Malhun (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, 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 ...

الملحون /

ALA-LC ALA-LC (American Library AssociationLibrary of Congress) is a set of standards for romanization, the representation of text in other writing systems using the Latin script. Applications The system is used to represent bibliographic information by ...

: ''al-malḥūn''), meaning "the melodic poem", is a form of music that originated in

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 to ...

.Mounira Soliman
Popular Culture in the Middle East and North Africa: A Postcolonial Outlook
p.58 (Routledge 2013) – It is a kind of urban, sung

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

that comes from the exclusively masculine working-class milieu of craftsmen's guilds.

Origins

The ''mǝlḥun'' first emerged as a pure literary creation, as a poetic genre today known in

under the name of "

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 ...

" (meaning "poem") (

: القصيدة) or "

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 ...

" (

: الزجل). It developed in the

Tafilalet Tafilalt or Tafilet (; ar, تافيلالت), historically Sijilmasa, is a region and the largest oasis in Morocco. Etymology The word "Tafilalt" is an Amazigh word and it means "Jug", which is specifically a pottery jar used to store water. ...

oases of southern

in the fifteenth century before it spread to other parts of 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, ...

. The Mal’aba of Al-Kafif az-Zarhuni (ملعبة الكفيف الزرهوني) is considered to be the oldest known form of the Malhun, dating back to the

Marinid dynasty The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) a ...

era (14th century). The Mal’aba describes the union's attempt of the Maghreb by the sultan

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Othman Abu Al-Hasan 'Ali ibn 'Othman (c. 1297 – 24 May 1351), () was a sultan of the Marinid dynasty who reigned in Morocco between 1331 and 1348. In 1333 he captured Gibraltar from the Castilians, although a later attempt to take Tarifa in 1339 en ...

. Written in

Moroccan Arabic Moroccan Arabic ( ar, العربية المغربية الدارجة, translit=al-ʻArabīya al-Maghribīya ad-Dārija ), also known as Darija (), is the dialectal, vernacular form or forms of Arabic spoken in Morocco. It is part of the Maghrebi ...

, it represents the origins of the modern Malhun.

Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...

mentions it at the end of his

Muqaddimah The ''Muqaddimah'', also known as the ''Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun'' ( ar, مقدّمة ابن خلدون) or ''Ibn Khaldun's Prolegomena'' ( grc, Προλεγόμενα), is a book written by the Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ...

as one of the main lyrical epics of the art called "Mala'ib" (ملاعب).

Music

The ''qasida'' (''qṣīda'' in

) of the malhun is based on two essential elements: the overtures preceding it and the parts of which it is composed: ''aqsam'' (

: الأقسام) verses sung solo interrupted by the ''harba'' refrain (meaning launch) (

: الحربة). Harba, the origin of which goes back to the 16th century, is a

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

taken up between the verses. Another refrain called ''drīdka'' (

: الدريدكة) is a simplified form of the ''harba'', taking off from an accelerated

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular recu ...

to announce the end of a ''qasida''.

Famous figures

Among the former authors of melhun, there is

Abdelaziz al-Maghrawi Abu Faris abd al-Aziz al-Maghrawi (; d. 1605) was a Moroccan poet and the first known author of a qasida written in malhun. He was one of the poets of the court of the Saadian sultan Ahmad al-Mansur Ahmad al-Mansur ( ar, أبو العباس � ...

and

Abderrahman El Majdoub Sidi Abderrahman el Majdoub ( ar, عبد الرحمان المجذوب , March 150626May 1568), also transcribed as Mejdub, full name al-Shaykh Abu Zayd Abderrahman al-Majdoub ibn Ayyad ibn Yaacub ibn Salama ibn Khashan al-Sanhaji al-Dukkali, was ...

(died 1568) who was famous for his

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

quatrains A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greec ...

. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Morocco saw a great number of

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

s who, whether from

Fez Fez most often refers to: * Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire * Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco Fez or FEZ may also refer to: Media * ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...

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 ...

Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

, spread popular

using the melhun. Examples are

Kaddour El Alamy Sidi Kaddour El Alami () also transliterated as Qaddur al-Alami (born 1742 in Meknes, died 1850) is one of Morocco'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-Idr ...

and

Thami Midaghri Thami Lamdaghri or Mdaghri (died 1856) is a well known Moroccan writer and composer of malhun Malhun (Arabic الملحون / ALA-LC: ''al-malḥūn''), meaning "the melodic poem", is a form of music that originated in Morocco.Mounira SolimanPopu ...

. In modern days, prominent figures include al-Hajj al-Husayn al-Tulali (1924-1998),

Fatima Hadad Fatima Hadad (born 5 November 1969) is a Moroccan singer and artistic director. She is an exponent of the Moroccan sung poetry known as Malhun. In 2004 she founded a society for others interested in this Moroccan cultural heritage. Life Hadad wa ...

Haj Houcine Toulali Houcine Toulali (1924–1998) was a Moroccan writer and singer of Malhun compositions. He wrote hundreds of qasidas. He was born in Meknes Meknes ( ar, مكناس, maknās, ; ber, ⴰⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙ, amknas; french: Meknès) is one of the f ...

, and

Zohra Al Fassiya Zohra Al Fassiya ( ar, زهرة الفاسية, he, זוהרה אלפסיה) was a Moroccan singer and poet. Considered as the queen of the melhoun and gharnati genres, and one of the pioneers of modern Arabic music, she was the first female ...

. Fatima Hadid started an association in 2004 named ''Jawg Huwwat fann al-malhun'' for enthusiasts of Malhun.

References

{{reflist

External links

Le Malhoun, article de Nature et Culture, auteur Mario Scolas
*

' North African music Moroccan music Arabic music

Origins

Music

Famous figures

See also

References

External links