Language The Jbala people primarily speak
Moroccan Arabic with lesser or greater degrees of
Berber. There is also a significant amount of influence from
French and
Spanish whilst incorporating foreign languages from radio stations. The variety of Arabic spoken by the Jbala is known as Jebli Arabic which falls under the sub-dialect grouping of
Shamali Arabic. Shamali Arabic including Jebli Arabic belongs to the
Pre-Hilalian or Non-Hilali group of Maghrebi Arabic - a term that introduced by French Orientalists
William Marçais and , who argued that the first
arabicization of Northern Africa took place long before the migration of the
Bani Hilal tribe in the 12th-13th centuries. The pre-Hilali group consists of the Jebli dialect together with the dialects spoken in other North African cities. The Jbala, together with several groups of population inhabiting the Algerian and Tunisian part of the Tell Atlas, were the first Imazighen (Berbers) who arabicised their language, probably due to their proximity to the old route that once connected Fes (as well as Tlemcen and Constantine) with Mediterranean ports, especially with those located in al-Andalus. As the most archaic group of Arabic dialects in the region, the Pre-Hilali dialects are characterised by a strong influence from Berber on all levels—phonetic, morphological, and lexical.'' are a traditional feature of Jebala dress for both genders. Jebala women wear
shawls called
mendils made from cotton or wool. These rectangular shawls are often woven in stripes of white and red in the region. They are wrapped around the waist to form skirts. They are also for holding babies or goods on the back or front of the body. White djellabas are worn for religious festivals. Historically, the djellaba of the Jebala had embroidery and multi-coloured pompoms but it has recently conformed to the style that has become common in Morocco losing those features and becoming longer. The
qashshab, a long, straight blouse of thick white wool, without sleeves or a hood, is still worn. Any Jbala musician and singer, who is often also a ‘poet’ and even an ‘artist’ (because Jebli poetry does not exist without music and performance and a local poet almost always sings his own songs, accompanying himself with a musical instrument) will usually tell an outsider the legend of
Tariq ibn Ziyad, the famous
conqueror of Spain, his trip through the
Straits of Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq, the Mountain of Tariq, hence "Gibraltar"), and the sad
end of Islamic rule in Spain. The sense of cultural continuity between the Jbala region and Andalusia is very strong even today. A traditional Jebli poet links his/her verses to a particular melody, from the set of possible melodies typical of this tradition. Once the melody is chosen, he/she then tries to organise his/her poetry into
beyt-s (بيت), or quatrains. It is not clear how well the poet understands the concept of Arabic
beyt and links to it concept of
qafiya (قافية), or rhyme. It is very possible that local poets use this terminology in a rather superficial way: after all, their poems only exist during the moment when they are being performed. In other words, a Jebli poem is difficult to visualise on paper and can be compared to a rather distant tradition of Classical Arabic poetry that was once born n the Arabian Peninsula. However, a Jebli
beyt does have particular characteristics that the poet has in mind and tries to conform with:
beyt is typically but not necessarily made of four hemistichs, where each one is made of 6-8 syllables, and the second hemistich is rhymed with the fourth one. If the
beyt becomes a part of
ayta jebliya or
ughniya, the poet will also produce a
lazima (لازمة), or refrain, that will cement the text together. This poetry has recently been analyzed within the framework of cognitive poetics, showing how spontaneous oral performance is aided by recourse to cognitive frames, scripts and formulaic language.
Music Music and dancing are also very important in Jbala culture. The Jebala play the "Ghayta" (a form of clarinet), and the
tbul (drum), and dancing is generally performed by boys. The Rif musicians, who belong to a socially and occupational inferior class calling themselves "Imdhyazen", generally come from one tribe, the "Ait Touzin". They play the "Addjun" (tambourine) and the "zammar" (a kind of clarinet) with unmarried girls and old women dancing. ==Economic and cultural differences==