Marranci

A Complex Identity and Its Musical Representation: Beurs and Ra� Music in Paris

In this article I want to suggest that the anthropological study of music may contribute to the study of the new cultural complexities derived from Mediterranean emigration/immigration, in which second generations are the forgotten protagonists. In fact, not only is music (and art in general) the principal way in which young people express themselves, but it is also a medium in which culture, identity, selfhood and social reality are mixed together.

During 1998 I carried out fieldwork in Paris on the relationship between ra� music and Algerian immigration. My research was undertaken in particular at Barb�s and at the 18^�me arrondissement (two areas where most Maghrebi people live). Before I started doing my fieldwork I became aware that there are few studies about Algerian ra� (and fewer still about ra� in France) and I found only three articles that mentioned the relationship between second generation Algerians (the so-called beurs, born from Algerian immigrants) and ra� music. This was surprising, since French newspapers and magazines show a certain interest in the question beur (1) and because there are some sociological books (e.g., Bachmann 1992, Jazouli 1986, Man�o 1999, Triblat 1995) about the specific cultural characteristics of the beur generation.

During my fieldwork, the opportunity to meet some of these jeunes issus de l’immigration alg�rien changed my point of view both in terms of the roles of ra� music and the purpose of my fieldwork. In fact, I went to Paris in order to understand the difference between Parisian ra� music and Algerian ra� music, but after a short time I also found myself studying what ra� music means for the different cultural identities of Algerian immigrants and beurs. Ra� seemed an important and significant music for both groups, but for different reasons.