In
Arabic Music
Arabic music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also man ...
, the ''mawwāl'' ( ar, موال; plural: ''mawāwīl'', ) is a traditional and popular
Arabic genre of
vocal music
Vocal music is a type of singing performed by one or more singers, either with instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella), in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but d ...
that is very slow in
beat
Beat, beats or beating may refer to:
Common uses
* Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area
** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols
** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men
* Battery (c ...
and
sentimental in nature, and is characterised by prolonging
vowel
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...
syllables, emotional vocals, and is usually
presented before the actual song begins. The singer performing a mawwal would usually
lament
A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something ...
and long for something, such as a past
lover, a departed family member or a
place
Place may refer to:
Geography
* Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population
** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government
* "Place", a type of street or road name
** Often ...
, in a wailing manner.
Etymology
Mawwal is an Arabic word that means "affiliated with", "associated with," or "connected to". The verb is ''waala'' (). It is measure 3 of the root verb "Walia" (), which means to follow, ''be affiliated with'', ''support'', or ''sponsor''. Originally the verbal noun has a ''Yaa'' in the definite form but it loses it when the word is indefinite.
History
There are many preferences regarding the origin of the mawwal, one of these is the one
al-Suyuti attributes it in the book Sharh al-Muwashah to the era of
Harun al-Rashid
Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar
, أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...
. When he insisted on his concubines to eulogize his minister,
Jaafar al-Barmaki, after his brutality against him, then a concubine named al-Mawlia, from which "mawwal" is derived, was the one who eulogized him.
Another preference is
Safi al-Din al-Hilli in his book al-Mawwal al-Baghdadi in which he attribute it to the people of Wasit in Iraq. Also, Safi al-Din al-Hilli says that the mawal is from the simple sea sounding on the base of the wide sea, and the mawal continued in this way until the eighth century AH, when the mawwal appeared using the Iraqi dialect of the vernacular and the subsequent branching of the mawal in the eleventh century into three other types, namely The quatrain and The lame and Numani.
Egypt
In
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, which is considered one of the traditional homes Mawwawel ("plural of Mawwal") the musicians of Mawawil play the
rabab (a double-stringed spike
fiddle made from half of a coconut shell covered with fish skin and a bow strung with horse hair), the
kawala
The ''kāwālā'' ( ar, or ; also called ''salamiya'', ) is an end-blown cane flute used in Arabic music. It is similar to the '' ney'' but has six finger holes, while the ''ney'' has seven (including one in the back). The ''kawala'' comes in u ...
(an end-blown, oblique
flute with six holes) and the
arghoul
The ''arghul'' ( ar, أرغول or يرغول), also spelled ''argul'', ''arghoul'', ''arghool'', ''argol'', or ''yarghul'', is a musical instrument in the reed family. It has been used since ancient Egyptian times and is still used as a tradi ...
(an ancient double
clarinet characterized by two
pipe
Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to:
Objects
* Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules
** Piping, the use of pipes in industry
* Smoking pipe
** Tobacco pipe
* Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...
s of unequal length. The second pipe serves as a drone and can be lengthened by adding pieces. The player uses the technique of circular breathing to produce an uninterrupted sound). The arghoul can be traced back to
Pharaonic times as it is exactly depicted on wall paintings of the temples of the third dynasty. Amin Shahin is one of the few remaining arghoul players in Egypt, since the death of arghoul master, Moustafa Abd al Aziz in 2001.
Mesopotamia
The mawwal musicians in Iraq use mainly
santur, which is a hammered dulcimer of Mesopotamian origin, (trapezoid box zither with a walnut body and 92 steel (or bronze) strings, he strings, tuned to the same pitch in groups of four, are struck with two wooden mallets called "midhrab"),
joza, and oud, as the country' oud playing tradition have become an own school and a reference. It is illustrated specially by the figure of the acclaimed
Munir Bashir
Munir Bashir, ( ar, منير بشير, syr, ܡܘܢܝܪ ܒܫܝܪ) (1930 – September 28, 1997) was an Iraqi Assyrian musician and one of the most famous musicians in the Middle East during the 20th century and was considered to be the supreme m ...
.
Due to geographical proximity to 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 ...
,
Assyrian
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
musicians may also implement Mawwal in their work. Albert Rowel Tamras and
Adwar Mousa, who are from Iraq and Syria, respectively, are such examples who use this art form in their music. In many forms of
Assyrian music, Mawwal is performed as an intro for an upbeat song, such as those in the rhythm of
bagiyeh/peda.
Lebanon
Mawwal is sung by powerful singers who are able to demonstrate strong vocal capabilities. The most famous singers come from Lebanon in specific,
Sabah
Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory o ...
,
Wadih El Safi
Wadih El Safi ( ar, وديع الصافي, born Wadih Francis; November 1, 1921 – October 11, 2013) was a Lebanese singer, songwriter, composer and actor. He was a Lebanese icon and the forefather of the country's musical culture. He was the ...
and
Fairouz
Nouhad Wadie' Haddad ( ar, نهاد وديع حداد, ; born November 21, 1934), known as Fairuz ( ar, فيروز, ; also spelled Fairouz, Feyrouz or Fayrouz), is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists a ...
. Nowadays, some of the most famous and strongest singers that can sing mawaweels are
Najwa Karam
Najwa Karam ( ar, نجوى كرم, , born 26 February 1966) is a Lebanese singer, songwriter, producer, fashion icon, one of the best selling recording artist in the middle east with more than 60 million records worldwide. Known as the "Sun of ...
and
Wael Kfoury
Michel Émile Kfoury ( ar, ميشال اميل كفوري; born September 14, 1974), known by his stage name Wael Kfoury (), is a Lebanese singer, Wael Kfoury is called the king of romance and the common nightingale and perfect . Wael has many son ...
.
[Shiloah, Amnon. Music in the World of Islam. A Socio-Cultural Study 2001.]
See also
*
Rawda Khwani
Rozeh Khani or Rawda khwani ( fa , روضه خوانی, "reading the Rozeh") is the Shia Iranian Muslim ritual of the Mourning of Muharram. It is held every day of the year to commemorate the death of Husayn ibn Ali and his followers during the ...
*
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 writt ...
*
Andalusian 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 Muslim population of the region a ...
*
Malhun
Malhun (Arabic الملحون / ALA-LC: ''al-malḥūn''), meaning "the melodic poem", is a form of music that originated in Morocco.Mounira SolimanPopular Culture in the Middle East and North Africa: A Postcolonial Outlook p.58 (Routledge 2013) � ...
*
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 ...
*
Rubaiyat
References
{{reflist
External links
''Fi Lina Ya Hub''– A mawwal by
Fairuz
Nouhad Wadie' Haddad ( ar, نهاد وديع حداد, ; born November 21, 1934), known as Fairuz ( ar, فيروز, ; also spelled Fairouz, Feyrouz or Fayrouz), is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists a ...
Hossaum Al Rassam—Mawwal
Egyptian culture
Egyptian music
Arabic music
Vocal music
Classical and art music traditions