Since 1975, more than half of the Saharawi population have been living in refugee camps in Algeria (Fynn 2011: 40).This article analyses Saharawi music as performed for the refugee community in the camps. I argue that the construction and evolution of Saharawi music in the camps is divided into two main areas: nationalism in relation to the decolonisation of Western Sahara, and maintenance of cultural values in Saharawi music found in the historical retention of the Haul modal system originating in precolonial Saharawi culture. Local audiences use the term Azawan to define the combination of nationalist sentiments and retention of their precolonial musical culture in Saharawi music. This article is based on my research on Saharawi music in the refugee camps in Algeria during November-December 2004. The data collected during this research includes interviews with poets and musicians and musical transcriptions based on my study of the scales and rhythms used in Saharawi music. This research became the foundation for the production of the documentary DVD on Saharawi music entitled Los mares del desierto (Gimenez 2006). I have also analysed Saharawi music from the camps recorded by the Spanish record label Nubenegra from 1998 to 2012 (see discography) and distributed in the global market (these albums are also available in the camps). Another factor that extended my musical analysis for this research was my first-hand involvement in Mariem Hassan's music as the composer and arranger of the compositions for her album, El Aaiun egdat (December 2011), as a performer in the recording studio (January 2012), and through performing with her international live performances in Finland,
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