Al-Andalus Collection [01]. Salim Fergani - Prado de GacelasAl-Andalus Collection [02]. Naseer Shamma - Maqamat Z?ry?bAl-Andalus Collection [03]. Eduardo Paniagua - JARDIN DE AL-ANDALUSAl-Andalus Collection [04]. Salim Fergani - Dos CorazonesAl-Andalus Collection [05]. Naseer Shamma & Oyoun - HilalAl-Andalus Collection [06]. Eduardo Paniagua - Agua de la AlhambraAl-Andalus Collection [07]. Omar Metioui - La Fuente del Amor SecretoAl-Andalus Collection [08]. Latidos de Al-AndalusAl-Andalus Collection [09]. La llamada de Al-AndalusAl-Andalus Collection [10]. Ibn ‘Arabi - El intérprete de los deseosAl-Andalus Collection [11]. Al Turath Ensemble - Hermana de la LunaAl-Andalus Collection [12]. Al Turath Ensemble - Jardines de Jazm?nAl-Andalus Collection [13]. LA BELLEZA CONTEMPLADA Al-Andalus Collection [14]. POEMAS DE LA ALHAMBRAAl-Andalus Collection [15]. Salim Fergani - Elegia a la muerte de Salah BeyAl-Andalus Collection [16]. Salim Fergani - La noria de los modosAl-Andalus Collection [17]. Eduardo Paniagua - Cantos Misticos DevocionalesAl-Andalus Collection [18]. Nuba Al-IstihlalAl-Andalus Collection [19]. Cantoras de Tetuan- Wallada (Córdoba 994-1077) - Ibn Zaydún (Córdoba 1003-1071)
- Una historia de amor y poesía - A story of love and poetry Eduardo Paniagua & El Arabi Sergheni Ensemble Contents:
1. Tiempo de amor - A time of love
Anon. - Taqsim ud' istihlal: Camino orgullosa - Proud path
Wallada- Dary al-istihlal: Estoy hecha para la gloria - I am made for glory
Ibn Zaydún- Muwwal istihlal: Córdoba lozana - Exuberant Cordoba
- Dary al-istihal: Mirada furtiva - Furtive glance
Wallada- Dary iraq al-ajam: Cuando caiga la tarde - When night falls
- Dary hidyaz: La separación - The separation
Ibn Zaydún- Moaxaja modo hidyaz: Enamorado nostálgico - Nostalgic lover
- Taqsim y muwwal hidyaz: Pasa tus miradas - Cast your eyes
- Qa'im was-nisf hidyaz kabir: Si tu sintieras por mi - If you felt for me
2. Desengaños y reproches - Disappointment and reproaches
Wallada - Dary rasd: Enamorado de Júpiter - In love with Jupiter
Anon.- Twishya de la núba rasd: Entre nosostros - Between us
Ibn Zaydún- Quddam rasd: Un secreto - A secret
- Inshad rasd: Tras la ausencia - After the absence
Anon.- Twishya del quddam rasd: Noche sin ti - Night without you
Ibn Zaydún- Quddam rasd: Despedida - Farewell
Wallada- Melodía tradicional: Ave veloz - Swift bird
3. Amor idealizado - Idealised love
Ibn Zaydún - Qa'im wa-nisf nahawand: Vino y rosas (Wine and roses)
Wallada- Modo nahawand: Muy rico, contra Al-Ashbahi - Very rich, against Al-Ashbahi
Ibn Zaydún- Dialogo en la noche - Dialogue in the night
Playing time: 67' 47"
PerformersEduardo Paniagua (flautas, darbuga, tar, cimbalos) & El Arabi Ensemble [El Arabi Serghini (canto, viola, darbuga, tar), Aouatif Bouamar (Canto, coro), Larbi Akrim (laúd, coro), Jamal Eddine Ben Allal (violin, coro)] - Eduardo Paniagua, dir.
WalladaIn the year 711, the history of Cordoba, Spain, was about to witness a dramatic change. The Muslims who were conquering Spain, were about to receive the most precious of the Iberian Jewels, Cordoba. However, surrender of the city was based on an agreement, which allowed Jews, Christians, and Muslims to live peacefully.
The Great Mosque, the oldest building still in use (now as a Cathedral) has an interesting history that illustrates some toleration. It was built on land that had been part of a monastery. The Muslims paid for the land. The Mosque was built in the 8th c., and Cordoba remained Muslim until Christians from the north took over in 1236. The Christians built a cathedral inside the mosque. Interestingly, the Mosque was not destroyed except for those portions of the interior where the altar, choir and other parts of the Cathedral were placed. There are no walls to the Cathedral. It simply was placed inside the much larger mosque.
Over the centuries, families paid for small chapels, which line one wall of the former Mosque. A Christian bell tower was also added. The Mosque/Cathedral is in the heart of the historic district surrounded by narrow streets of the former Jewish Quarter. Today the former Mosque functions only as a Cathedral. A nearby Jewish synagogue has been preserved for its historic value, but is not used.
That tolerant city under the Muslims was the birthplace of a very liberal poetess, Wallada Bint Al Mustakfi. There is no question that Wallada and many other Poets and artists would not have been able to write or create what they have done in any other place. Until this day the city has several monuments and statues dedicated to “los enamorados”, the lovers, of whom Wallada gained a very wide-spread fame.0
The love story of the poet Ibn Zaydun and his beautiful, courageous Princess is still alive in the hearts of the people of Cordoba, the capital of Arab Spain and of the Umayyad Caliphs.
Who really was the passionate and daring Umayyad princess?
When Cordoba was the greatest and most sophisticated city, not only of the Moorish civilization but also the entire known world, the Princess Wallada (born in 1011 and died in 1091) achieved fame for her court of learning, many centuries before France's legendary Madame de Rambouillet held sway over her literary salon. Wallada gathered around her the finest poets and musicians of al-Andalus, who would sit around her on cushions and rugs, improvising ballads and epic sagas to the sound of the lute and zither.
Wallada, was the daughter of the Caliph al-Mustakfi Billah, Mohammed the Third, who reigned for only two years, 1923-1025. She was greatly admired for her fair skin and blue eyes, which gave her a very special, exotic appeal for the Aristocats of Cordoba. She had a unique reputation for wit, eloquence and intelligence. Famed for beauty as well as independence, Walladah inspired verses from other poets and wrote her own, becoming poet and author as well as singer. Her poetry was noted for its boldness. In fact, she was so proud of her beauty that she refused to wear the veil when she went out in the streets of the city, thus enraging the local religious people. It was the time of the great fitna, (rebellion) when the Berbers were rising up against the Umayyad Caliphate, and religious tension was high.
But Cordoba was in many ways very liberal indeed. This was because the Andalucian society of the time was a multi-cultural one, a mixture of the Islamic, Christian and Jewish cultures, which made up medieval Spain.
Wallada not only refused to cover her face, she also was very outspoken and free in her personal behaviour, thus becoming a symbol of liberation for the women of her time. She resisted all efforts to keep her in her traditional place, and to prevent her from choosing the lovers she preferred.
When the great Moorish philosopher and supreme judge of the city, Ibn Rushd, known to Europeans as Averroes, accused her of being a harlot, she responded with an act of defiance. She had one of her own poems embroidered on the gown she wore in the street, for everyone to read. It said:
On the left side:
I am fit for high positions by God
And am going my way with pride.
And on the left:
I allow my lover to touch my cheek
And bestow my kiss on him who craves it.
Her most famous relation, a true and passionate love story, was with Ibn Zaydun, one of the greatest Arab poets of the time, born in 1003 and died in 1071.
Although Ibn Zaydun was a leading figure in the courts of Cordoba and Seville, he was most famous among the people of his day because of his scandalous love affair with Princess Wallada. They did nothing to hide their passion, and at her literary circle, when the poets began improvising, as was their custom, they would allude to it quite openly. On one famous occasion, Wallada uttered this impromptu verse, as she gazed upon her lover's face:
I fear for you, my beloved so much, that even my own sight even the ground you tread even the hours that pass threaten to snatch you away from me. Even if I were able to conceal you within the pupils of my eyes and hide you there until the Day of Judgment my fear would still not be allayed.
And he, returning her glance just as ardently, responded:
Your passion has made me famous among high and low your face devours my feelings and thoughts. When you are absent, I cannot be consoled, but when you appear, my all my cares and troubles fly away. When she offers me jasmine in the palm of her hand I collect bright stars from the hand of the moon.
Ibn Zaydun's prestige, as the leading poet and the lover of the most beautiful woman of Cordoba, awakened much jealousy among his rivals, such as Ibn Abdus, the Caliph's Vizir. He created a venemous intrigue aimed at destroying his enemy's friendship with the Caliph and also his romance with Wallada.
At first he failed, but then succeeded in catching Ibn Zaydun making love to Wallada's favourite slave, an African girl. The proud Princess was so hurt that she wrote him a poem of rebuke:
If you had been truly sincere in the love, which joined us, you would not have preferred, to me, one of my own slaves. In so doing, you scorned the bough, which blossoms with beauty and chose a branch, which bears only hard and bitter fruit. You know that I am the clear, shining moon of the heavens but, to my sorrow, you chose, instead, a dark and shadowy planet.
Ibn Abdus then made his rival jealous by letting it be known that Wallada had taken him as her lover, and by walking beside her in the streets of Cordoba. The arrow hit its mark, and the wounded Ibn Zaydun bitterly wrote these lines to the woman he thought had spurned him:
You were for me nothing but a sweetmeat that I took a bite of and then tossed away the crust, leaving it to be gnawed on by a rat.
Although the Caliph was fond of Ibn Zaydun, the scandal reached such proportions that he had him thrown into prison, and later exiled him to Seville. The hapless poet languished there, far from the gardens of the great palace, Medina Zahara, and he passionately missed his beloved Princess. Fortunately for him, the Caliph died soon afterwards and Ibn Zaydun was able to return. The lovers forgave one another and for a while their affair continued, just as passionate and stormy as before. But Wallada now lived in the home of powerful Vizir, who gave her protection, and Ibn Zaydun, disenchanted, eventually decided to return to Seville, where he spent the rest of his life as the favourite poet of the Sultan.
Only nine of Wallada poems have been preserved, of which five are satirical, daring, risqué and caustic. Some of her most impressive love lined she wrote to Ibn Zaidun, and some of her harshest satires were also addressed to him!
Ibn ZaydúnAbu al-Waleed Ahmad Ibn Zaydún al-Makhzumi (1003-1071) known as Ibn Zaydún (Arabic full name,أبو الوليد أحمد بن زيدون المخزومي)was a famous Arab Andalusian poet of Cordoba and Seville. His romantic and literary life was dominated by his relations with the poetess Wallada bint al-Mustakfi, the daughter of the Ummayad Caliph Muhammad III of Cordoba.
Ibn Zaydun was born in Cordoba of pure Arab descent, from the Arab tribe of Makhzum, which was one of the first tribes to migrate to al-Andalus
Ibn Zaydun grew up during the decline of the Umayyad caliphate and was imprisoned by the government. He sought refuge with one local ruler and then another in Seville. He was able to return home for a period after the ruler of Seville conquered Cordoba. Much of his life was spent in exile and the themes of lost youth and nostalgia for his city are present in many of his poems. In a poem about Cordoba he remembers his city and his youth:
God has sent showers upon abandoned dwelling places pf those we loved. He has woven upon them a striped many-coloured garmet of flowers, and raised among them a flower like a star. How many girls like images trailed their garmets among such flowers, when life was fresh and time was at our service...How happy were, those days that have passed, days of pleasure, when we lived with those who had back flowing hair and white shoulders
By Wijdan al shommariA few months ago I was sitting at a sidewalk café, in the shadow of the medieval walls of Cordoba - and just a few steps from a curious statue of two hands, which seem to be reaching towards one another. I knew, from my studies in Damascus, that it pays tribute to a great Moorish poet and the Princess, also a poetess, whom he loved.
It was Saint Valentine's day, a bright winter morning. I pretended not to know what the statue represented and, just to see what he would say, asked the young waiter if he did, as if I were any other tourist. "That statue is dedicated to los enamorados, the lovers". he said, as he served my cup of coffee.
The love story of the poet Ibn Zaydun and his beautiful, courageous Princess is still alive in the hearts of the people of Cordoba, the capital of Moorish Spain and of the Ummeyad Caliphs. But where I was born, Syria, their poems are studied in every high school student's Arabic literature class.
But who really was the passionate and daring Ummeyad princess?
When Cordoba was the greatest and most sophisticated city, not only of the Moorish civilization but also the entire known world, the Princess Wallada (born in 1011 and died in 1091) achieved fame for her court of learning, many centuries before France's legendary Madame de Rambouillet held sway over her literary salon. Wallada gathered around her the finest poets and musicians of al-Andalus, who would sit around her on cushions and rugs, improvising ballads and epic sagas to the sound of the lute and zither.
Wallada, who was the daughter of the Caliph al-Mustakfi, was greatly admired for her fair skin and blue eyes, which gave her a very special, exotic appeal for the men of Cordoba. In fact, she was so proud of her beauty that she refused to wear the veil when she went out in the streets of the city, thus enraging the local mullahs. It was the time of the great fitna, when the Berbers were rising up against the Ummeyad Caliphate, and religious tension was high.
But Cordoba was in many ways much more liberal in its customs than some Middle Eastern countries are today. This was because the Andalucian society of the time was a multi-cultural one, a mixture of the Islamic, Christian and Jewish civilisations, which made up medieval Spain. This meant that no single religion had full power over the men, and particularly over the women, of the city.
Wallada not only refused to cover her face, she also was very outspoken and free in her sexual behaviour, thus becoming a symbol of liberation for the women of her time. She resisted all efforts to keep her in her traditional place, and to prevent her from choosing the lovers she preferred.
When the great Moorish philosopher and supreme judge of the city, Ibn Rushd, known to Europeans as Averroes, accused her of being a harlot, she responded with an act of defiance. She had one of her own poems embroidered on her gown and wore it in the street, for everyone to read. It said:
"For the sake of Allah! I deserve nothing less than glory I hold my head high and go my way I will give my cheek to my lover and my kisses to anyone I choose."
She had many lovers, but the most famous was the Ibn Zaydun, one of the greatest Moorish poets of the time, born in 1003 and died in 1071.
Although Ibn Zaydun was a leading figure in the courts of Cordoba and Seville, he was most famous among the people of his day because of his scandalous love affair with Princess Wallada. They did nothing to hide their passion, and at her literary circle, when the poets began improvising, as was their custom, they would allude to it quite openly. On one famous occasion, Wallada uttered this impromptu verse, as she gazed upon her lover's face:
"I fear for you, my beloved so much, that even my own sight even the ground you tread even the hours that pass threaten to snatch you away from me. Even if I were able to conceal you within the pupils of my eyes and hide you there until the Day of Judgment my fear would still not be allayed."
And he, returning her glance just as ardently, responded:
"Your passion has made me famous among high and low your face devours my feelings and thoughts. When you are absent, I cannot be consoled, but when you appear, my all my cares and troubles fly away."
Ibn Zaydun's prestige, as the leading poet and the lover of the most beautiful woman of Cordoba, awakened much jealousy among his rivals, such as Ibn Abdus, the Caliph's Vizir. He created a venomous intrigue aimed at destroying his enemy's friendship with the Caliph and also his romance with Wallada.
At first he failed, but then succeeded in catching Ibn Zaydun making love to Wallada's favourite slave, an African girl. The proud Princess was so hurt that she wrote him a poem of rebuke:
"If you had been truly sincere in the love which joined us you would not have preferred, to me, one of my own slaves. In so doing, you scorned the bough, which blossoms with beauty and chose a branch which bears only hard and bitter fruit. You know that I am the clear, shining moon of the heavens but, to my sorrow, you chose, instead, a dark and shadowy planet."
Ibn Abdus then made his rival jealous by letting it be known that Wallada had taken him as her lover, and by walking beside her in the streets of Cordoba. The arrow hit its mark, and the wounded Ibn Zaydun bitterly wrote these lines to the woman he thought had spurned him:
"You were for me nothing but a sweetmeat that I took a bite of and then tossed away the crust, leaving it to be gnawed on by a rat."
This caused much amusement in the city, because Ibn Zaydun had compared the unpopular Vizir to a rat. The ugly old man went straight to the Caliph to complain, but rather than mention the insult to his own person, he pointed out that the poet had compared a Princess of the realm to a pastry crust.
Soon after, Ibn Zaydun fell out of favour altogether. Wallada discovered him with a man. Homosexuality is forbidden in the Koran, but was widely practiced by the Moors of the time nevertheless. She used the occasion to send him back an even more hurtful poem than the one he had addressed to her:
"The nickname they give you is Number Six and it will stick to you until you die because you are a pansy, a bugger a fornicator a cuckold, a swine and a thief. If a phallus could become a palm tree, you would turn into a woodpecker."
Although the Caliph was fond of Ibn Zaydun, the scandal reached such proportions that he had him thrown into prison, and later exiled him to Seville. The hapless poet languished there, far from the gardens of the great palace, Medina Zahara, and he passionately missed his beloved Princess. Fortunately for him, the Caliph died soon afterwards and Ibn Zaydun was able to return. The lovers forgave one another and for a while their affair continued, just as passionate and stormy as before. But Wallada now lived in the home of powerful Vizir, who gave her protection, and Ibn Zaydun, disenchanted, eventually decided to return to Seville, where he spent the rest of his life as the favourite poet of the Sultan.
The sculpture of the hands of Ibn Zaydun and Wallada was placed in the plaza known as El Campo Santo de los Mártires in 1971, to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the great poet's death.
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