Ahla Andalusi
Maher Kamal
Poetry of Al-Andalus written in the 11th-13th centuries. Music composed by Maher Kamal
Daring, but successfully so, the blend of Kamal’s unique singing style and his music can be considered a rarity in contemporary Arabic music composition. Undoubtedly, the perfume of the lands of Al Andalus lingers in his music.
- Artist: Maher Kamal
- Title: Ahla Andalusi
- Poetry of Al-Andalus
- Catalogue ref.: ND0801
An Introduction from the Producer: Nesma
“It’s a dream come true.” This was my initial thought when I heard the recordings on this disc for the first time, my eyes moist with emotion.
From my first encounter with Arab culture, a fascination for the Hispano-Arabic arts began to grow inside me. When I decided to return to Spain in 1998 after 5 years in Egypt, I created a new dance center in Madrid and gave it the name Al Andalus. At that time I was not fully aware of the meaning of this term for me. It is as if it came from my unconscious, from my heart.
Although I do not claim to revindicate the cultural heritage of Al Andalus or take as my own a legacy that I consider to be universal, I cannot deny that I carry within myself an Andalusi sentiment. Taking the example of the sonority of so many words and proper nouns in my land and language, Ojalá (if only), Azafrán (saffron), o The Guadalquivir River, I have become increasingly aware with the years that my creativity is rooted in my land, which centuries ago and for centuries was Al-Andalus. Perhaps having lived in Egypt and gotten to know its culture was what awoke this feeling in me.
This project of recording music with Andalusi poetry took root a long time ago, but it was my encounter with Maher Kamal which brought it to life. Maher and I came to know each other in Cairo through the intervention of Farida Fahmy, a great artist and magnificent person, very dear and admired by both Maher and me. At that moment I had the intuition that the meeting would allow me to realize my dream.
Months later, at a meeting in Cairo, I showed Maher some medieval poems from the 10th to 13th centuries which I had compiled. He took out his oud and began to sing. I will never forget Maher singing Ahla Andalusi to the accompaniment of his oud as he read the poem for the very first time. I could not believe it. Immediately I knew that I had before me a very sensitive artist whose source of creativity was inexhaustible. That day I knew for certain that this disc was going to be unique and marvelous.
This music has stirred in me a new desire to dance, or, to put it better, has reawakened my desire to create choreographies in a new style, and to dare to deepen my creative process without any rules or limitations, with respect and passion, in search of freedom and beauty, in search of Al Andalus.
— Julia Salmerón, Nesma
Dancer and Choreographer
“Ahla Andalusi”: People of Al Andalus
The history of Al Andalus is marked by art, and poetry in particular. Originally from desert zones, Arab poets likened the Iberian peninsula to a paradise: «Al Andalus, the Eternal Paradise.»
It was without a doubt the most prosperous and brilliant civilization of the Middle Ages due to its culture, architecture, the sciences and, according to many testimonies, for its tolerance and the coexistence which it embraced. Cordoba shined around the world.
It is not surprising that Arabic poetry and music reached their apex in the time of Al Andalus, with the Muwashahat.
In and of itself, the Muwashah is an unparalleled phenomenon in Arabic art and literature. In order to comprehend it, it is important to understand what poetry meant for the Arabs, when a poet sat down in the «poetry market» to recite a poem of more than 1,000 verses, when the audience memorized the poems they heard from the first sitting and later repeated them, when two poets competed in the Caliph’s court with their verses, when the entire Arabic grammar was composed in a poem of over one thousand lines.
Out of this creative environment, vibrating with energy and profoundly in love with poetry, the «Muwashahat» were developed around the year 1000 CE (some suggest that their origin was earlier and others say later), influenced by the beauty and felicity of Al Andalus, dispensing with all the tradition, rhyme and rhythm of Arabic poetry, conceived with absolute freedom, and guided by the music and melodies more than by the lyrics. It was lyrical poetry, written to be danced to and sung. Unlike traditional Arabic poetry, its rhythm depended largely on the melody. Even for the lyrics, Andalusi poets ignored the classical Arabic language framework, interspersing words from the dialects, either from the Orient or from the West.
For the most beautiful, succinct statement that I have heard regarding the Muwashah I quote Ibn Sanaa Al Molk in his book, Dar Al Teraz: «It is poetry that the eye sees as prose and prose that the senses perceive as poetry.»
Composer and singer Maher Kamal has gone out on a limb with the Muwashahat tradition «understood as a deeply-rooted musical style» in order to enter the complex world of lyrical Arabic music and song. He does so with great modesty, but with firm footing, ambling at his own pace, peacefully and freely, as if he knew how to synthesize the centuries of history that the poetry he sings bears witness to.
Desirous of innovating and making the poetry’s beauty stand out with through the music, Kamal used a wide variety of Oriental musical modes with all the adornments that make them recognizable, as for example his use of the Rast mode in the song Abaha Al Dam’o and of the Bayati mode in the song Ya Hamam, and with his use of modulations in the same song, as he also used in Tarfuhu El Ahwar, changing from the Nahawand to the Bayati mode and later moving from the Nahawand to the Saba mode in the song Milouk El Hosn.
Kamal dared to use both simple and complicated rhythms; simple for the song Milouk El Hosn and a complicated rhythmic cycle of fourteen beats for Wadaa El Sabr, where he changed the internal structure of the rhythmic cycle to adapt it to the music. He also used the rumba (a form common in Spanish and flamenco music) in Ahla Andalusi and in Ya Hadary, where he left appropriate spaces for instrumental solos for the oud, the kanoun, the violin and the cello, showing that the creation of modern music does not have to be a confrontation with traditional music. Equally important is the way he adjusted his singing to fit the contour of the musical space, giving an impression of ease in many parts which are virtuosic.
Daring, but successfully so, the blend of Kamal’s unique singing style and his music can be considered a rarity in contemporary Arabic music composition. Undoubtedly, the perfume of the lands of Al Andalus lingers in his music.
— Ezzeldine Hassan
Egyptian playwright and author
About Maher Kamal
CA composer and singer, Maher Kamal was born in 1970 in El Senbellawein, in the Egyptian province of Mansura, in the same city that also gave the world the famous singer Umm Kulthum. While still a boy, his family moved to Ismailia, on the shore of the Suez Canal, where he currently resides. Kamal delights in the tranquility of his city, protected from the agitated atmosphere of life in the Egyptian capital.
After finishing a degree in economics, Kamal decided to dedicate himself fully to music. He studied the oud and voice. In 1991 he took over the direction of the Egyptian Musical Heritage Orchestra of Ismailia and in 1995 he became Artistic Director and General Director of the Ismailia National Folk Dance Ensemble. Under his direction, the group has participated in numerous international folklore festivals in Europe, Asia and the Near East.
Maher Kamal furthered his studies in different genres of Egyptian music, including traditional, classical and contemporary folkloric music. He composes dance music, soundtracks and songs for theater and television. His experience composing music for the Ismailia Folk Dance Ensemble has given him a comprehensive, profound vision of the process of composing music in extremely varied genres.
In 1997 Kamal met the famous dancer Farida Fahmy when they collaborated on a project for the Ismailia folkloric arts group. It was a new source of inspiration from which he drank deeply during the multiple artistic sessions that united the two. A great friendship with mutual admiration grew out of their collaboration, which has been an extremely valuable support for the artistic creation of this composer.
1. Al-Andalus, the Eternal Paradise (Ahla Andalusi)
Poem by Ibn Jafayâ de Alzira (1058-1139)
Maqam (mode): Ajam
Rhythmic Cycle: Rumba
Oh! Andalusian, what fortune!
Water, shade, river and trees.
The paradise is just yours
If I must choose, I’ll choose it.
Don’t be afraid to go to hell
Nobody goes to hell after heaven.
2. Wadaa El Sabr
Poem by Ibn Zaydun de Cordoba (1003-1070)
Maqam (mode): Nahawand
Rhythmic Cycle: Mahjar
Good bye love, good bye patience
My intimate secrets are revealed.
I regret not increasing your love
When I told you good-bye.
Oh you! A shining and sublime moon;
What a marvelous moment when you were born!
My night lasts long after you
How short it was when I was with you.
3. Ya Hadary
Poem by Ibn `Arabi from Murcia (1165-1240)
Maqam (mode): Nahawand
Rhythmic Cycle: Rumba
I am fanciful with my truth;
My eyes did not see her.
If they had,
Her beauty would have destroyed them
When I saw her
I fell in love.
I became captivated
And I kept walking until early dawn,
What undoing from caution
And what profit from caution!
This is what kept me walking:
The shyness of this beauty.
What a lithe deer
Grazing with grace.
If she inhales and hesitates
She fascinates the entire world
As if her breaths were made of perfume
As if she were the midday sun
Or like a moon.
If she appears
The daylight makes her bright
If she hides
The black of her hair covers her.
4. Oh! Dove (Ya Hamam)
Two Anonymous Poems
Maqam (mode) : Bayati – Hejaz
Rhythmic Cycle: Masmoudi – Maqsoum
Part 1: Oh! Dove (Ya Hamam)
Oh! Dove of brush, sing
the most beautiful of songs.
Explain to my love
that I am an adorer,
whose love flames grew
when her beauty captured me.
She turned back to me and invited me,
my splendid charm.
She threw me in passion
God help me!
Part 2: Oh, Sweet Lips (Ya Azibal Marshafi)
Oh! You, who has sweet lips,
your abandonment is painful.
Don’t deprive a delicate lover
of the arrows of your eyes.
Have compassion and pity
for a person sick with love.
Love’s sadness destroyed
your lover’s spirit.
God, who arranged you
knotted all pearls in you.
Your love inebriates
more than wine.
Don’t be the one who deprives me
Of kissing the pearl of your mouth
The ruby of your lips
God bless you!
5. Oh! My Desire (Aya Morady)
Anonymous Poem
Maqam (mode) : Ajam
Rhythmic Cycle: Free
Oh! My desire, until when
will this long desert and coquetry last?
Don’t you have any sign of love for me?
Treat me tenderly,
You, full of sentimental beauty.
Leaving me is painful.
What can I do with you, my love?
My tears flew on my grooves
Take care of your wounded lover.
Stop the arrows of your eyes.
Don’t wear your face of fight
I am host of your love.
6. Precious Eyes (Abaha Al Dam’o)
Poem by Hamda bint ziyad al-Mu´addib from Alhama (11th century)
Maqam (mode): Rast
Rhythmic Cycle: Wahda
My tears revealed my secrets in a valley
which has, for beauty, clear signs.
A river which runs through all the gardens
and flows from one garden to all valleys
From all deer eyes, this beauty
Appeared to me and took my soul.
She has a look which hides something
And this thing prevents me from sleeping.
If her veil fell down from her face
A full moon would appear on a dark horizon.
As if the morning had lost a brother
and became black because of its sadness.
7. The Pretty Troubadour (Tarfuhu El Ahwar)
Poem by Nazhún bint al-Qila´i from Granada (12th century)
Maqam (mode): Nahawand
Rhythmic Cycle: Rumba – Maqsoum – Rumba
How her enchanting eyes
break my strong body
She passed by with her friends
gathering flowers.
Reading a verse of her book
Seeking her reward
She reminded me, with her love,
Of another verse.
If she wanted, she would not have reminded me
She tipped over my heart on fire with passion
How my heart became!
All my passion appeared when she sang.
A nymph, if she was fair,
in her jealousy.
He loves her showing arrogance
That’s why she sang:
He desired me, when he did not see me
He desired me,
When I show up, he clears off
How insolent he is!
8. Queens of Beauty (Milouk El Hosn)
Anonymous Poem
Maqam (mode): Nahawand
Rhythmic Cycle: Saba Darij
Let us be close together
Allow us to commune
Let us join with love
Abandonment is always painful.
Lovers suffer in love
things which are impossible;
nobody felt but me
the torture of separation.
Oh! Queen of beauty, be tender
with poor lovers.
Have pity for an admirer
full of lovesickness.
I am your love slave
Oh! My utmost dream.
Take me in your arms
to palliate my love flame.
Note: the titles of the poems are not literal translations of the song titles in Arabic.
Credits
Ahla Andalusi – Ya Hamam
Singer: Maher Kamal
Violin: Reda Ragab – Moustafa Abdel Nabil – Samir Rashad – Wahel Nabil – Moustafa Abou Sheffa – Mohamed El Moogui – Saad Mohamed Hassan
Viola: Ibrahim Radio
Violon Solist: Reda Ragab (Ahla Andalusi), Saad Mohamed Hassan (Ya Hamam)
Cello: Emad Ashour – Yasser Taha
Contrebass: Beshir Awes
Kanoun: Maged Sorour
Nay: Mohamed Fouda
Oud: Mamdouh El Gebaly
Req: Hesham El Araby
Tabla, Doff, Dohola: Ahmed Ayady
Chorus: Salwa Mohamed, Fatma Zidan, Hoda Ahmed, Ahmed Saad, Ashraf Sleini, Amr Hassan.
Wadaa El Sabr – Ya Hadady – Abaha Al Dam’o – Tarfouhou El Ahwar – Milouk El Hosn
Singer: Maher Kamal
Violin: Reda Ragab (Ya Hadary – Wadaa El Sabr – Milouk El Hosn), Saad Mohamed Hassan (Tarfouhou El Ahwar – Abaha Al Dam’o)
Cello: Emad Ashour
Contrebass: Beshir Awes
Kanoun: Maged Sorour (Tarfouhou El Ahwar – Wadaa El Sabr – Abaha Al Dam’o)
Nay: Mohamed Fouda (Tarfouhou El Ahwar – Abaha Al Dam’o)
Kawala: Abdallah Helmy (Ya Hadary)
Oud: Mamdouh El Gebaly (except Milouk El Hosn)
Req: Hesham El Araby
Tabla, Doff, Dohola: Khamis Henkesh (Tarfouhou El Ahwar – Ya Hadary)
Aya Morady
Singer: Maher Kamal
Oud: Mamdouh El Gebaly
Recorded by Toto
Mixed and mastered by Ehab Nabil
Ammer Sound Studio, Cairo, 2007 2008.
Images by Eric Godfroid
Text translation
Spanish to English by Andrea Gutierrez
Spanish to French by Eric Godfroid
Poems translation
Arabic to Spanish by Ezzeldin Hassan
Arabic to English by Christine Lahoud
Arabic to French by Hélène Helmy
