Mawwal

A type of improvisation.

In Arabic music, the mawwal ( plural: mawawal) is a traditional genre of vocal music that is usually presented before the actual song begins. It is characterized by spelling vowel syllables longer than usual. In any mawwal, the music begins with a layali, in which the listener will hear the common phrase “Ya Ain Ya Lail”, which means “Oh eye, Oh night.”

Mawwal is sung in colloquial (ammiyah) rather than classical Arabic (fossah). The genre has links to historical forms of Arabic poetry and music and the singer demonstrates his skill with non-metrical melodic improvisation on a poetic narrative text and melody.

Etymology

Mawwal means “affiliated with,” “associated with,” or “connected to.” The verb is waala. It is measure 3 of the root verb “Walia”, which means to follow, be affiliated with, support, or sponsor. Originally the verbal noun has a Yaa in the definite form but it loses it when the world is indefinite.

Mawwal in Egypt

In Egypt, the musicians of Mawawil play the rabab (a double-stringed spike fiddle made from half of a coconut shell covered with fish skin and a bow strung with horse hair), the kawala (an end-blown, oblique flute with six holes) and the arghoul (an ancient double clarinet characterized by two pipes of unequal length. The second pipe serves as a drone and can be lengthened by adding pieces. The player uses the technique of circular breathing to produce an uninterrupted sound). The arghoul can be traced back to Pharaonic times as it is exactly depicted on wall paintings of the temples of the third dynasty. Amin Shahin is one of the few remaining arghoul players in Egypt, since the death of arghoul master, Moustafa Abd al Aziz in 2001.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Mawwal (plural Mawawil) pronunciation

The Mawwal is a non-metric vocal improvisation on a colloquial poetry text of 4 to 7 lines. It can be sung with an instrumental accompaniment (usually a qanun or oud) or without, and is used as a means to demonstrate the singer’s virtuosity. The singer has complete freedom to modulate to different maqamat. During a mawwal the accompanying musicians follow the singer’s lead, and summarize each phrase after the singer has performed it (called tarjama, literally translation). The mawwal is often preceded by a doulab or a short taqsim to introduce the maqam.