Friday, November 8, 2019

Lamma Bada Yatathanna



Nasser Al-Hamdi

Have you listened to the Muwashshah of Lamma Bada Yatathanna? Maybe you have been told that this Muwashshah is a Turkish melody, and the word of AMAN - which you can find at the end of each half of the Muwashshah - is the proof of Turkish origins. However, the Muwashshah has a story behind as we will see on this post.

Abdul Rahim Almsloub or Lisan Al-Din Ibn Al-Khatib?

Muwashshah is a novel poetic art, Different other types of Arabic lyric poetry, it follows certain rules, and it uses original Arabic or foreign language in the performance. The Muwashshah in Andalusia called Nauba, which was first flourished during their ruling in Iberian Peninsula, and it is mixed with many different of indigenous musical genres. It is also different from Muwashshah of the eastern part of Arabia, but it has transferred this musical type to eastern part, especially to the Levant countries and Egypt by Turks and Andalusian composers, poets, and writers.

Some sources mention that the Muwashshah of Lamma Bada Yatathanna is attributed to Lisan Al-Din Ibn Al-khatib (1313-1374) who was a poet, writer, historian, philosopher, physician, and politician from Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus. In contrast, other sources suggest that Abdul Rahim Almsloub (1786 – 1895) from Egypt did not only composed the Muwashshah but was also the first one who wrote its words. Almaslob tried to revive the Arab musical heritage, which was dominated by Ottoman influences. As a result, he established Egyptian singing school, the process of revival was releasing the old mold of Arabic music, which was absent for a long time during the centuries of Ottoman rule. But, why the Turkish word “Aman” has been used in this Muwashshah?

Ya Lail or Aman?

In fact, the Modern Egyptian Song was founded by (Al-shikh Al-Masri), who was close to the Muhammad Ali dynasty, who were the rulers of Egypt at that time, and they were a family of Turkish Culture origins. Almaslob may have used the Turkish "Aman" instead of the Arabic "Ya Lail", which was used mainly in (The Mawwil) for public events and he used to hold concerts for them to satisfy the taste of the Turkish elite. In 1910, before the Arabs formally got the independence from the Ottoman empire, that step from Almaslob to use The Turkish word was not a drawback, especially, since it was only an extra word outside the original text. However, after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish word has been replaced by the Arabic word as Arab Nationalism was rising up especially during the 1950s. In this sense, many Arab musicians weed out from the Turkish effects, and Lamma Bada Yatathanna was one testimony to these revisions.

These Attempts to get rid of the Turkish word have been failed, and many Arab musicians emphasize that the Muwashshah with the word "Aman" is the original. The word itself is not important to be Arabic or Turkish because it is an addition to the original text. However, if " lamma bada yattathana " had been written after ottoman collapsed, there would be no doubt that its author Abdel Rahim al-Masloub would have used the famous Arabic word "Ya Lail Ya Ain".

The first performance of the Muwashshah:

And this first Symphony for the Muwashshah by Abu Bakr Khairat, and he is considered to be one of the Arabs who discarded the Turkish word (Aman), and also, he was the first one who converted the Muwashshah to Symphony:

The amazing Philharmonie 2016 performance:





3 comments:

  1. Is the use of "Aman"still more prominent in Turkish even in present times? What would you rather happen? Suzyika

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is the word of the geography. Greeks are also using the word in their songs:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXJQmTSptCc
    You can check the song's beginning. I love it!

    And also we as Turks use the word at anytime :)

    Şahin

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such an interesting article ya Nasser!! I love it! ZA

    ReplyDelete

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