Muwashshhaat: International Conference
and Concert
8—10 October 2004
posted 20 August 2004
The song form (pronounced mu-wá-sha) has a 1,000-year history in the Arab world. It began life in Arab Andalus c. 960 CE, and by the 12th century was eagerly taken up by the greatest Jewish poets of the "Golden Age", writing in Hebrew. Among them Moshe Ibn Ezra and Yehudah Ha-Levi. A sign of education, wit and distinction, the muwashshah form celebrates the sharing of cultures between Arabs and Jews in the Middle Ages. Poets borrow foreign phrases and rhythms from each other's cultures that reflect the vibrant cosmopolitanism of Mediterranean life.
For instance a famous muwashshah by Yehudah Ha-Levi ends with a quote in Arabic but written in Hebrew letters: "wayn al-tarikh ila dar al-khimar". Basically: "What's the way to the pub?!"
Conference:
Fifteen years ago, at two conferences in Madrid and Exeter, professors
of Arabic, Hebrew and Romance studies gathered in what has been described
as one of the most polemical debates in the humanities in the twentieth
century. Their subject: the roots and origins of the song form known as
the "muwashshah". Now from 8—10 October 2004, we are holding
another International Conference at SOAS entitled: "The Muwashshah:
Arabic and Hebrew Strophic Poetry and its Romance Parallels".
It brings together an international panel of participants from the original
Madrid and Exeter conferences. Organised by JMI Millennium Award-winner
Ed Emery, hosted by the AHRB Research Centre for Cross-Cultural Music
and Dance Performance, with support from the Jewish Music Institute, this
conference is open to the general public.
Conference website at: www.geocities.com/Muwashshah
Concert:
On Saturday evening 9 October 2004 a concert will be held at
SOAS, London (tube: Russell Square) celebrating the 1,000-year Arabic
and Jewish culture of the muwashshah. We are bringing musicians and singers
who will perform both the Jewish and the Arabic repertoire — and
who will show how the influences spilled over into the Christian medieval
world. We are particularly proud to present Belinda Sykes
with her group Joglaresa, whom you may know from their
recent Arts Council tour, and the London-based Moroccan Harir
Brothers band. We'll also have musicians from the Arab and Jewish
musical scene in London for a lively jam session at the end of the concert.
And Jason Melissinos from Athens performing Arab shadow
puppet theatre.
Tickets:
£10 (concessions £5)
They can be booked by post: Ed Emery c/o Music Department, SOAS, Thornhaugh
Street, London WC1H 0XG,
by e-mail ed.emery [at] britishlibrary.net
or
by phone: 07957 556 352
