Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This book explores music’s role in establishing a racial order in colonial Morocco (1912–1956), under French and Spanish rule. France and Spain competed to lead in discovering and promoting Moroccan music, particularly Andalusi and Amazigh genres. Music performance and scholarship served as tools for France and Spain to categorise, describe, and control Maghrebi populations and their cultural practices. European scholars used knowledge as a proxy for colonial influence, transforming music into a cultural tool of colonial dominance. The impact of colonial rivalry on music scholarship and performance, however, was more complex than the coloniser/colonised binary suggests. Collaboration between Maghrebi and European scholars and musicians blurred the lines between oppression and contestation, pushing resistance into a liminal space. Despite facing close scrutiny, Moroccan and Maghrebi musicians’ performance criteria and writings successfully challenged some deep-seated European views, acting as a form of anti-colonial resistance. Scholarly debates indicate that race was the primary principle governing Morocco’s music performance and study. Music shaped forms of identification within population groups, organising Moroccan society around flexible and manipulable racial divides. Spain and France adopted distinct racial policies to increase their control over Morocco, using music and culture as support. Arab and Moroccan nationalisms, as well as anti-colonial movements in the Maghreb, also promoted their racial agendas, sometimes aligning with either France or Spain to pit them against each other.</jats:p>