Hindi-Urdu
Hindustani (; Devanagari: ,
*
*
*
* ; Perso-Arabic: , , ) is the '' lingua franca'' of Northern and Central India and Pakistan. Hindustani is a pluricentric language with two standard registers, known as Hindi and Urdu. Thus, the lang ...
: /, fa, غزل, az, qəzəl, tr, gazel, tm, gazal, uz, gʻazal, gu, ગઝલ) is a form of amatory poem or ode, originating in Arabic poetry. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain.
The ghazal form is ancient, tracing its origins to 7th-century Arabic poetry. The ghazal spread into
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
in the 12th century due to the influence of Sufi mystics and the courts of the new Islamic Sultanate, and is now most prominently a form of poetry of many languages of the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
and
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
.
A ghazal commonly consists of five to fifteen couplets, which are independent, but are linked – abstractly, in their theme; and more strictly in their poetic form. The structural requirements of the ghazal are similar in stringency to those of the
Petrarchan sonnet
The Petrarchan sonnet, also known as the Italian sonnet, is a sonnet named after the Italian poet Francesco Petrarca, although it was not developed by Petrarch himself, but rather by a string of Renaissance poets.Spiller, Michael R. G. The Develop ...
. In style and content, due to its highly allusive nature, the ghazal has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central themes of love and separation.
Postmodern Ghazal refers to a
literary
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
movement that began in the 1990s in
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, claiming to mix postmodern ideas and traditional Persian poetry arrangements.
Etymology and pronunciation
The word ''ghazal'' originates from the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
word (''ġazal''). The root syllables Gh-Z-L have three possible meanings in Arabic:
# (ḡazal) or (ḡazila) - To sweet-talk, to flirt, to display amorous gestures.https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D8%BA%D8%B2%D9%84
# (ḡazaal) - A young, graceful doe (this is the root of the English word
gazelle
A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third ...
).
# (ḡazala) - to spin (thread or yarn).
The poetic form derives its name from the first and the second etymological roots, One particular translation posits a meaning of ''ghazal'' as ''the wail of a wounded deer'', which potentially provides context to the theme of unrequited love common to many ghazals.
The
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
word ''ġazal'' is pronounced , roughly like the English word ''guzzle'', but with the ''ġ'' pronounced without a complete closure between the tongue and the
soft palate
The soft palate (also known as the velum, palatal velum, or muscular palate) is, in mammals, the soft tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is part of the palate of the mouth; the other part is the hard palate. ...
. In English, the word is pronounced or .
Poetic form
The ghazal is a short poem consisting of rhyming couplets, called ''bayt'' or ''sher''. Most ghazals have between seven and twelve ''bayts''. For a poem to be considered a true ghazal, it must have no fewer than five couplets. Almost all ghazals confine themselves to less than fifteen couplets (poems that exceed this length are more accurately considered as ''
qasida
The qaṣīda (also spelled ''qaṣīdah''; is originally an Arabic word , plural ''qaṣā’id'', ; that was passed to some other languages such as fa, قصیده or , ''chakameh'', and tr, kaside) is an ancient Arabic word and form of writin ...
s''). Ghazal couplets end with the same rhyming pattern and are expected to have the same meter. The ghazal's uniqueness arises from its rhyme and refrain rules, referred to as the ''
Jamal Abdillah
Dato' Jamal Ubaidillah bin Haji Mohd Ali (born 7 May 1959), known by his stage name Jamal Abdillah, is a Malaysian pop singer and actor with a "bad boy" image.
Jamal began his singing career in 1973. He won Radio Televisyen Malaysia's Binta ...
Rhoma Irama
Raden Haji Oma Irama, better known as Rhoma Irama (born December 11, 1946), is an Indonesian dangdut singer, songwriter and guitarist of Sundanese descent.
Starting from the late 1960s, he began his musical career as Rhoma Irama as a part of ...
*
M. Nasir
Dato' Mohamad Nasir bin Mohamed (born 4 July 1957) is a Malaysian-based Singaporean poet, singer-songwriter, composer, producer, actor and film director also known as a Sifu in the Malaysian music industry.
Early life
M. Nasir was born on Jul ...
See also
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Filmi-ghazal
The filmi-ghazal is a genre of filmi music based on ghazal poetry in Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), used in Indian films, especially the music of Bollywood ( Hindi cinema). The filmi-ghazals retain the couplet format and rhyme scheme similar to that ...
, Indian filmi music based on ghazal poetry
Footnotes
References
* Agha Shahid Ali (ed.). ''Ravishing Disunities: Real Ghazals in English''.
* Agha Shahid Ali. ''Call Me Ishmael Tonight: A Book of Ghazals''.
* Bailey, J. O. ''The Poetry of Thomas Hardy: A handbook and Commentary''.
* Doty, Gene (ed. 1999–2014) and Jensen, Holly (ed. 2015-today) ''The Ghazal Page'' various postings, 1999—today
* Kanda, K.C., editor. Masterpieces of the Urdu Ghazal: From the 17th to the 20th Century. Sterling Pub Private Ltd., 1991
* Mufti, Aamir. "Towards a Lyric History of India." boundary 2, 31: 2, 2004
* Reichhold, Jane (ed.). ''Lynx''; various issues, 1996–2000
* Sells, Michael A. ''Early Islamic Mysticism''.
* Watkins, R. W. (ed.). ''Contemporary Ghazals''; Nos. 1 and 2, 2003–2004
* Lall, Inder jit. "Ghazal Movements", Century, May 23, 1964
* Lall, Inder jit. "Heightened sensibility" The Economic Times, December 31, 1978
* Lall, Inder jit. "The Ghazal – Evolution & Prospects", The Times of India, November 8, 1970
* Lall, Inder Jit. "The New Ghazal", The Times of India, July 3, 1971
* Lall, Inder jit. "Ghazal: A Sustainer of Spasms", Thought, May 20, 1967
* Lall, Inder jit. "Tuning into modern ghazals", Sunday Herald, January 29, 1989
* Lall, Inder Jit. "Ghazal: Melodies and minstrels", Sunday Patriot, June 29, 1986
* Lall, Inder jit. "Charm of ghazal lies in lyricism", Hindustan Times, August 8, 1985