Muwashshah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Muwashshah or muwaššah (Arabic: موشٌح, literally "girdled"; plural muwāshshahāt موشـّحات or tawāshīh تواشيح) is an Arabic poetic form and an eastern secular musical genre which uses muwaššah texts for lyrics. The poetic form is also used in Andalusi nubah and is similarly of Al-Andalus origin. In the Maghreb the term refers to the poetic form, while in the Mashriq it refers to the "poetic-musical product in its entirety." In North Africa poets ignore the strict rules of Arabic meter while the poets in the East follow them (Touma 1996, p. 83).

Musically, the ensemble consists of ud (lute), kamanja (spike fiddle), qanun (box zither), darabukkah (goblet drum), and daf (tambourine), all of whom often perform as the choir. The soloist performs only a few chosen lines of the selected text. In Aleppo multiple maqam rows and up to three awzān are used and modulation to neighboring maqamat was possible during the B section. Until modernization is was typical to present a complete waslah, or up to eight successive muwaššah including an instrumental introduction (sama'i or bashraf) (ibid, p. 83). It may end with a longa.

Examples of a particular form of the strophic verse, the muwaššahat (sing. muwaššah), start to appear as early as the ninth or tenth century CE. The full sense of the word is not clear, though it appears to be related to the word for a certain type of ornamental belt, the wišah, with a double band. Interpretations differ. According to one authority, "Since it was held together by the concluding line as by a belt, and written down the visual effect was of a chain belt, it was called muwaššah 'girdled' poem." The muwaššah was a multi-lined strophic verse poem written in classical Arabic. Usually the muwaššah consisted of five stanzas. It was customary to open with one or two lines which matched the second part of the poem in rhyme and metre.

[edit] See also

[edit] Bibliography

  • Corriente, Federico (1997). Poesía dialectal árabe y romance en Alandalús: cejeles y xarajat de muwassahat. Madrid: Gredos. ISBN 8424918878.
  • 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. ISBN 0863720854.
  • Jones, Alan & Hitchcock, Richard (1991). Studies on the Muwasssah and the Kharja: proceedings of the Exeter international colloquium. Reading: Published by Ithaca for the Board of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Oxford University. ISBN 0863721508.
  • Zwartjes, Otto (1997). Love songs from al-Andalus: history, structure, and meaning of the kharja. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9004106944.
  • 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 9004138226.

[edit] Source

  • Touma, Habib Hassan (1996). The Music of the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0931340888.
 This article about a music genre is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.