Andalusian music responsible for the fall of Arab Spain, says the Imam of Zeitouna mosque (Tunisia)

In fact, Cheikh Houcine Laabidi put it this way, according to Tuniscope (14 September, 2013): reckoning that the Arabs were too preoccupied by their music, he argued that malouf (the brand of Andalusian music played in Tunisia) had contributed to the fall of the Islamic state of Andalusia. It seems he was exercised by the fact that Tunisian national television had broadcast concerts by the Tunisian malouf artist Zied Gharsa.

Malouf is the 'classical' Andalusian tradition as it is done in both Tunisia and in the city of Constantine in Algeria, and it is said to originate from Seville. Cheikh Raymond Leyris was a famous Jewish Algerian malouf practitioner from Constantine.

Here is Zied Gharsa:



PS (added September 25): This post got tweeted and a gentleman from Constantine commented that malouf is played throughout the Maghreb, not just Constantine. So I should clarify: Andalusian music is played throughout the Maghreb and malouf is the name for the Tunisian and Constantine variant. Elsewhere it's known variously as hawzi, gharnati, andalusi...