Muwaššaḥ

''Muwashshah'' ( ' 'girdled'; plural '; also ' 'girdling,' pl. ') is a strophic poetic form that developed in al-Andalus in the late 10th and early 11th centuries. The ', embodying the Iberian rhyme revolution, was the major Andalusi innovation in Arabic poetry, and it was sung and performed musically. The ''muwaššaḥ'' features a complex rhyme and metrical scheme usually containing five ' ( 'branches'; sing. '), with uniform rhyme within each strophe, interspersed with ' ( 'threads for stringing pearls'; sing. ') with common rhyme throughout the song, as well as a terminal ''kharja'' ( 'exit'), the song's final ''simṭ'', which could be in a different language. Sephardic poets also composed ' in Hebrew, sometimes as ''contrafacta'' imitating the rhyme and metrical scheme of a particular poem in Hebrew or in Arabic. This poetic imitation, called ' ( 'contrafaction'), is a tradition in Arabic poetry.

The ''kharja'', or the ''markaz'' ( 'center') of the ', its final verses, can be in a language that is different from the body; a ''muwaššaḥ'' in literary Arabic might have a ''kharja'' in vernacular Andalusi Arabic or in a mix of Arabic and Andalusi Romance, while a ''muwaššaḥ'' in Hebrew might contain a ''kharja'' in Arabic, Romance, Hebrew, or a mix.

The ''muwaššaḥ'' musical tradition can take two forms: the ''waṣla'' of the Mashriq and the Andalusi ''nubah'' of the Maghrib.

History

While the ''qasida'' and the ''maqama'' were adapted from the Mashriq, 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 Ibn Sanāʾ al-Mulk and ibn Dihya al-Kalby. The corpus of ''muwaššaḥs'' is formed by pieces in Hebrew and Andalusi 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 Arabic, Andalusi Romance, Hebrew, and other Romance languages—reflect the fluidity and diversity of the linguistic landscape of al-Andalus.

The earliest known source on the ''muwashshah'' is Ibn Bassam’s ''. 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.

Ibn Sanāʾ al-Mulk (d. 1211), author of ''Dār aṭ-ṭirāz fī ʿamal al-muwashshaḥāt'' (), wrote the most detailed surviving musical description of the ''muwashshaḥ.'' He wrote that some of the ''muwashshaḥāt'' had lyrics that fit their melodies (sometimes through melisma), while others had improvised nonsense syllables to fill out the melodic line—a practice that survives to the present with relevant sections labeled as ''shughl'' ( 'work') in songbooks.''''

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 root w-š-ḥ () 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 ' (‘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 ''muwashshah'' 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 Arabi and ibn al-Ṣabbāgh composed esoteric ''muwashshahs'' that used wine and love as allegories for divine yearning.

Corpora

Corpus of Arabic ''muwaššaḥāt''

Of the approximately 600 known secular Arabic ''muwaššaḥāt'', there are almost 300 ''kharjas'' in vernacular Andalusi Arabic and over 200 in Standard Arabic (), though some of the vernacular ''kharjas'' are essentially Standard Arabic with a vulgar gloss. About 50 are in Andalusi Romance or contain some Romance words or elements.

Corpus of Hebrew ''muwaššaḥāt''

About half of the corpus of the more than 250 known ''muwaššaḥāt'' in Hebrew have ''kharjas'' in Arabic. There about roughly 50 with ''kharjas'' in Hebrew, and about 25 with Romance. There are also a few ''kharjas'' with a combination of Hebrew and Arabic.

Hebrew ''muwashshah''

An important number of the muwashshah poems written in al-Andalus were composed in Hebrew. Like the ''muwaššaḥāt'' composed in Arabic, those in Hebrew might also contain linguistically distinct kharjas, either in Romance, Arabic, or a combination of Hebrew and 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 Naghrillah. Other prominent Hebrew muwashshah authors include Judah Halevi, Todros ben Judah Halevi Abulafia and Joseph ibn Tzaddik.

The first author to compose a devotional muwashshah was Solomon 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'').Touma (1996), p. 83 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

A composer of ' is known as a ' ( 'girdler'; pl. '). Famous ' include:
* Al-Tutili
*Avempace
* Avenzoar
* Todros ben Judah Halevi Abulafia (Hebrew)
*Yehuda Halevi (Hebrew)
*Ibn al-Khatib
* Ibn Baqi
*Ibn Zamrak
*Ibn Sahl of Seville

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
* Samuel Miklos Stern
*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
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Culture of al-Andalus
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