī’s musical conventions and his demonstration of textual knowledge through a convincing interpretation of the musical poetry. Central to this experience is the voice of the shaykh, which imbues the text with affective power and establishes the singer as the embodiment of tradition. As evoked metaphorically in the sung refrain of a well-known song, “Come, ask my heart to share with you its news and you’ll see that you own it and you know what you’ve done to it,” the singer invites the audience into a shared ritual of ecstatic, musical interaction in which bodily co-presence and emotional entrainment bring listeners together in collective effervescence. Perhaps most importantly, singers are imbued with moral virtues by adoring devotees, which allows them to shape the emotional experiences of individual performances. Informed by interviews and participant observations, I examine how the sha‘bī singer comes to embody the weight of tradition and joins with musicians and audiences to facilitate intimacy across a range of Parisian environments. In the process, I seek to illuminate why sha‘bī continues to be such a dynamic, meaningful mode of cultural expression for France’s Algerian diasporic community. === A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester 2019. === March 29, 2019. === Algeria, Diaspora, France, Ritual, Sha‘bī, Voice === Includes bibliographical references. === Margaret Jackson, Professor Directing Dissertation; Adam Gaiser, University Representative; Frank Gunderson, Committee Member; Michael B. Bakan, Committee Member.