"The Desert Song" (1926) was inspired by the 1925 uprising of the Riff in Morocco -- one of the few musicals even vaguely connected to current events. (See "Bye Bye Birdie.")

The idea of the "barbaric but noble" desert son of Islam had been around for centuries (anyone for Mozart?) but had been given a recent boost by the 1921 Valentino silent, "The Sheik."

And lest we think the trope of the Helpless Natives Led By Renegade White Man is over and done with, look at "Avatar."