class: title, center, middle # Andalusian Memories  ### Christopher Witulski, Ph.D. ### College of Musical Arts --- # Morocco * Part of North Africa, Africa, Mediterranean, Middle East… Tricky to place .image-100[] --- # Sufism: this should be review! * Variety of traditions, practices * This is a huge area of land * Syncretic fusions of local and Islamic (global) * “Mysticism” or “mystical” variants * Often focusing on personal connection with Allah (God) * May feature musical practices: chants, breathing * Prominent texts, like the Quran's 99 names of Allah * Local religious and musical manifestations --- # Sufi Diversity * Public variations on esoteric traditions * One of the problems with “popular Sufism” as an umbrella term * Contemporary shifts * Commercial distribution * Re-contextualization (weddings, etc.) * Changing ritual content, shifting aesthetics * Putting individual traditions in context --- class: middle, center <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6SSM2mQjBL8?si=gLA16Xy-c8zVibbz" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> ### Sufi Nights at the Fez Festival (2006) --- # "High Art" * Al-Ala, or Andalusian music * Regarded differently than “popular” sufism * Part of long history of poetry, devotion * “Natures” and “turns” * Taba: melodic system (mode) * Mizan: rhythm, set of individual pieces/poems * Nuba: “turn,” collection of pieces within one taba * Instruments * Strings (chordophones): Rabab, violins/violas, ud * Percussion: tar and darbouka --- class: middle, center <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zq_jYMB3tSI?si=akqMpYYIY3gGcJOy" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> ### Bajeddoub: "Ya Shams al-ʿAshiyya" --- # Instruments .center[ .image-70[] ### Violin, held upright (Miriam Chaabi in Casablanca) ] --- class: middle, center .image-50[] ### Rabab, Briuel Ensemble in Fez --- class: middle, center .image-30[] .image-60[] --- # Symbolic meanings * Pitches: Do, La, Re, Sol * Colors: Black, Yellow, White, Red * Natures: Earth, Water, Air, Fire * Liver, Spleen, Heart, Lungs * Tassel, Belgha, Jallaba, Tarboush .image-60[] --- class: middle, center <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WnOLcSk8tTA?si=dtz9v1FkToBrAfaO" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe> ### Festival performance... this one's a doozy! (Same piece) --- # Andalusi rhythms (iqa') .image-80.center[] --- # Andalusi modes (taba') .image-100.center[] --- # Andalusi collections (nuba) .image-100.center[] --- # Nuba Ramal al-Maya, Mizan al-Bazit #17 * Li-nabi al-rasul haja shawq al-'abdi * Ahmed Shiqi's solo version, then an ensemble version > In contentment and favor and lofty rank, His character is the best, with (its) banner and glory. **The longing of the servant for the Prophet, the Messenger stirs** My Lord, bring (his) arrival close to one who laments the distance. Perhaps the east wind brings me close to my aim. Time in love of one whom we know oppressed me. I fasted from him for a time and made him my fast-breaking. .center[ <audio controls="controls"> <source src="/assets/andalusi-li-nabi al-rasul-shiqi.wav" type="audio/mp3"> </audio> (Transcription follows) ] --- class: center, middle .image-100[] --- class: center, middle .image-100[] --- class: center, middle .image-100[] --- # Nuba Ramal al-Maya, Mizan al-Bazit #17 * Li-nabi al-rasul haja shawq al-'abdi * Ahmed Shiqi's solo version, then an ensemble version > In contentment and favor and lofty rank, His character is the best, with (its) banner and glory. **The longing of the servant for the Prophet, the Messenger stirs** My Lord, bring (his) arrival close to one who laments the distance. Perhaps the east wind brings me close to my aim. Time in love of one whom we know oppressed me. I fasted from him for a time and made him my fast-breaking. .center[ <audio controls="controls"> <source src="/assets/andalusi-li-nabi-ar-rasul-temsamani.wav" type="audio/mp3"> </audio> ### Mohammed Larbi Temsamani, Orchestre du Conservatoire de Tétouan ] --- class: title, center, middle # Andalusian Memories  ### Christopher Witulski, Ph.D. ### College of Musical Arts