ABSTRACT
Several early Andalusi Sufi composers of devotional muwashshah and zajal songs, such Ibn ‘Arabi (1165–1240) and al-Shushtari (1212–69), traveled to North Africa and the Mashriq, and the song-form began to move through a rapidly emerging network of Sufi orders. Although their roots in al-Andalus are widely recognized, and the connection to other traditions of Andalusi music are acknowledged, there is a profoundly local aspect to these traditions. It is a remarkable heritage that stems from a remarkable culture, that of medieval al-Andalus, and survives today as a tradition that is both medieval and modern, pan-Arab and local, secular and religious, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish. The courtly sawt tradition sung by the medieval qiyan of al-Andalus and professional male singers such as Sulaym, Hisn, and Ziryab has disappeared. Remarkably, however, the muwashshah/zajal song-form has survived and flourished. Everywhere, however, the muwashshah/zajal repertory has come to be regarded as traditional and even “classical,” similar to the way Westerners conceive of “classical music”.
