Tunisia is a North African country with a predominantly Arab population. The country is best-known for malouf, a kind of music imported from Andalusia after the Spanish conquest in the 15th century. Though in its modern form, malouf is likely very dissimilar to any music played more than four centuries ago, it does have its roots in Spain and Portugal, and is closely related to genres with a similar history throughout North Africa, including malouf's Libyan cousin, Algerian gharnata and Moroccan ala or Andalusi. North Africa is a region generally considered to include: Algeria Egypt Libya Mauritania Morocco Sudan Tunisia Western Sahara The Azores, Canary Islands, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Madeira are sometimes considered to be a part of North Africa. ... The Arabs (Arabic: عرب Ê»arab) are a large and heterogeneous ethnic group found throughout the Middle East and North Africa, originating in the Arabian Peninsula of southwest Asia. ... Motto: Dominator Hercules Fundator Andalucía por sí, para España y la humanidad (Andalusia for herself, for Spain, and for humanity) Capital Seville Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 2nd  87 268 km²  17,2% Population  â€“ Total (2003)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 1st  7 478 432  17,9%  85,70... (14th century - 15th century - 16th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500. ...

20th century musicians from Tunisia include Anouar Brahem, an oud player, and El Azifet, a rare all-female orchestra, as well as well-known vocalist Lotfi Bouchnak, Khemais Tarnane, Raoul Journou, Saliha, Saleh Mehdi, Ali Riahi, Hedi Jouini, Fethia Khairi, Hbiba Msika, Louisa Tounsia, and El Ofrit. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... Anouar Brahem (أنور ابراهم) (born October 20, 1957) is a Tunisian oud player and composer who is widely regarded as an innovator in his field. ...

Popular singers include Latifa, Saber el Robbai, Salah El Farzit, Amina,Fatma Bousseha, Hedi Habbouba, Faouzi Ben Gamra and Belgacem Bougenna for traditional chant. Widely known as Latifa, her real name is Latifa Bint Alayah Al Arfaoui (pronounced Arfawi) was born on 14th of February in Manouba, Tunisia. ... Amina, or Aminatu, was a princess of the royal family of the Zazzua area in what is now the Zaria providence of Nigeria. ...

21st century alternative music groups include Neshez [1], Zemeken [2], Aspirine, Kerkennah and CheckPoint 303 [3]. (see Tunisian underground music) The 21st century is the century that began on 1 January 2001 and will last to 31 December 2100. ... Overview Checkpoint Tunes An upcoming electronica band from the arabic underground. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Modern music festivals in Tunisia include Tabarka Jazz Festival [4], Testour's Arab Andalusian Music Festival and the Sahara Festival in Douz. A music festival is a festival that presents a number of musical performances usually tied together through a theme or genre. ... Tabarka Thabraca (Phoenician). ... Jazz is an original American musical art form originating around the early 1920s in New Orleans, rooted in Western music technique and theory, and is marked by the profound cultural contributions of African Americans. ... Testour is a small town located in the north of Tunisia, and a popular pilgrimage for native Jews who visit Rabbi Fraji Chawats tomb. ... Categories: Stub | Cities in Tunisia ...

Malouf

Main article: Malouf

Malouf is played by small orchestras, consisting of violins, drums, sitars and lutes. Modern malouf has some elements of Berber music in the rhythms, but is seen as a successor to the cultural heights reached by Muslim Andalusia. Malouf has been called "an emblem of (Tunisian) national identity" [5]. Nevertheless, malouf can not compete commercially with popular music, much of it Egyptian, and it has only survived because of the efforts of the Tunisian government and a number of private individuals. Malouf is still performed in public, especially at weddings and circumcision ceremonies, though recordings are relatively rare. The term malouf translates as familiar or customary. The Berbers are an ethnic group in North and West Africa. ... Rhythm (Greek ρυθμός = tempo) is the variation of the duration of sounds or other events over time. ... The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... Circumcision of Jesus, cathedral of Chartres Circumcision is the removal of some or all of the foreskin (prepuce) from the penis. ...

Baron Erlanger is an important figure of modern Tunisian music. He collected the rules and history of malouf, which filled six volumes, and set up Rachidia, an important conservatory which is still in use. A music school or conservatory (American English) — also known as a conservatoire (British English) or a conservatorium (Australian English) — is an institution dedicated to teaching the art of music, including the playing of musical instruments, musical composition, musicianship, music history, and music theory. ...

Structure

Malouf is based on qasidah, a kind of classical Arabic poetry, and comes in many forms, including the post-classical muwashshah, which abandons many of qasidah's rules, shgul, a very traditional form, and zajal, a modern genre with a unique format. A qasida (also spelled qasidah) in Arabic قصيدة, in Persian قصیده, is a form of poetry from pre-Islamic Arabia. ... Muwashshah is an Arab poetic form and an eastern secular musical genre which uses muwashshah texts for lyrics. ...

The most important structural element of malouf, however, is the nuba, a two-part suite in a single maqam (an Arab mode organized by quarter-tones), which lasts about an hour. A Nuba is a musical form introduced to North Africa with the migration of Muslim inhabitants of Spain in the 13 and 14th Century. It is divided to many parts :Isstifta7 Msader which are instrumental pieces Then come Attouq and the Silsla which introduce to the poems. The sung pieces begin with the Btaihia: A set of poem composed on the Main mode of the Nuba (There are several Modes in Tunisian Music Thaiil raml Sikah tounssia Ispahan Isbaaïn) on a heavy syncoped rhythm called BtaiHi. Then come al barawil, Al khfeiif Al Akhtam which close the Nuba. The rythms grow fast from a component to anther of the Nuba. Each component of a Nouba has its specific rhythm which are the same in all the 13 Nouba known today. Nuba is a collective term used for the peoples who inhabit the Nuba Mountains, in Kordofan province, Sudan, Africa. ... In Arab music a maqam [sic] (plural maqamat) is, a technique of improvisation that defines the pitches, patterns, and development of a piece of music and which is unique to Arabian art music. ... Nuba is a collective term used for the peoples who inhabit the Nuba Mountains, in Kordofan province, Sudan, Africa. ... Nuba is a collective term used for the peoples who inhabit the Nuba Mountains, in Kordofan province, Sudan, Africa. ... Isfahan or Esfahan can refer to either a city or a province in Iran: Isfahan (city) Isfahan (province) Isfahan (rugs) Ispahan a kind of rose and an older pronounciation of the citys name. ... Nuba is a collective term used for the peoples who inhabit the Nuba Mountains, in Kordofan province, Sudan, Africa. ...

According to legend, a distinct nuba once existed for every day, holiday and other event, though only thirteen remain. Partway through a nuba, an improvisational section was played in the maqam of the following day to ready the audience for the next performance.

History

The earliest roots of the malouf can be traced to a court musician from Baghdad named Ziryab. He was expelled from the city in 830, and travelled west, stopping finally at Kairouan, the first Muslim city of great power in Africa. The city was a center for North African (Maghebian) culture, and was the capital of the Aghlabite dynasty. Ziryab crossed the Maghreb and then entered Cordoba during a period of cultural innovation among the diverse inhabitants of the region. He became a court musician again, and used influences from the local area, the Maghreb and his native Middle East to form a distinctively Andalusian style. Abû al-Hasan Alî Ibn Nâfi (c. ... Events Christian missionary Ansgar visits Birka, trade city of the Swedes. ... Kairouan (Kairwan, Al Qayrawan) is a city in Tunisia, about 160 kilometres south of Tunis. ... The Aghlabid dynasty of emirs ruled Ifriqiya (northern Africa), nominally on behalf of the Abbasid Caliph, for about a century, until overthrown by the new power of the Fatimids. ... Location within Europe, Spain and Andalusia Córdoba, the Roman bridge and the Mosque-Cathedral View across the old Roman bridge towards the Mezquita Interior court of the Mezquita Córdoba is a city in Andalucía, southern Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. ...

Beginning in the 13th century, Muslims fleeing persection by Christians in what is now Spain and Portugal settled in cities across North Africa, including Tunis, bringing with them their music. Tunisian maluf, and its closely related cousin in Libya, was later influenced by the Ottoman Empire, which colonized Tunisia beginning in 1574. This process peaked in the middle of the 18th century, when the Ottoman governor of Tunisia, Muhammad al-Rashid, a musician, used Turkish-style instrumental compositions in his work and firmly set the structure of the nuba. Though his system has evolved considerably, most of the instrumental sections of modern nubat are derived from al-Rashid. (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... Events April 14 - Battle of Mookerheyde. ...

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Tunisia became a French protectorate and the declining malouf was revitalized. Baron Rudolfe d'Erlanger, a French-naturalized Bavarian living near Tunis, commission a collection of ancient works, working with Ali al-Darwish of Aleppo. Al-Darwish and d'Erlanger's pioneering study of Tunisian music was presented at the International Congress of Arabic Music, held in 1932. D'Erlanger died only a few months after the congress, which revolutionized Arab music across the world. In Tunisia, the meeting inspired the Rashidiyya Institute, which was formed in 1934 to preserve the malouf. The Rashidiyya Institute undertook some alterations, revising lyrics that were considered profane, and also constructed two performance spaces in the old city of Tunis. The Institute also helped to transition malouf from being performed by folk ensembles with only a few instrument (including 'ud, tar, darbukka, rabab and bandir) to symphonic pieces inspired by Western classical music and Egyptian ensembles. Old Town Aleppo viewed from the Citadel Aleppo is also the name of two townships in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will take you to a full 1932 calendar). ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Front and rear views of an oud. ... The rebab is a musical string instrument which was heavily used in old Arabic music its considered as part of the Lute familiy (Oud in Arabic). ... This article is about the genre of classical music in the Western musical tradition. ...

The most influential such orchestra was called the Rashidiyya Orchestra, led by violinist Muhammad Triki. Rashidiyya Orchestra used a large chorus as well as contrabass, cello, violin, nay, qanun and 'ud sharqi, and followed the developing rules of Arab musical theory and notation. The thirteen surviving nubat were created during this time, distilled from the highly divergent folk forms still in use. Western musical notation was used; along with the popularization of recorded music, the use of improvisation quickly declined. These changes helped to popularize the malouf, though not without critics, and gave the music a reputation as classical art music. Side and front views of a modern double bass with a French bow. ... A cello The cello (often formally referred to as the violoncello) is a stringed instrument and a member of the violin family. ... The violin is a bowed stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a perfect fifth apart, the lowest being the G just below middle C. It is the smallest and highest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello. ... There are things that have the name Nay: Definition Nay, an archaic form of no Places In France (pronunciation: NEH) Nay, in the Manche département Nay, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational... The qanún is a musical string instrument used in Middle-Eastern music. ... Music notation is a system of writing for music. ... Improvisation is the act of making something up as it is performed. ... This article is about the broad genre of classical music in the Western musical tradition. ... This article is about the broad genre of classical music in the Western musical tradition. ...

After Tunisian independence in 1957, the country's first president, Habib Bourguiba, promoted the malouf, recognizing its unifying potential. The then-director of the Rashidiyya Orchestra, Salah el-Mahdi, wrote the Tunisian national anthem, and eventually also became the leader of the music department of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. His musical theories became a major part of the Orchestra, as well as its successor, Institut Superieur. 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Habib Bourguiba or Habib Abu Ruqaiba Habib Bourguiba (حبيب بورقيبة) (born August 3, 1903 in Monastir, Tunisia – died April 6, 2000) was a Tunisian statesman and the first President of the Republic of Tunisia from July 25, 1957 to November 7, 1987. ... A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is formally recognized by a countrys government as their official national song. ...