Sufi Music and the Issue of Identity in Post 2011 Tunisia

Abstract

The paper examines the meanings of the new configuration of Sufi music through "Al Ziara" performances and the intense youth interest in this musical genre, through crosscutting with the issue of cultural belonging and shaping the salient features of identity given the intertwine of the Sufi chanting and its related practices with popular culture. Based on a qualitative approach, in which were applied half-directed interviews technique and focus groups with 20 young men and women from different states of the Republic of Tunisia, the study pointed out as one of its results the role of Sufi music in dissolving the dichotomy between tradition and modernity. This tendency is manifested through the restoration of cultural elements inherent in the cultural heritage at the spiritual and social level alike, but through the cultural adaptation and renewal of old forms, as well as through the embrace of the ancient and the modern at the technical level. The study revealed the relationship between the resonance that Sufi music senses when represented in "Al Ziara" performances, and the need and desire to belonging despite the different symbolic value of this musical kind and its purposes in terms of its individual (social escalation) and collective (new social links) functions.