Ancestor of the medieval rebec, the rbâb is the bowed instrument of the malouf — a symbol of the music inherited from Andalusia.
Among the Arabs, the name rbâb has always designated string instruments set vibrating by the friction of a ribbon of horsehair stretched across a bow. Every bowed instrument was, for them, a rbâb — a name that recalls the rebec of the minstrels of medieval Europe.
As early as the tenth century, the musicologist al-Fârâbî mentions it. The oriental rbâb is distinguished by a relatively small soundboard and a very long neck.
The Tunisian rbâb has two strings. Its body, which from the front recalls the silhouette of a forearm, has the look of an elongated half-pear. It is carved from a single block of walnut or cedar, carefully hollowed out to acquire a resonant shell, then covered with a sheet of parchment.
Tradition attributes an Andalusian origin to the Maghrebi rbâb: it is said to have been brought to North Africa by the Muslim refugees from Spain, along with their music.
Very difficult to handle, it demanded long training and great skill. It is held flat in the left hand to stop the strings with the fingers.
It gradually disappeared from orchestras, replaced by the European violin (the viola), tuned "in the Tunisian way," richer and closer to the voice. Snoussi already called it "soon to be a museum piece."
