Malhun
Malhoun Malhun Milhun
Milhûn is a form of sung poetry which uses many of the same modes and instruments as al-âla. A milhûn suite comprises two parts, the taqsim overture played on an oud or violin in a free rhythm to introduce the mode for the rest of the piece, followed by the qassida, or sung poem which is itself divided into three parts. These are the solo verses (al-aqsâm), choral refrain (al-harba) and crescendo-ing chorus that completes the suite (al-dîdka).
Thami Lamdaghri is perhaps the best-known milhûn composer, known for songs like “Al-Gnawi” and “Aliq Al-Masrûh”.
Milhûn orchestras include oud, kamenjah, darbuka, handqa (small cymbals), hadjouj (a bass lute) and swisen (a high-pitched lute).
Malhun Milhûn, Arabic meaning the melodic poem is a Moroccan music that borrows its modes from the Andalusian music. It is a kind of urban, sung poetry that comes from the exclusively masculine working-class milieu of craftsmen’s guilds.
Origins
The melhun, originally a pure literary creation, emerged as a poetic art today known in Morocco under the name of Qasida (meaning poem) or zajal . Combined with music, it quickly spread across the country where it acquired fame particularly among artisans.
Music
The qassida (laqsida in Moroccan arabic) of the malhun is based on two essential elements: the overtures preceding it and the parts of which it is composed. aqsâm verses sung solo interrupted by the harba refrain (meaning launch) . Harba, the origin of which goes back to the 16th century, is a refrain taken up between the verses by the sheddâda (group of singers and instrumentalist-singers). Another refrain called dridka in Arabic is a simplified form of the harba, taking off from an accelerated rhythm to announce the end of a qassida.
The qassida however, preserved the division of the text in stanzas as in the Andalusian song: the verse (ghson meaning branch) can include from eight to sixteen verses, a short refrain or harba offers an alternation which makes it possible to break the monotony of the musical discourse of the Malhoun song. This gave rise to the sûruf, subsidiary procedures employed by singers to produce an even greater effect on the audience and above all to correct the rhythm. Abdelaziz al-Maghrawi (16th 17th centuries) created from dân, a word that has no meaning, verses which were used as the basis for versewriting by Moroccan folk poets. (e.g. Dân dâni yâ dâni dân dân yâ dân).
Famous figures
Among the former authors of melhoun, there is Abdelaziz al-Maghrawi and Abderrahman El Majdoub (died 1568) who was famous for his mystical quatrains. In 18th and 19th centuries, Morocco knew a great number of poets who, from Fez, Meknes or Marrakech spread popular poetry who adopted the melhoun. In modern days, Haj Houcine Toulali (1924-1998) was the most prominent figure in the malhun music.
