Berber music bands of musicians traveling from village to village, entertaining at weddings and other social events with their songs, tales and poetry. Most Berber music is of the village- and urban-folk musical variety. Berber music and culture is influenced by the Berber people's long-standing struggle to achieve basic language rights and identity recognition in modern North African societies, aside from aesthetics and style. Berber music is characterized by its use of folk oral traditions, as well as particular scales and rhythmic patterns, which include pentatonic music and African rhythms. All these elements are combined together to form one of the main
Berber Revolt remain in place for the next few centuries. It is alleged that pastoral Berber mountaineers remained behind in the highlands around Astorga and León. These trapped Berber communities were called ""Maragatos"" by the local Christian Leonese (etymology uncertain, possibly from "mauri capti", "captive Moors"). Although eventually converted to Christianity, the "Maragatos" retained their distinctive dress, customs and lifestyle of Berber origin down to the early modern era. Through much of the winter of 741-42, the remnant of the Syrian expedition, some 10,000 men, under Balj ibn Bishr, remained trapped in Ceuta, besieged by the Berber rebels. The Andalusian ruler Abd