Zajal
Encyclopedia
Zajal is a traditional form of oral strophic poetry declaimed in a colloquial dialect (most notably in one of the many dialects of Arabic) with ancient roots in a number of Mediterranean cultures. The form is similar to Muwashshah. The origin of zajal is Al-Andalus
. It is presently most alive in the Maghreb
and particularly Algeria
(due to the Andalusians who took refuge there), and in the Levant
, especially in Lebanon
and Palestine where professional zajal practitioners can attain high levels of recognition and popularity. Zajal is semi-improvised and semi-sung and is often performed in the format of a debate between zajjalin (poets who improvise the zajal). It is usually accompanied by percussive musical instruments (with the occasional wind instrument, e.g. the ney
) and a chorus of men (and more recently, women) who sing parts of the verse.
Well-known Lebanese zajjaali include Zein Sh'eib, Talih Hamdan, Zaghloul alDamour, Moussa Zgheib, Asaad Said, Khalil Rukoz.
dialect. Its roots are ancient and not sufficiently researched, but various similar manifestations of zajal can be traced to 10-12th century Moorish Spain (Al-Andalus
), and specifically to the colloquial poet Ibn Quzman
(Cordoba, 1078-1160). Zajal has close ties in prosody, delivery, form and spirit with various semi-sung colloquial poetry traditions, including such seemingly disparate traditions as those of Nabati Poetry of Arabia and the troubadours of Provence
. Many Near-Eastern, Arabian and Mediterannean cultures (including Greece, Italy, Algeria, Morocco, Spain and southern France) had, or still have, rich semi-improvised, semi-sung colloquial poetry traditions, which share some traits with Lebanese zajal, such as the verbal duel (e.g. the jeu parti
of the troubadours), the use of tambourines or other minimalist perucssion instruments, and a chanting chorus of men (Reddadi, in Lebanese) who repeat key verses or refrains recited by the poets.
The statement that none of the extant oral poetry traditions can rival Lebanese zajal in its sophistication, metric variety, extended lineage, and continued evolution may be arguable, but it is hard to contest the fact that none of them enjoys its ardent popularity. Today, many tens of professional zajal poets tour the Lebanese countryside and expatriate communities around the world performing to audiences of thousands of aficionados.
Zajal had its great ascendency as a popular art form in the 19th century when numerous poets contributed to its refinement in content and form. The format of the modern Lebanese zajal evening was set in the 1930s mostly by the master poet As3ad Al-Khuri Al-Fghali (1894-1937), known as Shahrur Al-Wadi (Merle of the Valley), who is also credited for introducing many innovations in form and genre. The most common format for a modern evening of Lebanese zajal is a debate (or verbal duel) between two or more poets followed by a recitation of love poetry (ghazal). The format typically consists of recitation in the qasid form (ode), followed by debates in the m3anna and qerradi forms (a popular sub-form of the latter is sometimes called moukhammas mardoud [answered quintain]), leading to ghazal recitations in various forms such as the muwaššah, which, in its Lebanese zajal incarnation, is a joyous and flirtatious genre. The whole is accompanied by a chorus with tambourines and other percussion instruments. The meet often concludes with a love lament, typically in the Shruqi form.
of the littoral cities) have had relatively little affinity for zajal and have produced, with some notable exceptions, few important zajjali. On the other hand, the Maronites
, Druze
and Shiites who inhabit, or have their roots, in the Lebanese mountains and rural areas, have disproportionately populated the ranks of zajjali over zajal's centuries-long evolution. This regional bias is also reflected in the imagery of zajal, which mirrors more the bucolic and sensual sensibilities of the rural countryside than the cerebral, and formal concerns of urban intellectuals. However, many colloquial poets were able to transcend these fluid boundaries and have composed verse that expressively tackles virtually the whole spectrum of humanistic concerns.
has complicating ethnic and socio-political undertones that have made the question of whether the colloquial language could be an acceptable literary medium a somewhat divisive issue in the multi-ethnic/multi-sectarian Lebanese society.
To the ear of a non-Arabic speaker (and sometimes even to that of a native), a phrase spoken in formal (standard) Arabic (fus-ha) and repeated in colloquial Lebanese often sounds substantially different -considerably more so than in the case of, say, classical vs. (spoken) modern Greek. This difference is due, at least partly, to the colloquial having a clear substratum
made up of (extinct or semi-extinct) non-Arabic dialects of Levantine Semitic languages
, such as Aramaic, Syriac and Canaanite
, as well as having later infusions of Persian (e.g. culinary matters), Turkish (e.g. military matters), French and most recently English vocabulary. Starting with the Islamic conquests in the 7th century, which brought classical Arabic to the Levant
, the local dialects were naturally, progressively and, eventually, greatly but never completely, replaced by Arabic, but with the influence of other languages still apparent. The ease with which this Arabization occurred is due to the fundamental kinship between Arabic and the local dialects -all being Semitic and thus based on derivations from triconsonantal (triliteral) roots.
While standard Arabic maintains an incontestable pedigree as the modern version of the exalted language of the Qur'an
and the medium for a vast body of written classical and contemporary literature of many nations, the colloquial, in the mind of many Lebanese, especially the educated classes, is still perceived as a parochial dialect that lacks the purity, pedigree, and universalist aspirations of the fus-ha. Furthermore, to many, its murky roots in languages of ancient peoples who never achieved any true semblance of lasting national independence, its infusion of vocabulary from colonial languages, and its difference from the colloquial dialects of other nations that espouse the fus-ha as a formal lingua franca
, make it, at most, a threat to a pan-Arabist or regional renaissance or, at least, a sign of parochialism and educational inferiority. This is despite the fact that all Lebanese, including the most educated, converse in the colloquial tongue and almost never in standard Arabic.
in the 1950's and 60's at a time when the Lebanese schooling system witnessed its widest expansion and standardization. A consequence of this socio-politically-conditioned diglossia is that the rich canon of colloquial poetry, of which zajal is the foremost embodiment, remains mostly unwritten and practically never part of curricula at schools and universities (although a few post-graduate theses have treated some aspects of the zajal tradition). Today, the majority of the educated Lebanese do not know a m3anna from a qerradi (the two most common metrical forms of zajal) and are likely to be more familiar with a few forms of French prosody (e.g. the sonnet and the ode) taught in many private and even public schools.
Although many audio and video recordings of zajal events have been made, especially on Lebanese TV during the 1960s, 70s and 80s, there has been little effort to properly transcribe or archive these recordings at national or university libraries for serious scholarly research. The elevation of this canon to scholarly attention was not helped by the fact that the cause of colloquial Lebanese was espoused only by ultra-nationalists (especially during the divisive Lebanese Civil War
, 1975-1990), who sought to claim a Lebanese culture distinct from that of the Arabs.
Video recording of a zajal evening at Columbia University
Video recording of a zajal evening in New York City (English text)
Interviews with the masters of zajal (Arabic text)
Unofficial article on zajal influence on European music (English text)
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
. It is presently most alive in the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
and particularly Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
(due to the Andalusians who took refuge there), and in the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, especially in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
and Palestine where professional zajal practitioners can attain high levels of recognition and popularity. Zajal is semi-improvised and semi-sung and is often performed in the format of a debate between zajjalin (poets who improvise the zajal). It is usually accompanied by percussive musical instruments (with the occasional wind instrument, e.g. the ney
Ney
The ney is an end-blown flute that figures prominently in Middle Eastern music. In some of these musical traditions, it is the only wind instrument used. It is a very ancient instrument, with depictions of ney players appearing in wall paintings in the Egyptian pyramids and actual neys being found...
) and a chorus of men (and more recently, women) who sing parts of the verse.
Well-known Lebanese zajjaali include Zein Sh'eib, Talih Hamdan, Zaghloul alDamour, Moussa Zgheib, Asaad Said, Khalil Rukoz.
Lebanese zajal
Lebanese zajal is a semi-improvised, semi-sung or declaimed form of poetry in the colloquial Lebanese ArabicLebanese Arabic
Lebanese or Lebanese Arabic is a variety of Levantine Arabic, indigenous to and spoken primarily in Lebanon, with significant linguistic influences borrowed from other Middle Eastern and European languages, and is in some ways unique from other varieties of Arabic...
dialect. Its roots are ancient and not sufficiently researched, but various similar manifestations of zajal can be traced to 10-12th century Moorish Spain (Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...
), and specifically to the colloquial poet Ibn Quzman
Ibn Quzman
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Quzman was the single most famous poet in the history of al-Andalus and he is also considered to be one of its most original. He was born and died in Cordoba and has earned his fame by his zajals...
(Cordoba, 1078-1160). Zajal has close ties in prosody, delivery, form and spirit with various semi-sung colloquial poetry traditions, including such seemingly disparate traditions as those of Nabati Poetry of Arabia and the troubadours of Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
. Many Near-Eastern, Arabian and Mediterannean cultures (including Greece, Italy, Algeria, Morocco, Spain and southern France) had, or still have, rich semi-improvised, semi-sung colloquial poetry traditions, which share some traits with Lebanese zajal, such as the verbal duel (e.g. the jeu parti
Jeu parti
Jeu parti [Fr.; Occitan joc partit, “partimen”]. A debate or dialogue in the form of a poem. According to Guilhem Molinier, the author of Las leys d'amors, a 13th-century treatise on how to write poetry in the style of the troubadours, there is a clear difference between a partimen and a tenso: in...
of the troubadours), the use of tambourines or other minimalist perucssion instruments, and a chanting chorus of men (Reddadi, in Lebanese) who repeat key verses or refrains recited by the poets.
The statement that none of the extant oral poetry traditions can rival Lebanese zajal in its sophistication, metric variety, extended lineage, and continued evolution may be arguable, but it is hard to contest the fact that none of them enjoys its ardent popularity. Today, many tens of professional zajal poets tour the Lebanese countryside and expatriate communities around the world performing to audiences of thousands of aficionados.
Roots and development
The earliest practitioner of zajal in what is present-day Lebanon is thought to be the Bishop Gabriel Al-Qla3i Al-Hafadi (1440-1516), although some scholarship traces Lebanese zajal back almost two centuries earlier to a poet by the name of Souleiman Al-Ashlouhi (1270-1335) and a few of his contemporaries, and in particular to a single poem in 1289, the year of the destruction of Tripoli (in present north Lebanon) by the Mamluks. Many of the early practitioners of zajal in Lebanon were Christian clergymen.Zajal had its great ascendency as a popular art form in the 19th century when numerous poets contributed to its refinement in content and form. The format of the modern Lebanese zajal evening was set in the 1930s mostly by the master poet As3ad Al-Khuri Al-Fghali (1894-1937), known as Shahrur Al-Wadi (Merle of the Valley), who is also credited for introducing many innovations in form and genre. The most common format for a modern evening of Lebanese zajal is a debate (or verbal duel) between two or more poets followed by a recitation of love poetry (ghazal). The format typically consists of recitation in the qasid form (ode), followed by debates in the m3anna and qerradi forms (a popular sub-form of the latter is sometimes called moukhammas mardoud [answered quintain]), leading to ghazal recitations in various forms such as the muwaššah, which, in its Lebanese zajal incarnation, is a joyous and flirtatious genre. The whole is accompanied by a chorus with tambourines and other percussion instruments. The meet often concludes with a love lament, typically in the Shruqi form.
The metrics of zajal
There seems to be a consensus among the few scholars who have seriously studied the metrics of zajal that it follows two distinct metrical systems. One metrical system is quantitative and is clearly based on some of the strict so-called Khalili meters of classical Arabic poetry (for instance the m3anna and related forms scan according to the classical sari3, rajaz and wafir meters,) and the other is stress-syllabic (for instance many sub-forms of the qerradi are clearly based on Syriac metrics, such as the syllabic metric of the Afframiyyat homilies attributed to the 4-century St. Ephraem.) Both kinds of metrics in zajal are subject to fluid alteration by musical accentuation and syncopation which is possible due to the colloquial's malleability and its inherent allowance (like Syriac) to erode inflections and internal voweling.Regional and thematic aspects
The regional variation in the appreciation of zajal in Lebanon mirrors to a remarkable extent the ethnic and sectarian fragmentation, which remains despite six decades of national co-habitation. Traditionally cosmopolitan communities (e.g. the Sunnis, Greek Orthodox and ArmeniansArmenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
of the littoral cities) have had relatively little affinity for zajal and have produced, with some notable exceptions, few important zajjali. On the other hand, the Maronites
Maronites
Maronites , is an ethnoreligious group in the Middle East that have been historically tied with Lebanon. They derive their name from the Syriac saint Mar Maron whose followers moved to Mount Lebanon from northern Syria establishing the Maronite Church....
, Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
and Shiites who inhabit, or have their roots, in the Lebanese mountains and rural areas, have disproportionately populated the ranks of zajjali over zajal's centuries-long evolution. This regional bias is also reflected in the imagery of zajal, which mirrors more the bucolic and sensual sensibilities of the rural countryside than the cerebral, and formal concerns of urban intellectuals. However, many colloquial poets were able to transcend these fluid boundaries and have composed verse that expressively tackles virtually the whole spectrum of humanistic concerns.
The language of Lebanese zajal
The diglossic nature (co-existence of formal and colloquial forms) of the Arabic tongue in LebanonLebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
has complicating ethnic and socio-political undertones that have made the question of whether the colloquial language could be an acceptable literary medium a somewhat divisive issue in the multi-ethnic/multi-sectarian Lebanese society.
To the ear of a non-Arabic speaker (and sometimes even to that of a native), a phrase spoken in formal (standard) Arabic (fus-ha) and repeated in colloquial Lebanese often sounds substantially different -considerably more so than in the case of, say, classical vs. (spoken) modern Greek. This difference is due, at least partly, to the colloquial having a clear substratum
Substratum
In linguistics, a stratum or strate is a language that influences, or is influenced by another through contact. A substratum is a language which has lower power or prestige than another, while a superstratum is the language that has higher power or prestige. Both substratum and superstratum...
made up of (extinct or semi-extinct) non-Arabic dialects of Levantine Semitic languages
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
, such as Aramaic, Syriac and Canaanite
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
, as well as having later infusions of Persian (e.g. culinary matters), Turkish (e.g. military matters), French and most recently English vocabulary. Starting with the Islamic conquests in the 7th century, which brought classical Arabic to the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
, the local dialects were naturally, progressively and, eventually, greatly but never completely, replaced by Arabic, but with the influence of other languages still apparent. The ease with which this Arabization occurred is due to the fundamental kinship between Arabic and the local dialects -all being Semitic and thus based on derivations from triconsonantal (triliteral) roots.
While standard Arabic maintains an incontestable pedigree as the modern version of the exalted language of the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
and the medium for a vast body of written classical and contemporary literature of many nations, the colloquial, in the mind of many Lebanese, especially the educated classes, is still perceived as a parochial dialect that lacks the purity, pedigree, and universalist aspirations of the fus-ha. Furthermore, to many, its murky roots in languages of ancient peoples who never achieved any true semblance of lasting national independence, its infusion of vocabulary from colonial languages, and its difference from the colloquial dialects of other nations that espouse the fus-ha as a formal lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
, make it, at most, a threat to a pan-Arabist or regional renaissance or, at least, a sign of parochialism and educational inferiority. This is despite the fact that all Lebanese, including the most educated, converse in the colloquial tongue and almost never in standard Arabic.
Status as a literary genre
The relegation of the colloquial literature, including zajal, to a sub-literary class was further solidified by the rise of pan-ArabismPan-Arabism
Pan-Arabism is an ideology espousing the unification--or, sometimes, close cooperation and solidarity against perceived enemies of the Arabs--of the countries of the Arab world, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism, which asserts that the Arabs...
in the 1950's and 60's at a time when the Lebanese schooling system witnessed its widest expansion and standardization. A consequence of this socio-politically-conditioned diglossia is that the rich canon of colloquial poetry, of which zajal is the foremost embodiment, remains mostly unwritten and practically never part of curricula at schools and universities (although a few post-graduate theses have treated some aspects of the zajal tradition). Today, the majority of the educated Lebanese do not know a m3anna from a qerradi (the two most common metrical forms of zajal) and are likely to be more familiar with a few forms of French prosody (e.g. the sonnet and the ode) taught in many private and even public schools.
Although many audio and video recordings of zajal events have been made, especially on Lebanese TV during the 1960s, 70s and 80s, there has been little effort to properly transcribe or archive these recordings at national or university libraries for serious scholarly research. The elevation of this canon to scholarly attention was not helped by the fact that the cause of colloquial Lebanese was espoused only by ultra-nationalists (especially during the divisive Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
, 1975-1990), who sought to claim a Lebanese culture distinct from that of the Arabs.
External links with zajal samples
A repository of zajal recordings and videos (French text)Video recording of a zajal evening at Columbia University
Video recording of a zajal evening in New York City (English text)
Interviews with the masters of zajal (Arabic text)
Unofficial article on zajal influence on European music (English text)