Words Adorned

Kareem Roustom — Embroidered Verses: Songs on Andalusian Poetry
Translations by Ahmad Almallah

Commissioned by Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture with the support of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Premiered December 5, 2015 at Bryn Mawr College with the Al-Bustan Takht ensemble, directed by Hanna Khoury, and The Crossing, conducted by Donald Nally.

Embroidered Verses is a work that is steeped in tradition but also looks ahead. Tradition is a troublesome word when it comes to music. There is often this sense that there is a ‘purity’ to it. However, even a cursory investigation will show that any tradition is anything but pure. Rather, it is an amalgamation of, what was at some point, current practices that built on past practices and added to them. So, this is the sense of tradition that I hoped to imbue in my Embroidered Verses. The work is cast in four movements and each is based on a poem that is based on a theme that was common in the muwashshah. The first text is a descriptive text dealing with nature and extolling the beauty of Al-Andalus. The second text is simply a drinking song. However, it is a text that has already been set to music and is a well-known muwashshah by Aleppan composer Omar Al-Batsh, Qum Ya Nadim or Arise oh Drinking Companion. This re-setting of already-set text to new music is also part of the tradition and is a nod to Aleppo’s rich musical heritage. The third text is a love poem composed by a poetess, Umm Al-Kiram, and the final text is a war-themed poem. Each setting tries to give a sense of the text but also pushes it to its emotional limits. The settings also showcase the virtuosic capabilities of the takht (Arabic chamber group composed of oud, qanun, violin, cello, and percussion) and requires the choir to sing intricate harmonies as well as long embellished lines that use quarter tones.

Kinan Abou-afach — Of Nights And Solace: Fantasia on Andalusian Muwashshah Poetry
Translated by Ahmad Almallah

Commissioned by Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture with the support of the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Premiered December 5, 2015 at Bryn Mawr College with the Al-Bustan Takht ensemble, directed by Hanna Khoury, and The Crossing, conducted by Donald Nally.

As is commonly said in Arabic literary tradition, “The poet is entitled to what others are not.” /
يحق للشاعر ما لا يحق لغيره,

This is not a surprise when we look at the pre-Islamic era (Al-Jahiliyya) in the Arabian Peninsula, where poets were the “rockstars” and tribes used to celebrate having a poet among them, for the power of words that they possess, and the entertainment value that they provide. When looking into the classical poetry from the pre-Islamic era until Islam’s Golden Age, it is fascinating how much passion can be skillfully embedded in a single verse of poetry. The Andalusian era wasn’t an exception, poetry was still a valid art form, and entertainment was definitely needed in the society. That is, among other reasons, why the muwashshah developed and flourished during that era. The same powerful/meaningful words, but in modified rhythmic meters (buhur) and forms are used to make a poem that fits in musical sung form: a hint to the Verse-Chorus form.

Of Nights and Solace: A Fantasy on Andalusian Poetry is a virtual trip to Andalusia, a dive into love, passion, and beauty: love and lament for parting with a beloved one as in the first poem by Ibn Zuhr; love and tearful longing for the Creator, almost reproachful, by Sufi poet/philosopher Ibn Arabi; undeclared love and the difficulty of keeping this love in Ibn Isa Al-Khabbaz’s poem; a beautiful rhythmic poem by Al-Qazzaz, like a word play; and Sahl Bin Malik’s poem which gives a beautiful image about sunrise. It is as if the whole piece is telling a story that begins at sunset and ends at the break of day, featuring multiple characters, progressing from classical muwashshah style to a broken form that still hints to the muwashshah.

Musically speaking, it was hard to imagine this composition without the use of harmony and polyphony. Although harmony is usually not used in traditional Arab music, when quarter-tones are used with the right voicing it creates a very pleasant mass of sound. Polyphony is more forgiving, and the structure of Arabic Maqams (scales) welcomes something that is close to poly-tonality (when using Maqam’s ajnas simultaneously). The piece uses a wide range of harmonic styles, from simple to a complex/thick texture to reflect the mood of the piece, and has a canon-like section that begins and ends the piece along with a fugue in the middle of the piece.