Andalusi Nubah

Andalusi nubah (نوبة أندلسيّة) is a musical genre found in the North African Maghrib states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya but, as the name indicates, it has its origins in the Arabo-Andalusian music. The name replaced the older use of sawt and originates from the musician waiting behind a curtain to be told it was his turn or nawbah by the sattar or curtain man (Touma 1996, p. 68).

According to tradition, there were initially 24 nuba, 1 nuba for each hour of the day, one nuba must have a duration of 1 hour.

Lyrics are sung by the soloist or in unison by the chorus are chosen from the muwashshah or zajal poetic forms, being in classical and colloquial Arabic, respectively. (ibid, pp. 70–71).

Andalusi nubah uses one tab' (similar to maqam) per performance, and includes several instrumental pieces and predominantly vocal pieces accompanied by instrumentation. These differ as to mizan or rhythmic pattern (wazn) (ibid, p. 68).

Formally the tempo increases while the awzan simply within each of five sections, called mizan. The sections are introduced by short instrumental pieces and vary according to region, the name indicating the awzan used:

• in Algeria (12 nubah and 4 incomplete): msaddar, btayhi, darj, insiraf, khlas
• in Tunisia (13 nubah): btaybhi, barwal, darj, khafif, khatm
• in Morocco (11 nubah): basit, qayim wa-nisf, btayhi, darj, quddam

Unlike the nuba in Algeria or Tunisia, Morocco nuba are long. So, it is rare for a Moroccan Nuba are played in its entirety. Furthermore, many Tunisian or Libyan nuba and some Algerian nuba are considered as being of Turkish inspiration.

The ensemble used includes the ud, rabab or rebec, nay, box zither, tambourine, and goblet drum, the players of which also serve as chorus (ibid, p. 70).

If the term Gharnati refers in current Algeria, especially in the region of Tlemcen, the entire directory Andalusian scholar, in Morocco it designates a distinct musical style of the Andalusian "Tab Al Ala" as confirmed by the authors Rachid Aous, Mohammed Habib Samrakandi pages 15 and 24 in their book " Music of Algeria "

The North African cities have inherited particularly Andalusian musical style of Granada are also mentioned (pages 72 / 73) in the book "The Literature of Al-Andalus" (freely available on the net)

The Nuba of Morocco have been identified in the eighteenth century by the musician Al Haïk from Tetuan