The Musical Heritage of Al-Andalus is a critical account of the history of Andalusian music in Iberia from the Islamic conquest of 711 to the final expulsion of the Moriscos (Spanish Muslims converted to Christianity) in the early 17th century. This volume presents the documentation that has come down to us, accompanied by critical and detailed analyses of the sources written in Arabic, Old Catalan, Castilian, Hebrew, and Latin. It 1s also informed by research the author has conducted on modern Andalusian musical traditions in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria.
While the cultural achievements of medieval Muslim Spain have been the topic of a large number of scholarly and popular publications in recent decades, what may arguably be its most enduring contribution — music — has been almost entirely neglected. The overarching purpose of this work 1s to elucidate as clearly as possible the many different types of musical interactions that took place in medieval Iberia and the complexity of the various borrowings, adaptations, hybridizations, and appropriations involved.
Dwight F. Reynolds is Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of numerous publications, including the co-editorship of the award-winning, The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 6: The Middle East, published in 2002, with Virginia Danielson and Scott Marcus.
Author(s): Dwight F. Reynolds
Series: SOAS Studies in Music
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 275
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Imprint
Contents
List of illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
SECTION ONE Music in Iberia and the Mashriq up to 711
1 Music in Iberia to 711
Jewish communities in Iberia
2 Arab music to 711
The Great Book of Songs
Arab music before Islam
Musicians in the early Islamic period
Patronage
Conclusion
SECTION TWO Andalusi music to the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate, 711-1031
3 From the conquest to the reign of ‘Abd al-Rahman II, 711-822
Music in the household of al-Mughira
4 ‘Abd al-Rahman Il and Ziryab, 822-852
Ziryab in the court of ‘Abd al- Rahman IT
Ziryab: the early sources
Rivalries in the court
Eastern echoes
The emergence of the legend
The author of Kitab Akhbar Ziryab
The final transformation: al-Maqgqarí
Ziryab’s musical legacy
An aggregate summary
5 The final years of the Caliphate, 858-1031
SECTION THREE Music in the medieval Mediterranean
“Mutual intelligibility”
6 Instrumentarium
The Arab lute
Bowed string instruments
Musical instruments of al-Andalus
Other instruments of al-Andalus
7 Music theory and performance practices
Music as mathematics
The music of the spheres
Melodic modes
The effect of modes
Music theory in al-Andalus
Rhythm
Performance practices
Summary: musical mutual intelligibility
SECTION FOUR The musical revolution in al-Andalus
8 From sawt to muwashshah
The musical structure of the medieval sawt
The muwashshah/zajal song-form
The kharja
Muwashshah versus zajal
The musical structure of the medieval muwashshah
Ibn Sana’ al-Mulk and Dar al-Tiraz
9 Hebrew muwashshahat
Conclusion
SECTION FIVE Post-Umayyad Iberia (11th-17th c.)
10 The era of the “petty kings,” Almoravids, and Almohads (11th-12th c.)
Qiyan as captives and gifts
Dance and puppetry
Music among the elite
Al-Tifashi's description of Andalusi song
11 The “Age of Minstrels” (13th-15th c.)
Las Cantigas de Santa María
Andalusi musicians in Christian courts
Church and municipal musicians
12 Music of the Moriscos (16th—17th c.)
The final expulsions
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
