Hamid Bazi

The art of Melhun is played by ten modes, named:
• The Bayati of classical Arabic music, known as the Maya Melhun,
• The large Hejaz
• Sika,
• The Araq el Ajem,
• The Isfahan
• The Hejaz East
• The Razd Andalusian
• The Raml el-Maya taziriya
• The Bughiat Raml el-Maya.
The rhythms are threefold:
• The Haddar: 4 / 2
• The Dridka: 8 / 6
• The Gbahi: 8 / 5

The music in the heart of people, amateurs and artists, coming from
various social categories. Spurred by professional musicians and the
educated elite, it continued to gush from the depths of Moroccan society.
The art of Melhun is the voice that expressed the concerns of
Moroccans, their beliefs and emotions. It represents the sedimentation
of Moroccan memory through the ages.
It is connected to the daily lives of Moroccans in their fortunes and
misfortunes, it is considered as the auxiliary arts and culture as
important to the Moroccan culture. Its poems address all areas: spiritual,
intellectual and other forms of artistic beauty, combining the splendor of
images than words.
Among the topics covered by the Melhun can find “Tawassoulât. In
collections, they are mystical poems composed by great men of Sufism as
a theologian and Laamiri Sidi Abdelkader El Alami (the enthusiasts
Melhun called “The Philosopher’s Melhun”, the Wise), the guarantor of
Fez which is considered one of the greatest mystics of Morocco. He has
composed a set of poetic pieces evoking the desire to melt into the divine
essence and poems in praise of the Chosen, that salvation and blessing of
GOD. These poems, images that are the most beautiful, touched the
conscience of all Arabs because they were written in classical Arabic in a
style no less beautiful than that of Ibn Faredh or another of his cronies
and then placed music. Qasida include the “B tAlt Sidi HAD Riba o
twahcht AAIB hob réhro the ts’hlah. Sidi Abdelkader El Alami is buried
in Meknes.
The term “Tawassul” means the poems of invocation in which the
worshiper says fervently to his beloved. It is a poetic theme which
includes the poems of praise, thanksgiving, invocation and gratitude to
GOD. Poems also appear remorse, return to God and imploring God’s
forgiveness, and all sorts of other religious themes in which the artist
returns to his life, crying his mistakes and missteps.
• Praise: It can be religious or worldly. The first is for the Prophet,
his noble family, his companions, to the saints, mystics and men of God. As
to the second, it is addressed to the kings of Morocco and to world
leaders that they are men of religion, nobles, scholars and benefactors.
• Recommendations: These are poems of exhortation and didactic
poems, the themes they address often overlapping with those of
“Tawassulât” the most beautiful pieces are those in which the artist
challenges the people in general, or well a particular person through whom
it is in fact himself.
• “Spring”: These are beautiful pictures of nature, most often
describing the lushness of spring. The parts contain a lot of names for all
kinds of trees, plants, flowers and birds. But if the theme highlighted in
this genre is the description of nature at the height of its magnificence,
its splendor, adorned in his best finery, the poets who have treated so
far have rarely failed to shine feminine beauty, they dreamed in pieces
gallant called Ochaqi.
• “ochaqi: This is the love poetry of Melhun. The popular poets have
excelled, describing the different emotional states caused by the
remoteness of the loved one, meet her, separation, rendezvous, sighs,
tears and joy.
• The “Saqi” These are poems that celebrate the Bacchic good
company, meetings with friends, cheerfulness aroused by wine. The poet
here has innovated and given free rein to his imagination. You can find
this kind of lovely images, beautifully representing the approximation of
the cup and the lip. Referring to the act of drinking wine with vanity,
reprimand or even turning away from it despite its appeal. There are also
poems in which the wine appears only as mystical symbol, without there
being absolutely no connection with the beverage known as “wine”.
• The threnody (el-Ritha ‘): Also called “Azou,” the poet expresses his
grief following the loss of a loved one, a relative, a patriot leader, a man
of culture, an artist or a hero.
• Satire (Hajou): It is launched to attack a traitor, a liar, a Harpagon,
but it is also a way to brand plagieurs parasites and in general to reveal
their weakness and vice.
• “Tarjama” Humor and mockery can sometimes deviate to a form of
racism. The poet there attacks quackery, false soothsayers, greed and all
the defects and detestable practices that stump the educated elite.
The lead singer is the most important figure in the orchestra of malhûn,
musicians who accompany the following before discreetly distinguish
itself in the instrumental responses. Rather than a beautiful voice, it
requires the singer to hold a directory off qçâyed, clarify whether the
sung phrases and control modes and rhythms.
Ultimately, the Melhun not confined only to rhetoric, poetry set to the
enchanting magic, it is much more, all with a rich cultural treasure for the
universal memory, Maghreb in particular, is an open book that talks about
the vicissitudes of history, a dictionary faithful that protects the
beautiful language of the Maghreb.