Talk:Andalusi classical music

Para excised
Another theory on the origins of the Western solfège musical notation suggests that it may have also had Arabic origins. It has been argued that the solfège syllables (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti) may have been derived from the syllables of the Arabic solmization system Durr-i-Mufassal ("Separated Pearls") (dal, ra, mim, fa, sad, lam). This origin theory was first proposed by Meninski in his Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalum (1680) and then by Laborde in his Essai sur la Musique Ancienne et Moderne (1780).

This would require a more modern ref and crossreference with other articles... Redheylin (talk) 00:59, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

NOTE: You cannot improve anything in the Wikipedia that touches on desires by individuals who are most likely extreme Zionists or some such out-of-control characters, to inflate the role of the Jewish scientists, artists and scholars in Andalusia or anywhere else. Several books were published, particularly about the influence of theoretical Andalusian efforts on Western music as we know it today. But enriching Wikipedia with such contributions and references would only lead to unpleasant, if not downright rude, responses from some half wit which ends one's effort at even thinking of making a contribution.

All what one can do is alert people to the undue influence these people have over the Wikipedia, particularly my students, graduates and others.' —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.218.105.71 (talk) 23:19, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

There is a comprehensive article on Andalusian music on Spanish Wiki. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BAsica_andaluza Should this be used as the basis for revisions. Isthisuseful (talk) 22:01, 12 March 2011 (UTC)

Spanish Wiki makes a distinction between the musical form of "Andalucian Music" http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BAsica_andaluza and music peculiar to Andalucia http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andalucismo_musical#El_Andalucismo_musical

The first is capable of being written by composers who are not from Andalucia and includes Flamenco and Copla Andaluza (Andalucian ballad.

The section on Flamenco belongs to this page. Isthisuseful (talk) 19:04, 27 March 2011 (UTC) Isthisuseful (talk) 19:16, 27 March 2011 (UTC)

Requested move 4 November 2021

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: No consensus what the title should be after relist. (t &#183; c)  buidhe  08:18, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

Andalusian classical music → Andalusi music – Like the article Andalusi Arabic refers to the Arabic of al-Andalus and not varieties spoken in the present Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia, this article is about music relating to al-Andalus and should therefore be moved to Andalusi music... إيان (talk) 10:49, 4 November 2021 (UTC) — Relisting. VR talk 02:30, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * While I agree with the observation that this music should not be called "Andalusian", I prefer "Classical Music of al-Andalus". Most people are just not familiar with the term "Andalusi music" (Google found About 135,000 results and asked: Did you mean: andalusian music?), but rather with al-Andalus. (Google found About 898,000 results, and in the right direction).Munfarid1 (talk) 11:58, 4 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Note: WikiProject Arab world has been notified of this discussion. VR talk 02:30, 13 November 2021 (UTC)
 * While these musical styles have origins in al-Andalus, they're not really of al-Andalus as much as they are of North Africa. It's just called Andalusi music. Google scholar turns up 67 results for "Andalusian classical music" and 203 results for "Andalusi music". إيان (talk) 11:18, 13 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Hi, as far as I know from the literature, this music style had its origin exclusively in Al Andalus, as a blend of Middle Eastern styles like muwashshahat from Syria, classical music from Baghdad (Zyriab) and Andalusi poetry. Of course, the majority of the population were originally Berbers from Morocco, but their influence on this music is not sufficiently documented. Also, Andalusi music in the Maghreb only started to flourish after the expulsion of the Moorish people around 1500. Munfarid1 (talk) 12:10, 13 November 2021 (UTC)


 * See Jonathan Glasser's 2016 book The Lost Paradise : Andalusi Music in Urban North Africa. إيان (talk) 12:37, 13 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately, I don't have access to this, but I refer to Habib Hassan Touma (1996), The Music of the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, ISBN 0-931340-88-8 and other sources. Munfarid1 (talk) 12:46, 13 November 2021 (UTC)


 * What kind of sources does Glasser give of the Maghrebi influence on this music's origins? Munfarid1 (talk) 12:50, 13 November 2021 (UTC)


 * The source you cited seems to specialize more in music of the Mashreq. Glasser's book is specifically and entirely about Andalusi music. You can get the main idea from the book's description:
 * For more than a century, urban North Africans have sought to protect and revive Andalusi music, a prestigious Arabic-language performance tradition said to originate in the “lost paradise” of medieval Islamic Spain. Yet despite the Andalusi repertoire's enshrinement as the national classical music of postcolonial North Africa, its devotees continue to describe it as being in danger of disappearance. In The Lost Paradise, Jonathan Glasser explores the close connection between the paradox of patrimony and the questions of embodiment, genealogy, secrecy, and social class that have long been central to Andalusi musical practice. Through a historical and ethnographic account of the Andalusi music of Algiers, Tlemcen, and their Algerian and Moroccan borderlands since the end of the nineteenth century, Glasser shows how anxiety about Andalusi music's disappearance has emerged from within the practice itself and come to be central to its ethos. The result is a sophisticated examination of musical survival and transformation that is also a meditation on temporality, labor, colonialism and nationalism, and the relationship of the living to the dead.
 * Andalusi music, had it not been preserved, developed, and transformed in North Africa, would have disappeared.إيان (talk) 13:14, 13 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your description of Glasser's book, but I am afraid we have misunderstood each other. - I certainly agree to the well-known fact that Andalusi music has been continued after the fall of Granada in the Maghreb, as Glasser seems to argue. But its constituent origins still are in al-Andalus, not in the Maghreb. (See some of the reasons given in my earlier comment.)Munfarid1 (talk) 13:56, 15 November 2021 (UTC)


 * When it comes to musical genres, it is important to maintain consistency in the titles of articles of similar topics. Classical music means that this music belongs to the group of art music (because it is trained and notated), which is the opposite of folk music. Removing the word "classical" means that the article should be placed in the general music category and supplemented with text about folk music (and popular music if possible). At this point, the article only describes classical music, so I'm against removing the word.Solidest (talk) 00:55, 14 November 2021 (UTC)


 * The notion of "classical" music is a Western one and shouldn't be imposed on the title of this Islamicate Arabicate musical tradition. It's also limiting. Malhūn, for example, is part of the body of Andalusi music and is a popular musical tradition. It's best to use the term preferred by experts: "Andalusi music." إيان (talk) 15:59, 14 November 2021 (UTC)


 * There are several classical musical traditions in the world, not only European, for example Arabic, Indian or Persian classical music, and they don't have to be notated. If we only use the genre "classical" for European music, we continue in an Eurocentric view of the world. I think readers should learn to understand that non-European cultures also have developed classical as opposed to folk or popular music. Munfarid1 (talk) 13:55, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

French article on Andalusi music
For further additions to this article, there is a wealth of information in the French wikipedia https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_arabo-andalouse# with literature in French, mainly by authors with North African names. The French ethnomusicologoist Christian Poché gives a very good account in his book "La musique arabo-andalouse", also available in Spanish. Munfarid1 (talk) 14:15, 15 November 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 24 November 2021

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion. 

The result of the move request was: Moved. The sticking point is "Andalusian" vs "Andalusi". On the one hand, the common adjectival form is Andalusian, but we do run the risk of confusing readers if there is an implication this only applies to al-Andalus, which is clearly not the case; the article talks at length about how the musical style wasn't limited to either Hispania or the Maghreb, but was a shared cross-strait style. Additionally, it's clear that "Andalusi" is the adjectival form in this subject area. Sceptre (talk) 03:44, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

Andalusian classical music → Andalusi classical music – "Andalusia" and "al-Andalus" are not the same. The current title is a big inaccuracy. While the music of Andalusia is influenced by that of al-Andalus, they are also clearly distinct. A previous RM about this was closed as no consensus, but I see nobody opposed to the change from Andalusian to Andalusi. Only one user,, opposed to removing "classical" from the title, which two other users objected to. Thus, at the very least, this article should be renamed to "Andalusi classical music". "Music of al-Andalus" could also be an option, but this genre has been alive for centuries now outside of what is now Spain. Super  Ψ   Dro  17:08, 24 November 2021 (UTC)


 * ✅ with this variant. (if I understand it correctly, @Munfarid1 also gave an argument for why we should keep the classic in the title, rather than opposing it). Solidest (talk) 17:28, 24 November 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅. Seems the last move request was closed rather prematurely. "Andalusi classical music" is definitely better than what it is now. إيان (talk) 18:05, 24 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Oppose. Although the term "Andalusi" is found in Spanish works, it is not commonly used in English. The common adjectival form of al-Andalus is "Andalusian" in English.  Find another way to disambiguate.  Walrasiad (talk) 04:40, 25 November 2021 (UTC)
 * "Andalusi" is the correct and preferred term among experts. See Jonathan Glasser's 2016 book The Lost Paradise : Andalusi Music in Urban North Africa. See also Google scholar results for "Andalusi music" (203 results) compared to results for "Andalusian classical music" (67 results). See also the title for the article about Andalusi Arabic. إيان (talk) 23:40, 26 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia is written for general audiences, not experts. The aim is for WP:COMMONNAME, in which recognizability is paramount.  And in English the common adjectival form for al-Andalus is "Andalusian".  That said, all the expert works I have in English on al-Andalus use "Andalusian", none use "Andalusi". Moreover, your hits are well outstripped by Andalusian music (1300 hits), which a quick scan shows much of it dealing with Arab Andalusian music, and outstripped by "Arab-Andalusian music" itself (238 results).
 * We could look at the use of the term more generally in other realms. Let's try something better known like, say, Andalusian philosophers, which are almost exclusively deal with Muslim and Jewish thinkers of al-Andalus, and we end up with  Andalusian philosopher (604 hits) vs. Andalusi philosopher (31 hits) in scholar search, or  Andalusian philosopher (19,800 hits) vs. Andalusi philosopher" (661 hits) in general google search. Or say "Andalusian mosque" (27,600) vs. "Andalusi mosque" (17 hits)  Or we can play with ngrams.
 * "Andalusian" is the common English adjectival form of al-Andalus. And that is the way it needs to be here. If you want to differentiate the article title, then try "Music of al-Andalus" or something like that.  But not "Andalusi".  That's a foreign language term, perhaps being recently pushed in Spanish works, but not commonly used in English, nor recognizable to Wikipedia readers. Walrasiad (talk) 06:25, 27 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Then how about "Classical music of al-Andalus"? Even if it has been continued after 1500, this lemma would not exclude the later developments. But I agree with (talk) that "Andalusian" is definitely not the same as al-Andalus, if we don't want to mislead our readers. Munfarid1 (talk) 08:50, 27 November 2021 (UTC)
 * That's exactly what I disagree with. In English common usage, it is the same term.  "Andalusian" is the adjectival form of al-Andalus. That may annoy modern residents of some modern Spanish province, but that is not the first time English usage is annoying to someone.  English also use the term "American" for residents of the United States, which other languages may not perceive as correct, and prefer to use "Nuerteamericano" or "Estadounidense".  But we are not going to start rewriting Wikipedia articles with "Northamerican" in order "to not mislead our readers".   Walrasiad (talk) 08:59, 27 November 2021 (UTC)


 * In my opinion, your examples of "American" are not helpful, as everyone understands what is meant. Andalusian, however, refers to something completely different as opposed to "of Al-Andalus".
 * - Another suggestion would be "Classical music of the Maghreb" (which is not the same as North Africa, of course). Munfarid1 (talk) 09:46, 27 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Again, I disagree. "Andalusian" is commonly used in English to refer to al-Andalus. Indeed, in order of frequency you'll find "Andalusian" mostly probably refers to (1) the horse, (2) al-Andalus, and more distantly (3) a sub-national Spanish province. Sub-national Spanish provinces don't come up very often in English texts, nor is there often reason to use its adjectival form.  That may be different to Spanish readers, but not to English readers.  The common adjectival form of al-Andalus in English is "Andalusian". Pretty much across the board - whether you're discussing history, culture, philosophy, science, literature, art, architecture, music, etc. - that's the adjective used, and everyone usually understands it to mean pertaining to al-Andalus.
 * It is not too different from the usage of "Roman". When they come across "Roman" in English texts, chances are English readers (but not Italians) will assume it pertains to the ancient empire and not the modern capital of Italy.
 * As a compromise, I wouldn't oppose calling this article "Arab-Andalusian music" (since the style goes beyond al-Andalus, and that term is also found more frequently in English than 'Andalusi'). But I will not support "Andalusi".  Walrasiad (talk) 10:26, 27 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Why not ? Sources don't seem to use "classical" that much.  —  AjaxSmack  20:01, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Read . In short, it's Wikipedia consistent practice to name music articles. The articles describing plain "music" attributed to specific culture/region should cover art music (mostly referred to as classical in English) + popular music + folk music. This article only describes what can be described as the classical music (check this table), and given the lack of a specific distinct name, we have to choose a descriptive one that fits. Solidest (talk) 21:30, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅ I agree with you, . Solidest and Munfarid1 seem to disagree, but as I mentioned in the Nov 4 move request, these restrictive divisions of classical music, popular music, and folk music are not endemic to the culture of Andalusi music. In fact, Andalusi music is comprehensive and includes styles that would be considered classical, such as Gharnati, as well as those that would be considered popular or folk, such as malhūn. It is fine to discuss associations with Western notions of art music or classical music within the article, but it would be inappropriate to have it in the title per NPOV. إيان (talk) 11:41, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Support but I prefer Music of al-Andalus to be consistent with the page Music of Andalusia. WatABR (talk) 03:17, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I don't agree with many of the examples given by Walrasiad, but I guess we can use Classical music of al-Andalus. Do you agree to this,, , and ? Not pinging other participants as they haven't left a vote.  Super   Ψ   Dro  10:12, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * The issue with "of al-Andalus" is that this musical tradition is not merely of al-Andalus (which ceased to exist in 1492), but greatly of North Africa, where it has continued to be played and developed for centuries. It is called Andalusi music in Arabic (موسيقى أندلسية musiqa andalusiya) because of its origins, but it has been "of North Africa" for the past half millennium. إيان (talk) 11:59, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes WatABR (talk) 02:58, 5 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Some notes on why the correct adjective is "Andalusi"—not "Andalusian":
 * As previously mentioned, "Andalusi music" is the term preferred by contemporary scholars of this musical tradition writing in English, such as Jonathan Glasser in his publication of reference on the topic, The Lost Paradise: Andalusi Music in Urban North Africa.
 * Andalusi music—or, if we must, Andalusi classical music—would also be consistent with pages such as Andalusi Arabic.
 * As for why the adjective "Andalusian" itself is incorrect and inappropriate here:
 * Andalusian according to Oxford English Dictionary, dictionary of record of British English:
 * as an adjective: a. Of or pertaining to Andalusia, a southern province of Spain, or its inhabitants or speech.
 * as a noun:  a. A native or inhabitant of Andalusia. b. The variety of Castilian spoken in Andalusia. c. A Mediterranean breed of domestic fowl, rabbit, etc.
 * No mention of al-Andalus or Moorish Iberia.


 * Andalusian according to Webster's Dictionary, dictionary of record of American English:
 * as a noun: 1 a native or inhabitant of Andalusia; 2 any of a breed of horses of Spanish origin that have a high-stepping gait
 * Again, no mention of al-Andalus or Moorish Iberia.
 * Is there anyone aside from Walrasiad who disagrees with Andalusi over Andalusian for naming this article? إيان (talk) 11:30, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * For the record, the afore-cited dictionaries (Oxford ED, Webster) also have no entry or mention of "Andalusi". Walrasiad (talk) 15:14, 29 November 2021 (UTC)


 * Oppose both the requested title and the present title. Can see where the present title would confuse readers. The proposed title appears to be unacceptable per editor Walrasiad. It seems then that per WP:NOGOODOPTIONS, the title should be North African classical music, or perhaps Classical music of North Africa or something similar. Either of those would work.  P.I. Ellsworth &numsp;- ed.  put'r there 13:17, 6 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Walrasiad is just one editor. Other editors have expressed approval. "North African classical music" and "Classical music of North Africa" are both inappropriate and there is no precedent for either. إيان (talk) 03:40, 7 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Move to Music of al-Andalus per WatABR. We should avoid the term Andalusi for the reason given by Walrasiad and because this has not shown to be the common name: it's use by Jonathan Glasser is insufficient to establish this.  The objection of Solidest in the previous RM to removing "classical" does not hold up provided the article is properly scoped: as far as I am aware, there is no separate tradition of folk or pop(!) music of al-Andalus.  That the tradition of al-Andalus has since been continued in other places does not negate the association of that style with al-Andalus (and if it did, that would equally be a reason not to call it Andalusi).  The scope of the article is clearly not classical music of North Africa and even "classical music of the Maghreb" would include non-Andalusian styles. Havelock Jones (talk) 18:01, 6 December 2021 (UTC)
 * "Music of al-Andalus" is not what the article is about. It's about a style called "Andalusi music," a living body of closely related musical traditions that has not had a connection with al-Andalus for half a millennium, but has been and continues to be performed and developed in the Maghreb. إيان (talk) 03:35, 7 December 2021 (UTC)