muwashshah

''Muwashshah'' ( ar, موشح '  literally means "girdled" 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.

History

While the ''qasida'' and the ''maqama'' were adapted from the Mashreq, strophic poetry is the only form of Andalusi literature known to have its origins in the Iberian Peninsula. 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'', and ''zajal'': 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. The corpus of ''muwaššaḥs'' is formed by pieces in Hebrew and in Arabic. Tova Rosen describes the ''muwaššaḥ'' as "a product and a microcosm of the cultural conditions particular to al-Andalus. The linguistic interplay between the standard written languages—Arabic and Hebrew—and the oral forms— Andalusi vernacular Arabic, Romance, and Mozarabic—reflect the fluidity and diversity of the linguistic landscape of al-Andalus.

The earliest known source on the muwashshah is Ibn Bassam’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'' (‘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 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 and Joseph ibn Tzaddik.
The first author to compose a devotional muwashshah was Ibn Gabirol, about two centuries prior to the development of religious muwashshah poetry in Arabic. He was followed in this tradition by Moses Ibn Ezra, 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'' (lute), ''kamanja'' (spike fiddle), ''qanun'' (box zither), ''darabukkah'' (goblet drum), and '' daf'' (tambourine): 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 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'' or '' bashraf''). It may end with a '' longa''. Famous Muwashshah songs still played in the Arab World today include ''Lamma Bada Yatathanna'' and '' Jadaka al-Ghaithu''.

Famous poets

*Al-Tutili
*Avempace
* Avenzoar
* Ibn al-Khatib
*Ibn Baqi
*Ibn Zamrak

Famous ''muwashshahs''

* "''Lamma Bada Yatathanna''" ()
* "'' Jadaka al-Ghaithu''" ()

See also

*Aljamiado
* The kharja is the final stanza of a ', of which a few are in the Mozarabic language and therefore the first attesting of an Iberian Romance language and first written examples of the Castilian language.
*Zajal
*Fasıl
* Malouf
* Emilio García Gómez
* 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