Western Sahara is a West African nation, disputed between Mauritania and Morocco. Formerly a colony of Spain, the area has been fiercely contested since 1975. The music of the Sahrawi people is more Mauritanian than Moroccan, and shares many of the Mauritanian focus on ways and modes. In contrast to Mauritanian music, Sahrawi musicians can come from any caste. The tbal is the basic instrument of percussion, though the traditional tidinit has largely been replaced by electric guitar.

In this millennium, two compilations of traditional Sahrawi music have been released in America: Sahrauis: The Music of the Western Sahara (a three-disc box set), and Starry Nights in Western Sahara which have shed some light on the culture of the people, many of whom are crowded in refugee camps in Algeria.