Sidi Kaddour El Alami () also transliterated as Qaddur al-Alami (born 1742 in

Meknes Meknes ( ar, مكناس, maknās, ; ber, ⴰⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙ, amknas; french: Meknès) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th c ...

, died 1850) is one of

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

's best known poets, especially well known for his songs. His full name was Abd al-Qadir ibn Mohammed ibn Ahmad ibn Abi-l-Qasim al-Idrisi al-Alami al-Hamdani and he was known under the name Sayyidi Qaddur al-Alami at-Talibi al-Abd as-Salami. He was a songwriter in the genre of the

malhun Malhun (Arabic الملحون / ALA-LC: ''al-malḥūn''), meaning "the melodic poem", is a form of music that originated in Morocco.Mounira SolimanPopular Culture in the Middle East and North Africa: A Postcolonial Outlook p.58 (Routledge 2013) � ...

and founded the sufi

zawiyya A ''zawiya'' or ''zaouia'' ( ar, زاوية, lit=corner, translit=zāwiyah; ; also spelled ''zawiyah'' or ''zawiyya'') is a building and institution associated with Sufis in the Islamic world. It can serve a variety of functions such a place of ...

Alamin in Meknes. This zawiyya became one of the centres from which the malhun would spread. He grew up in

, and is considered a saint and one of the greatest poets of

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

in the neo-classical and popular style.M.T. Buret, "Sidi Qaddur El Alami", in: Hesperis, 1938 1e tri., pp. 85-90

References

*J. Jouin, "Un poème de Si Kaddour el 'Alami", in ''Hesp.'' 46 (1959), p. 87-103. *Eugène Aubin, ''Morocco of To-day'', 1906 p. 274 *Abdelmajid Fennich, ''Dari ya dari'' (My House, O My House) Play about the life of Sidi El Alami, 2003 *Audio "Tawassolat

(retrieved August 25, 2008) Moroccan songwriters People from Meknes 1742 births 1850 deaths 18th-century Moroccan people 19th-century Moroccan people 18th-century Moroccan writers 19th-century Moroccan writers 18th-century Moroccan poets 17th-century Moroccan poets {{Morocco-writer-stub