Stuttgart, Germany
THE HISPANO (AL-ANDALUSIAN) - ARABIC POETRY AND ITS
RELATIONS WITH THE TROUBADOURS
The choice of my topic has two
reasons: the Andalusian Arabic poetry was the most ardent exponent of the best
aspects of the Islamic culture, comparable only to the Islamic architecture the
Spanish symbol of which is the mosque of Cordoba.
The second reason is the fact that the Arabs and Berbers by their conquest
of the fertile and wealthy south of
Spain in the 7th century established
cultural, social and commercial contacts with the autochtonous
population.The result was the influence of the Islamic civilisation, especially
of the poetry.
Leaving their homeland, the
Bedouins founded an empire. They spread
not only their culture, but also their religion (part of the population became
islamized) and language what lead to an intermingling of races and bilinguism.
The last aspect can be proved by
their poetry. Recently a book entitled “Convivencia” (coexistence) appeared
(Baziller,1992, 2), dealing with the
role of the Spanish Jews in the Arab society and the coexistence of the
three religions which was often not peaceful.
After the 9th century the
integration of the Arabs and the autochtonous population was completed due to
the conqest of the biggest part of Andalusia by Abd-al-Rahman III, caliph of
Cordoba (Sourdel, 1968, 91). Under his rule Andalusia became a centre of
brilliant Islamic civilisation by what the population profited.
After the short glance at the
historical background the main topic,
the Hispano-Arabic poetry, will be dealt with.
The Arab expression for
"poet" means somebody with magical power. In Siberia he would be
called "shaman".
The animism of the pre-islamic
period explains the abundance of metaphors symbolizing human feelings. The
earliest Arab poetry goes back to the 6th century, created by the Bedouins. The
poems were either sung or accompanied by musical instruments.Their music had no
musical notation. It was passed from generation to generation by heart.
The multitude of instruments
invented by the Arabs is astonishing. Some of them were adopted by the
Troubadours. Various kinds of the lute played a fundamental role. The
philosopher Al Idindi wrote that each people has the lute which suits them.
Other instruments were for instance flutes,
violons, guitars and castanets.
The Arab music spread from
Damascus and Bagdad to Andalusia.
A proof of the height of the
Islamic civilisation is the foundation of the first conservatoire by the poet
and musician Ali Ibn Nari (8th - 9th
centuries), from Cordoba.
Most at the pre-islamic poems were colleted in
"divans" (Lichtenstaedter,1990, 146).
The structure of the most famous
Arab poem, the "quaside", is the fol1owing: the number of verses is
variable, the verses have the same quantitative metre and the same final
rhymes.
The most important genres in
Andalusia were the muwassah (Schoeler, 1990, 444) and the zagal (Schoeler,
1990, 445).
The first was written in the 10th
century in classical Arabic. They were mainly songs belonging to the courtly love-poetry. Afterwards they
were degraded to ordinary popular lyric.
The zagal were composed in the
11th century in an Andalusian-Arabic dialect. The fact that the first genre was
written in classical Arabic and the
second one in dialect, is a proof of the development of the bilinguism.
Of speial interest is the genre of harga, former songs of
girls, often in dialect. These songs are related to the Galicien - Portuguese "Cantigas de Amigo," the
first secular lyrical songs in Romance.
The main common topics of the two
first genres is love with many nuances. Similar to the Troubadour poetry some
of them have a courtly frame: love is represented as the adoration of an
aristocratic "Lary" by her "vassal." But most of the Arabic
poems depict love as an ardent, passionate, sexual feeling, dating to the
Bedouin period. The lover is not ashamed of his tears.
Because of the role of love, the Arab women in Andalusia enjoyed a
freedom they did not have elsewhere. But also the chaste love is praised,
possibly because of a platonic influence.
Other topics are wine, generousity,
death and numerous stereotype persons as watchers, guards, jealous lovers and
traitors.
In several poems traces of the
nostalgie for the former Bedouin life
appear: camel treks, desesrts, oasis with cool water, shadowy gardens with
sweet-smelling flowers (Wagner, 1982).
Among animals of the desert the gazelle is the most favourite metaphor.
Thus the caliph al- Walid remembers:
"I hunted a gazelle, showing me her right side. Wanting to kill her, she
looked at
me resemb1ing you.Then I could
not kill her."
Gazelles as symhols of virgins
play a role in the Coran where they are considered as heavenly virgins, serving
the faithful Islams in the paradise.
A similar role play the gazelles in thr Jewish
"song-of-sons": "My friend looks like a gazelle and a young
deer". Or: "Your breasts are
like twins of a young gazelle grazing under lilies".
After summing up the main topics
of the Arabic poetry, its relations with the Troubadours will be refered to.
As it is well known, concernig
the Troubadours there a dispute exists between the so-called Arabists and non-Arabistes. As to the latter, the
Trorbadour lyric was influenced by latin-liturgical texts.
The Arabists refer to the
astonishing similarity between the Hispano-Arabic and Troubadour poetry
concerning their structures, topics and their combination with music.
The word
"Troubadour" derived from "trobar" (in french: "
trouver", that means to find).The poet had to find words and music (Ecker,
1978, 45).
The Troubadours (11th - 12th
centuries) occupied half of the present France.
The explosive-like origin of the
Troubadour poetry has multiple reasons. First of all the so-called
"Zeitgeist" must be taken into account, the aristocratic way of life.
But a major role played the influence of the Hispano-Arabic poetry. The
closeness of the two groups of poetry is symbolically illustrated by a
miniature from the manuscript of the Cantigas de Santa Maria (Marrou, 1971,
126), representing two minstrels with lutes,
one a Spaniard, the other a Moor.
Thut the Islamic culture enriched
not only the Troubadour, but also the whole Europe by the refinment and
sensivity of their literature. The existing mutual contacts
were intensified by the crusades and
pilgrimages to the "Holy Land". Among the crusaders and pilgrims were
also Troubadors whose poetry was influenced by the Arabic lyric.
Other contacts were due to the Norman conquest of Sicily in the 11th century. The atmosphere at their courts created a symbiosis between Europeans and Arabs, a "Convivencia," contributing to the characteristic traits of the Troubadour poetry.
Lessing, a German dramatist of
tne Enlightenment, wrote a drama "Nathan the Wise" in which Saladin teaches the impatiant Frank
crusader: "God does not demand that all trees have the same bark."
This lesson, symbolizing the tolerance, is what our time needs most.
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