Andalusi music was allegedly born in the
Emirate of Córdoba (
Al-Andalus) in the 9th century. Born and raised in
Iraq,
Ziryâb (d. 857), who later became court musician of
Abd al-Rahman II in Córdoba, is sometimes credited with its invention. Later, the poet, composer, and philosopher
Ibn Bajjah (d. 1139) of
Saragossa is said to have combined the style of Ziryâb with Western approaches to produce a wholly new style that spread across Iberia and North Africa. By the 10th century, Muslim Iberia had become a center for the manufacture of musical instruments. These spread gradually to
Provence, influencing French
troubadours and
trouvères and eventually reaching the rest of Europe. The English words
lute,
rebec,
guitar, and
naker derive from the Arabic
oud,
rabab,
qithara and
naqareh, although some Arabic terms (qithara, for example) had been derived in their turn from
Vulgar Latin,
Greek and other languages like
Persian.
Aḥmad al-Tifāshī (d. 1253) in his encyclopedic work
Faṣl al-khiṭāb fī madārik al-ḥ awāss al-khams li-ʾūlī l-albāb () divided the Andalusi musical tradition into four types:
nashīd,
ṣawt,
muwashshaḥ, and
zajal. A
nashīd was classical
monorhyme poem consisting of
istihlal ( – a precomposed vocal
prelude, probably with instrumental
response) and
ʿamal ( – a composition combining vocal and instrumental elements). Some of the
muwashshaḥāt had lyrics that fit their melodies (sometimes through
melisma), while others had
improvised nonsense syllables to fill out the melodic line—a practice that survives to the present with relevant sections labeled as
shughl ( 'work') in songbooks.'' Moreover, these migrants from the 13th century on encountered ethnic Andalusi communities that had migrated earlier to North Africa, which helped this refined music to take root and spread among wider audiences.
Andalusi music in Jewish societies In his book
Jews of Andalusia and the Maghreb on the musical traditions in Jewish societies of North Africa,
Haim Zafrani writes: "In the Maghreb, the Muslims and Jews have piously preserved the Spanish-Arabic music .... In Spain and Maghreb, Jews were ardent maintainers of Andalusi music and the zealous guardians of its old traditions ...." Indeed, as in so many other areas of Andalusi culture and society, Jews have played an important role in the evolution and preservation of the musical heritage of al-Andalus throughout its history. From the very beginning, one of Ziryāb's colleagues at the court of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II was a fine musician Manṣūr al-Yahūdī ("Mansur the Jew"). The scholars
Avraham Eilam-Amzallag and
Edwin Seroussi further highlight the important role played by Jews in the history of Andalusi music, pointing out that not only have many important North African Andalusi musicians been Jews, but also Moroccan Jewish communities today in Israel preserve Andalusi melodies and even song texts in their religious music.
Lyrical song texts of Andalusi music A number of old manuscripts preserve song texts and elements of Andalusi musical philosophy. The oldest surviving collection of these texts is found in two chapters from
Aḥmad al-Tīfāshī's
Mutʿat al-ʾismāʿ fī ʿilm al-samāʿ () (ca. 1253). More recent is a document entitled,
al-ʿAdharā al-māyisāt fī-l-ʾazjāl wa-l-muwashshaḥāt (, "The Virgins Swaying for
Zajals and
Muwashshaḥs"), which probably dates to the middle of the 15th century and seems to be linked to the Andalusi music of Tlemcen in Algeria. By far the best-documented Andalusi tradition is that of Morocco, with the first surviving anthology having been produced by Muḥammad al-Būʿiṣāmī (d. ca. 1738). But the most important collection was
Kunnāsh al-Ḥāʾik (the first of several versions is dated 1202/1788), which was revised by the
wazīr in 1886 (numerous copies are found in libraries in Morocco, Madrid, London and Paris). Each of the modern nations of North Africa has at least one style of Andalusi music. In Morocco the secular instrumental version is called
al-Āla (), while the religious
a cappella style is called
al-samāʿ wa-l-madīḥ (). In Algeria there are three styles:
al-Gharnāṭī (referring to Granada) in the West,
al-ṣanʿa () in the region around Algiers, and
al-maʾlūf () in the East. The Tunisian and Libyan traditions are also called
al-maʾlūf. ==Today==