Description
The musical practices of the Moriscos were a deep concern for the Inquisition, particularly those performed in private, domestic, and feminine spaces. After all, music plays a crucial role in the preservation of identity and culture; controlling these performances was a means of ensuring the complete conversion of Morisco communities to Christianity. However, the acceptance of Morisco musicians in certain public spaces, the repeated prohibition of specific genres, and the Morisco resistance to abandoning these practices call for a deeper examination of both the musical traditions in question and the motivations behind the zealous scrutiny of Christian authorities. This research argues that, in order to recover these marginalized soundscapes, musicology must move beyond the written record. Through an interdisciplinary approach—combining archaeological studies of medieval Islamic musical instruments, iconographic and literary evidence, and ethnographic fieldwork in the contemporary Maghreb—it becomes possible to reconstruct aspects of popular and gendered musical practices in al-Andalus and Early Modern Spain. This approach also invites a more critical reading of inquisitorial sources.
