{"id":29411,"date":"2025-01-15T19:42:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T19:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/african-music\/moroccan-sung-poetry-and-recitation\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T19:42:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T19:42:05","slug":"moroccan-sung-poetry-and-recitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=29411","title":{"rendered":"Moroccan sung poetry and recitation"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\t\tby<\/span> rilm<\/a><\/span> | <\/span>November 18, 2024 \u00b7 6:00 am\t<\/div>\n

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Many Moroccans, especially those outside the conservatory tradition, view mal\u1e25\u016bn not as music, but as the recitation of poetry. The very name mal\u1e25\u016bn adds to this ambiguity. Derived from the Arabic root la\u1e25ana<\/em>, the term has various meanings, including speaking ungrammatically, chanting, and setting words to music. Moroccan scholars themselves are divided on which interpretation is most fitting. The late Mohamed el-Fassi<\/a>, a prominent scholar and former minister of culture, argued that mal\u1e25\u016bn was always intended to be sung while others have suggested that some mal\u1e25\u016bn poetry is meant to be recited, not sung. A similar debate exists in Yemen, where a comparable form of dialectical song poetry, known as homayni (or sometimes mal\u1e25\u016bn), closely mirrors the Moroccan style. This debate is unlikely to reach a definitive conclusion, as both perspectives hold merit. Mal\u1e25\u016bn often breaks standard Arabic grammar and uses nonstandard vocabulary for metrical or poetic effect. Ultimately, it is best experienced through listening\u2014whether recited or, more fittingly, sung.<\/p>\n

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To this day, mal\u1e25\u016bn continues to resonate with both the working class and the elites in Morocco. King Hassan II<\/a> was a prominent patron of Moroccan music, including mal\u1e25\u016bn<\/em>. During his reign, a rising cultural nationalism fostered a renewed interest in traditional Moroccan art forms, such as mal\u1e25\u016bn, as well as proverbs and other forms of oral literature in both Arabic and Berber. This cultural revival was part of a broader effort to assert a distinct Moroccan identity, particularly in response to the intellectual dominance of France, and to the cultural influence of Egypt and Lebanon in the Arab world. Mal\u1e25\u016bn can be found in a diverse range of contexts, from street performances and religious lodges to the royal palace, often accompanied by various ensembles. According to some sources, mal\u1e25\u016bn singers originally accompanied themselves with the deff, a square, double-headed frame drum measuring about 20 to 25 centimeters on each side. Since the primary focus of mal\u1e25\u016bn is the poetry itself, no additional instrumentation was required.<\/p>\n

This according to The Garland encyclopedia of world music. The Middle East<\/em> (2013). Find it in RILM Music Encyclopedias<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch a performance of mal\u1e25\u016bn in Morocco below.<\/p>\n

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