Arabo-Andalusian Music

These recordings are taken from the feature-length documentary by Izza Genini “Nuba d’or et de lumière” (Nuba of gold and light). Like the film, this CD retraces the history of Arab-Andalous music, whose symphony is the nuba. It is a musical tree of many branches whose roots and sap go back fourteen centuries, to the borders of Morocco and currents come from Arabia. It grew up in the courts of Andalous caliphs, strengthened in Medieval Spain, blended with the songs of troubadours and Sephardi, then it returned to the Maghreb to blossom in Morocco under the name el-Ala. The Birth, Apogee and Decline of the civilisation of Al-Andalous have left their marks in the oriental muwwashshah interpreted by Ihsan Rmiki and the ensemble ElAwj, in the Cantigas de Santa Maria of King Alfonso X sung by Françoise Atlan, and in the art of the nuba performed by the greatest Moroccan orchestras. Of the 24 original nubas (in reference to the 24 hours of the day), eleven have been listed and retained by enlightened musicians and music lovers. Inspired by the lights of dawn, evening and night, inhabited by human feelings and temperaments, the nubas featured on this album display this art both erudite and popular, which has perdured on both sides of the Mediterranean.