During forty-five years, in the refugee camps of the Hamada desert in Algeria, the Saharawis have developed a type of desert-blues rooted in the pre-colonial Haul modal system and multiple influences from the Arab, Western and African world. This presentation reconsiders the continuum of Saharawi music by analysing four main transcultural circuits chronologically: in the refugee camps of the Hamada desert (1975-1997); in the global arena through the interaction between the Saharawi music and the Spanish record label, Nubenegra (1998-2010); through the artistic interaction between Hassan and the author for composing and performing internationally Hassan’s album ‘El Aaiun egdat’ (2011-2015); and by offering a comparative analysis between Hassan’s artistic career and other Saharawi artists at present (2015-2020).

Dr. Luis Gimenez Amoros is an independent researcher and composer  [luisgimenezamoros.com]. Previously, he has been an Ethnomusicology Senior Lecturer at the University of Fort Hare, Rhodes University and University Sultan Idris. From 2019-2021, he was a research fellow at Center for Humanities Research (CHR) at the University of the Western Cape. The author has conducted research in seven African countries (Algeria, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Mali, Zimbabwe, Zambia and South Africa), India, Malaysia, Mexico and Spain regarding interdisciplinary research on transcultural music practices (refugee camps mainly) performance and postcolonial studies (sound archives and new/old mobility in pre-colonial music).