''Muwashshah'' ( ar, موشح ' literally means "
girdled
Girdled identifies various animal species:
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Girdled lizards
Lizards from the genus '' Cordylus''.
* Angolan girdled lizard (''Cordylus angolensis''), also known as the Angolan spiny-tailed lizard
* Black girdled lizard (''Cordylus niger ...
" in
Classical Arabic; plural ' or ' ) is the name for both an
Arabic poetic form and a secular
musical genre. The poetic form consists of a multi-lined strophic verse poem written in
classical Arabic, usually consisting of five stanzas, alternating with a refrain with a running rhyme. It was customary to open with one or two lines which matched the second part of the poem in rhyme and meter; in North Africa poets ignore the strict rules of Arabic meter while the poets in the East follow them. The musical genre of the same name uses ''muwaššaḥ'' texts as lyrics, still in classical Arabic. This tradition can take two forms: the ''waṣla'' of
Aleppo and the
Andalusi ''nubah'' of the
western part of the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
.
History
While the ''
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 ...
'' and the ''
maqama
''Maqāmah'' (مقامة, pl. ''maqāmāt'', مقامات, literally "assemblies") are an (originally) Arabic prosimetric literary genre which alternates the Arabic rhymed prose known as '' Saj‘'' with intervals of poetry in which rhetorical ...
'' were adapted from the
Mashreq
The Mashriq ( ar, ٱلْمَشْرِق), sometimes spelled Mashreq or Mashrek, is a term used by Arabs to refer to the eastern part of the Arab world, located in Western Asia and eastern North Africa. Poetically the "Place of Sunrise", the n ...
,
strophic poetry is the only form of
Andalusi literature known to have its origins in the
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...
.
Andalusi strophic poetry exists in two forms: the ''muwaššaḥ'': a more complex version in Standard Arabic with the exception of the concluding couplet, or the ''
kharja
A kharja or kharjah ( ar, خرجة tr. ''kharjah'' , meaning "final"; es, jarcha ; pt, carja ; also known as markaz), is the final refrain of a ''muwashshah'', a lyric genre of Al-Andalus (the Islamic Iberian Peninsula) written in Arabic or M ...
'', and ''
zajal
Zajal () is a traditional form of oral strophic poetry declaimed in a colloquial dialect. While there is little evidence of the exact origins of the zajal, the earliest recorded zajal poet was the poet Ibn Quzman of al-Andalus who lived from 1078 ...
'': a simpler form entirely in vernacular Arabic.
The earliest known ''muwaššaḥs'' date back to the eleventh century.
It was exported to the east, and celebrated there by figures such as and
Ibn Dihya
Umar bin al-Hasan bin Ali bin Muhammad bin al-Jamil bin Farah bin Khalaf bin Qumis bin Mazlal bin Malal bin Badr bin Dihyah bin Farwah, better known as Ibn Dihya al-Kalbi ( ar, ابن دحية الكلبي) was a Moorish scholar of both the Ara ...
.
The corpus of ''muwaššaḥs'' is formed by pieces in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
and in
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 ...
.
Tova Rosen describes the ''muwaššaḥ'' as "a product and a microcosm of the cultural conditions particular to
al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...
.
The linguistic interplay between the standard written languages—Arabic and Hebrew—and the oral forms—
Andalusi vernacular Arabic,
Romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
, and
Mozarabic
Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...
—reflect the fluidity and diversity of the linguistic landscape of al-Andalus.
The earliest known source on the muwashshah is
Ibn Bassam
Ibn Bassām or Ibn Bassām al-Shantarinī (; 1058-1147) was an Arab poet and historian from al-Andalus. He was born in Santarém (sometimes spelled Shantarin or Xantarin) and hailed from the Banu Taghlib tribe. He died in 1147.
Ibn Bassam desc ...
’s ''
Dhakhīra fī mahāsin ahl al-Jazīra''. He ascribes the invention of the muwashshah to the 10th century blind poet Muhammad Mahmud al-Qabri or Ibn ‘Abd Rabbih.
Nonetheless, there are no extant muwashshah poems attributed to these authors.
The poetic form
Examples of ' poetry start to appear as early as the 9th or 10th century. It is believed to come from the Arabic roots wšaḥ (وشح) which means any thing that a woman might wear on her neck from a necklace to a scarf, and the verb Tawašḥ means to wear.
Some relate it to the word for a type of double-banded ornamental belt, the ', which also means a scarf in Arabic.
The underlying idea is that, as there is a single rhyme running through the refrain of each stanza, the stanzas are like objects hung from a belt.
Typically, Arabic poetry has a single meter and rhyme across the poem and is structured according to couplets, not strophes. The muwashah however, is generally divided into five stanzas with a complex rhyme scheme. Each stanza consisted of ''aghsan'' (sing: ''ghusn''), lines with a rhyme particular to that strophe and ''asmat'' (sing: ''simt''), lines with a rhyme shared by the rest of the poem.
Conventionally, the muwashshah opened with a ''matla'' (‘the beginning’) and closed with a ''
kharja
A kharja or kharjah ( ar, خرجة tr. ''kharjah'' , meaning "final"; es, jarcha ; pt, carja ; also known as markaz), is the final refrain of a ''muwashshah'', a lyric genre of Al-Andalus (the Islamic Iberian Peninsula) written in Arabic or M ...
'' (‘exit’). The kharja was in a vernacular language such as colloquial Arabic or Romance. It often was voiced by a different poetic speaker.
Meter
The meter of the muwashah can be one of the classical meters defined by
al-Khalil
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
or the poet can devise a new meter.
This subject is debated amongst scholars, some of whom argue for the use of a Romance metrical system based on syllable stress.
Themes
Typical themes for a muwashah include love, panegyric, and wine. Some muwashshah poems are devoted to a single theme while others combine multiple themes. One common thematic structure is love, followed by panegyric, and then love.
The kharja also plays a role in elaborating the poem’s theme. At the end of a love poem, the kharja might be voiced by the beloved.
The eastern muwashshah tradition includes themes such as elegy and invective.
Ibn al-Arabi and
Ibn al-Sabbagh composed esoteric muwashshahs that used wine and love as allegories for divine yearning.
Hebrew muwashshah
An important number of the muwashshah poems written in al-Andalus were composed in Hebrew. Hebrew muwashshah authors maintained the linguistically distinct kharja of the Arabic muwashshah and often included kharjas written in colloquial Arabic. Because of its strophic structure, it was similar to some Hebrew liturgical poetry.
Starting in the 11th century, the Hebrew muwashshah was also used for religious purposes. The first extant Hebrew muwashshahs are attributed to Samuel Ibn Nagrila.
Other prominent Hebrew muwashshah authors include
Judah Halevi
Judah Halevi (also Yehuda Halevi or ha-Levi; he, יהודה הלוי and Judah ben Shmuel Halevi ; ar, يهوذا اللاوي ''Yahuḏa al-Lāwī''; 1075 – 1141) was a Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher. He was born in Spain, ...
and Joseph ibn Tzaddik.
The first author to compose a devotional muwashshah was
Ibn Gabirol
Solomon ibn Gabirol or Solomon ben Judah ( he, ר׳ שְׁלֹמֹה בֶּן יְהוּדָה אִבְּן גָּבִּירוֹל, Shlomo Ben Yehuda ibn Gabirol, ; ar, أبو أيوب سليمان بن يحيى بن جبيرول, ’Abū ’Ayy ...
, about two centuries prior to the development of religious muwashshah poetry in Arabic. He was followed in this tradition by
Moses Ibn Ezra
Rabbi Moses ben Jacob ibn Ezra, known as Ha-Sallaḥ ("writer of penitential prayers") ( ar, أَبُو هَارُون مُوسَى بِن يَعْقُوب اِبْن عَزْرَا, ''Abu Harun Musa bin Ya'qub ibn 'Azra'', he, מֹשֶׁה ב ...
,
Abraham Ibn Ezra, and Judah Halevi among others. The poems were designed for use in prayer services and were elaborated themes of particular benedictions.
Unlike other Hebrew muwashshahs, the kharja of a devotional muwashshah was in Hebrew.
The musical genre
Musically, the ensemble consists of ''
oud
, image=File:oud2.jpg
, image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921
, background=
, classification=
* String instruments
*Necked bowl lutes
, hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum
, ...
'' (
lute), ''
kamanja
The kamancheh (also kamānche or kamāncha) ( fa, کمانچه, az, kamança, hy, Քամանչա, ku, کەمانچە ,kemançe) is an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, ...
'' (spike fiddle),
''qanun'' (box zither),
''darabukkah'' (
goblet drum
The goblet drum (also chalice drum, tarabuka, tarabaki, darbuka, darabuka, derbake, debuka, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tumbak, or zerbaghali; arz, دربوكة / Romanized: ) is a single-head membranophone with a goblet- ...
), and ''
daf'' (
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
): the players of these instruments often double as a choir. The soloist performs only a few chosen lines of the selected text. In
Aleppo multiple
maqam
MAQAM is a US-based production company specializing in Arabic and Middle Eastern media. The company was established by a small group of Arabic music and culture lovers, later becoming a division of 3B Media Inc. "MAQAM" is an Arabic word meaning a ...
rows (scales) and up to three ''
awzān'' (rhythms) are used and modulation to neighboring maqamat was possible during the B section. Until modernization it was typical to present a complete ''
waslah'', or up to eight successive ' including an instrumental introduction (''
sama'i
''Sama'i'' (also known as ''usul semai'') is a vocal piece of Ottoman Turkish music composed in 6/8 meter. This form and meter ('' usul'' in Turkish) is often confused with the completely different '' Saz Semaisi'', an instrumental form consisting ...
'' or ''
bashraf''). It may end with a ''
longa''. Famous Muwashshah songs still played in the
Arab World
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
today include ''
Lamma Bada Yatathanna'' and ''
Jadaka al-Ghaithu
''Jadaka al-Ghaithu'' ( "''Good Rain Would Befit You''") is a '' muwashshah'' attributed to Ibn al-Khatīb. It was written as a ''madīh'' ( "panegyric") of Sultan Muhammad V of Granada. ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm Ḥusayn Harrūṭ estimates it was writt ...
''.
Famous poets
*
Al-Tutili
Abu ’l-ʿAbbās (or Abū Dj̲aʿfar) Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hurayra al-ʿUtbī (or al-Kaysī) () (died 1126), nicknamed al-Aʿmā al-Tuṭīlī or the Blind Poet of Tudela, was an Andalusian Arab poet who composed in Arabic. Although born ...
*
Avempace
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyà ibn aṣ-Ṣā’igh at-Tūjībī ibn Bājja ( ar, أبو بكر محمد بن يحيى بن الصائغ التجيبي بن باجة), best known by his Latinised name Avempace (; – 1138), was an A ...
*
Avenzoar
*
Ibn al-Khatib
Lisan ad-Din Ibn al-Khatib ( ar, لسان الدين ابن الخطيب, Lisān ad-Dīn Ibn al-Khaṭīb) (Born 16 November 1313, Loja– died 1374, Fes; full name in ar, محمد بن عبد الله بن سعيد بن عبد الله بن ...
*
Ibn Baqi
*
Ibn Zamrak
Ibn Zamrak () (also Zumruk) or Abu Abduallah Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-Surayhi, (1333–1393) was an Arab Andalusian poet and statesman from Granada, Al-Andalus. Some his poems still decorate the foun ...
Famous ''muwashshahs''
* "''
Lamma Bada Yatathanna''" ()
* "''
Jadaka al-Ghaithu
''Jadaka al-Ghaithu'' ( "''Good Rain Would Befit You''") is a '' muwashshah'' attributed to Ibn al-Khatīb. It was written as a ''madīh'' ( "panegyric") of Sultan Muhammad V of Granada. ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm Ḥusayn Harrūṭ estimates it was writt ...
''" ()
See also
*
Aljamiado
''Aljamiado'' (; ; ar, عَجَمِيَة trans. ''ʿajamiyah'' ) or ''Aljamía'' texts are manuscripts that use the Arabic script for transcribing European languages, especially Romance languages such as Mozarabic, Aragonese, Portuguese, Sp ...
* The
kharja
A kharja or kharjah ( ar, خرجة tr. ''kharjah'' , meaning "final"; es, jarcha ; pt, carja ; also known as markaz), is the final refrain of a ''muwashshah'', a lyric genre of Al-Andalus (the Islamic Iberian Peninsula) written in Arabic or M ...
is the final stanza of a '
, of which a few are in the
Mozarabic language
Mozarabic, also called Andalusi Romance, refers to the medieval Romance varieties spoken in the Iberian Peninsula in territories controlled by the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba and its successors. They were the common tongue for the majority of ...
and therefore the first attesting of an
Iberian Romance language
The Iberian Romance, Ibero-Romance or sometimes Iberian languagesIberian languages is also used as a more inclusive term for all languages spoken on the Iberian Peninsula, which in antiquity included the non-Indo-European Iberian language. are a ...
and first written examples of the
Castilian language.
*
Zajal
Zajal () is a traditional form of oral strophic poetry declaimed in a colloquial dialect. While there is little evidence of the exact origins of the zajal, the earliest recorded zajal poet was the poet Ibn Quzman of al-Andalus who lived from 1078 ...
*
Fasıl
The ''fasıl'' is a suite in Ottoman classical music. It is similar to the Arabic '' nawba'' and '' waslah''.
A classical ''fasıl'' generally includes movements such as '' taksim'', '' peşrev'', '' kâr'', '' beste'', '' ağır semâ'î'', '' y ...
*
Malouf
*
Emilio García Gómez
Emilio García Gómez, 1st Count of Alixares (4 June 1905 – 31 May 1995) was a Spanish Arabist, literary historian and critic, whose talent as a poet enriched his many translations from Arabic.
Life
Emilio García Gómez decided to pursue ...
*
James T. Monroe
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
* Benbabaali, Saadane, 1987, ''Poétique du muwashshah dans l'Occident musulman médiéval'', thèse de 3e cycle, sous la direction de R. Arié, Paris 3, 1987.
* Benbabaali, Saadane "La plume, la voix et le plectre, avec Beihdja Rahal, Barzakh, Alger, Déc. 2008.
* Benbabaali, Saadane Bahdjat al-Nufûs fî Bahâ'i Djannât al-Andalus (l'Amour, la femme et les jardins dans la poésie andalouse) ANEP, Alger,2010
* Corriente, Federico (1997). ''Poesía dialectal árabe y romance en Alandalús: cejeles y xarajat de muwassahat''. Madrid: Gredos. .
* Emery, Ed (2006). ''Muwashshah: proceedings of the Conference on Arabic and Hebrew Strophic Poetry and its Romance Parallels, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, 8–10 October 2004.'' London: RN Books.
* Jones, Alan (1987). ''Romance Kharjas in Andalusian Arabic Muwassah poetry: a palaeographic analysis''. London: Ithaca. .
* Jones, Alan & Hitchcock, Richard (1991). ''Studies on the Muwassah and the Kharja: proceedings of the Exeter international colloquium''. Reading: Published by Ithaca for the Board of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Oxford University. .
*
Touma, Habib Hassan (1996). ''The Music of the Arabs'', trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. .
* Zwartjes, Otto (1997). ''Love songs from al-Andalus: history, structure, and meaning of the kharja''. Leiden: Brill. .
* Zwartjes, Otto & Heijkoop, Henk (2004). ''Muwassah, zajal, kharja: bibliography of eleven centuries of strophic poetry and music from al-Andalus and their influence on East and West''. Leiden-Boston: Brill. {{ISBN, 90-04-13822-6.
Arab culture
Arabic music
Arabic poetry forms
Classical and art music traditions
Culture of Al-Andalus
Literary genres
Poetic forms
Song forms
Syrian music
Vocal music
Jewish literature
Islamic literature