A history, a scale, modes, rhythms and a great concert-suite: the nûba. Here are the keys to the Tunisian malouf, after the reference work of Manoubi Snoussi.
The malouf is the Tunisian version of Arabo-Andalusian music. Its repertory was brought to Tunisia in the 15th century by the Muslims of Spain driven out by the Reconquista. The word "malouf" means "customary, in use": the inherited Andalusian heritage, as opposed to the more recent Eastern contributions.
An essentially melodic music (without harmony), passed down by oral tradition, it was long preserved in the zâwya, the oratories of the religious brotherhoods. In the 20th century, Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger (at Sidi Bou Saïd) and then the La Rachidia association (1934) saved it from oblivion.
This page draws on: Manoubi Snoussi, "Initiation à la musique tunisienne, vol. 1: Musique classique" (CMAM Ennejma Ezzahra).
Arab music is microtonal: the octave divides into 24 quarter tones, where European music knows only 12 semitones.
Besides the tone and the semitone, it uses a "neutral tone" (about three quarter tones) and "neutral" thirds — these nuances make all the character of the Arab melody.
To write these micro-intervals, two signs were added to the notation: the half-flat (lowering by a quarter tone) and the half-sharp (raising by a quarter tone).
A mode (tab', plural tubû') is not merely a scale: it defines a scale (made of tetrachords), pole-notes (the tonic or qarâr, the dominant), a melodic path, and an ethos — a character, once associated with an hour of the day. The Tunisian malouf preserves thirteen tubû', a memory of the twenty-four Andalusian modes.
raçd (the regular, basic mode, with a Tunisian pentatonic colouring called 'abîdî), açbhân, raml al-mâya, dîl, raçd ad-dîl, mâya (devoted to the morning), hsîn, açb'în, raml, nwâ (an ethos of nostalgia, said to "part friends"), 'irâq, sîkâ, mazmûm (close to the major mode, "tight").
hsîn-çabâ (languor and melancholy), mhayyer-'irâq (pathetic airs, mystical hymns), mhayyer-sîkâ (the type of the Tunisian urban song), ardhâwî (of Bedouin origin, for declamatory singing).
The rhythm rests on cycles (dawr) made of strong beats — the tum (or dum), a muffled stroke — and weak beats — the tak, a clear stroke. It is the percussion section (târ and naghghârât) that sounds them.
The metres are binary (2, 4, 8 beats), ternary (3, 6, 12) or "limping" with odd beats (5, 7, 9, 10), common in Eastern music.
The nûba (also called "mâlûf") is the great suite that structures a whole concert; in principle there is one per mode. In an unchanging order, it strings together about ten phases — first in binary metres, then ternary.
A free, unmeasured instrumental prelude, played in unison by the whole orchestra.
An instrumental opening in 6/4, led by the percussion — the Tunisian equivalent of the bashraf.
Singing on a classical poem: "the noblest part of the nûba", in a severe and solemn style.
A slow song in 4/4 ("largo"). Usually two are chosen per suite.
An instrumental interlude embroidered with variations, which announces the mode of the following nûba.
The first song of the binary series: a lively movement in eight beats. Two are played.
The first song of the ternary series (6/4), "in steps"; one only per nûba.
A "light" ternary song in 3/4, of slow movement.
The finale: a very short ternary rhythm (3/8), faster and faster, laden with melismas.
A free, unmeasured instrumental improvisation through which the soloist takes the tone of the mode and explores its degrees.
An improvised solo song, in a declamatory style, on the verses of a classical poem; the singer accompanies himself on the lute.
Highly "wrought" songs on strophic poems (tawshîh, zajal), adorned with melismas and refrains.
A short modulated recitative of a few verses in dialectal Arabic, of Bedouin origin, which introduces a song.
A suite of light songs, treated in the style of the malouf, offered as entertainment after the nûba.
An instrumental piece of opening or interlude, of Turkish origin (the peshrev), played in unison.
Lessons, orchestra and auditions: live the malouf at the institute.
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