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The Maghreb rebab is a bowed lute now played mainly in Northern Africa. It fits within the wider
rebab The ''rebab'' ( ar, ربابة, ''rabāba'', variously spelled ''rebap'', ''rubob'', ''rebeb'', ''rababa'', ''rabeba'', ''robab'', ''rubab'', ''rebob'', etc) is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via I ...
traditions of the Arab world, but also branched into European musical tradition in Spain, Sicily, and the Holy Roman Empire. In the late Middle Ages, the European
rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...
developed from this instrument (and from the related
Byzantine lyra The Byzantine lyra or lira ( gr, λύρα) was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In its popular form, the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by ...
). The Maghreb rebab was described by a musicologist as the "predominant" rebab of North Africa, although the instrument was in decline with younger generations when that was published in 1984. The name ''rebáb'' (''rabáb, rabába, rubáb,'' Arabic ربابة) refers to a group of significantly different stringed instruments, plucked or bowed lutes in regions under the influence of Islam. In North-West Africa and
Al-Andalus Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
in the Iberian Peninsula, a short-necked lute played with a bow was developed. It survives today as part of
Andalusi classical music Andalusi classical music ( ar, طرب أندلسي, ṭarab ʾandalusī; es, música andalusí), also called Andalusi music or Arab-Andalusian music, is a genre of music originally developed in al-Andalus by the Muslims, Muslim population of the ...
.


Muslim and Europeans interact

The Umayyads conquered Hispania in 711 and created
Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...
. During the 8th and 9th centuries, many musicians and artists from across the Islamic world flocked to Iberia. By the 11th century, Muslim sections of Spain, or
Al-Andalus Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
, had become a center for the manufacture of instruments. These goods spread gradually to
Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bor ...
, influencing French
troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...
s and trouvères and eventually reaching the rest of Europe. While Europe developed the lute, the ''oud'' remained a central part of Arab music, and broader Ottoman music as well, undergoing a range of transformations. Beside the introduction of the lute to Spain by the Moors, another important point of transfer of lutes and rebabs from Arabian to European culture was
Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...
, where it was brought either by Byzantine or later by Muslim musicians.Colin Lawson and Robin Stowell, ''The Cambridge History of Musical Performance'', Cambridge University Press, Feb 16, 2012
/ref> There were singer-lutenists at the court in Palermo following the Norman conquest of the island from the Muslims, and the lute is depicted extensively in the ceiling paintings in the Palermo's royal
Cappella Palatina The Palatine Chapel ( it, Cappella Palatina) is the royal chapel of the Norman Palace in Palermo, Sicily. This building is a mixture of Byzantine, Norman and Fatimid architectural styles, showing the tricultural state of Sicily during the 12t ...
, dedicated by the Norman King
Roger II of Sicily Roger II ( it, Ruggero II; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily Roger I ( it, Ruggero I, Arabic: ''رُجار'', ''Rujār''; Maltese: ''Ruġġieru'', – 22 June 1101), nicknamed Rog ...
in 1140. Sicilian influence increased as Tuscan poets visited Sicily in the 13th century to partake of the local culture. His
Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...
grandson
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (German language, German: ''Friedrich''; Italian language, Italian: ''Federico''; Latin: ''Federicus''; 26 December 1194 – 13 December 1250) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Em ...
(1194–1250) continued integrating Muslims into his court, including Moorish musicians.Roger Boase, ''The Origin and Meaning of Courtly Love: A Critical Study of European Scholarship'', Manchester University Press, 1977, pp. 70–71.
/ref> By the 14th century, lutes had disseminated throughout Italy and, probably because of the cultural influence of the Hohenstaufen kings and emperor, based in Palermo, the lute had also made significant inroads into the German-speaking lands. When Muslims were driven out of Spain, they took refuge in countries across the Mediterranean Sea, in Africa. Of those permanently expelled, the majority eventually settled in the Barbary Coast (
Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
), and others to France, Sicily, Italy and Constantinople. The Maghreb rebab was preserved in the
Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
, even as Europeans continued to develop their fiddles into the rebec and viel (which in turn became the
viol The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...
and
vihuela The vihuela () is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar (figure-of-eight form offering strength and portability) but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of t ...
).


Description

The Northwest African rebab consists of two joined parts: the elongated, boat-shaped instrument (Morocco) or pear-shaped instrument (Algeria and Tunisia), and the bent-back tuning head. The body up to the peghead is hollow; the carved body is 48–60 cm long, 9–12 cm wide, 8 cm deep, and is made of walnut or cedar wood. It is divided into two parts, with the skin soundboard covering the lower part, the instrument gradually narrowing into a hollow neck in which there are sound holes and to which the peghead is finally connected. The part covered with leather is curved on both sides to facilitate bowing. The other part, towards the head, is covered with a thin red copper plate pierced by round rosettes and which is bordered by a decorative border. Similar to the old Arab lutes, its head is 12 cm long, bent back almost at a right angle, and has two large, side-positioned tuning keys. There is a bony saddle at the junction of the body and head. the instrument has two gut strings, which start from the bottom of the instrument and pass through a tailpiece (made of a piece of reed split in half) and extend towards the bridge. The strings run above the copper plate covering the upper part of the body at such a height that they cannot be pushed down against the neck in the manner of a violin: the instrument does not have a fretboard. Instead the musician uses their fingernails to stop the strings at different notes. The two strings are tuned to a fifth interval, e.g. G–d or d–a. The bow is small, curved, and made of metal, with horse hair stretched between the ends. The instrument's voice, rich in overharmonics, is used to underline vocals in an instrumental ensemble. While playing, the head of the instrument is at the musician's left shoulder, the lower part rests on the right knee, or it stands vertically between the musician's legs. The left hand is almost always in the default position, it rarely changes position. As usual for oriental stringed instruments, the string held in the hand with the palm turned outward plays on the higher string, occasionally touching the lower one. Nowadays, the instrument is used only by the older generation. File:Zaragoza - Museo - María, Reina de los Cielos - Ángel violín.JPG, alt=Mary, Queen of Heaven, Panel of the Altarpiece of Santa María la Mayor de
Albalate del Arzobispo Albalate del Arzobispo is a municipality located in the province of Teruel, Aragon, Spain. According to the 2004 census (INE), the municipality had a population of 2,180 inhabitants. Monuments This is a beautiful town of Moorish origin, althou ...
, now in the Museum of Zaragoza. File:Cantigas de Santa María, Codex of the musicians, B-I-2 162R lute rebab.jpg, Rebáb with oriental short-necked lute from the ''Cantigas de Santa María'' manuscript, ''Codex of the musicians.'' File:MuslimMusiciansAtTheCourtOfRoger.JPG, Muslim musicians, ceiling of the Palatine chapel (
Palermo, Sicily Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its hi ...
). Muslim musicians played in the court of
Roger II of Sicily Roger II ( it, Ruggero II; 22 December 1095 – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily Roger I ( it, Ruggero I, Arabic: ''رُجار'', ''Rujār''; Maltese: ''Ruġġieru'', – 22 June 1101), nicknamed Rog ...
. File:Cappella Palatina-ceiling-Female musician.jpg, Woman playing a rebab, Palatine chapel, Palmero, Sicily. File:Fétis rebab 001.jpg, Boat-shaped rebab, 19th century.Fetis, p.146 File:Stringed instruments - Musical Instrument Museum, Brussels - IMG 3973-2.jpg, Rebáb in the musical instrument museum in Brussels. File:Rebab late 19th century, Algerian or Moroccan.jpg, Rebab late 19th century, Algerian or Moroccan, in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art


Notes

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Reference books

* Brockhaus Riemann music lexicon III. (ROE). Ed. Carl Dahlhaus, Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht. Budapest: Music Publishing House. 1985. ISBN 9633305723 * Fetis, François-Joseph. Histoire générale de la musique . Librairie de Firmin Didot Frères, Fils et C ie (1869) Lute family instruments Algerian musical instruments Moroccan musical instruments Bowed string instruments Islamic music