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Malhun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Malhun is also a city in Lebanon.
Malhun (or Milhûn, in Arabic الملحون) meaning the melodic poem is a Moroccan music that borrows its modes from the Andalusian music. It is a kind of urban, sung poetry that comes from the exclusively masculine working-class milieu of craftsmen's guilds.
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The melhun, originally a pure literary creation, emerged as a poetic art today known in Morocco under the name of Qasida (meaning poem) (in Arabic القصيدة) or zajal (in Arabic الزجل). Combined with music, it quickly spread across the country where it acquired fame particularly among artisans.
The qassida (laqsida in Moroccan arabic) of the malhun is based on two essential elements: the overtures preceding it and the parts of which it is composed. aqsâm (in Arabic الاقسام) verses sung solo interrupted by the harba refrain (meaning launch) (in Arabic الحربة). Harba, the origin of which goes back to the 16th century, is a refrain taken up between the verses by the sheddâda (group of singers and instrumentalist-singers)(in Arabic الشداشة). Another refrain called dridka in Arabic الدريدكة) is a simplified form of the harba, taking off from an accelerated rhythm to announce the end of a qassida.
The qassida however preserved the division of the text in stanzas as in the Andalusian song: the verse (ghson meaning branch) can include from eight to sixteen verses, a short refrain or harba offers an alternation which makes it possible to break the monotony of the musical discourse of the Malhoun song. This gave rise to the sûruf, subsidiary procedures employed by singers to produce an even greater effect on the audience and above all to correct the rhythm. Al-Maghrawi (16th 17th centuries) created from dân, a word that has no meaning, verses which were used as the basis for versewriting by Moroccan folk poets. (e.g. Dân dâni yâ dâni dân dân yâ dân).
Among the former authors of melhoun, there is Abdelaziz El-Maghraoui (1578-1602) and Sidi Abderrahmane El-Majdoub who lived around the same era and was famous for his mystical quatrains. In 18th and 19th centuries, Morocco knew a great number of poets who, from Fez, Meknes or Marrakech spread popular poetry who adopted the melhoun. In modern days, Haj Houcine Toulali (1924-1998) was the most prominent figure in the malhun music.