Dawr ‘Gaddidī yā nafs ḥaẓẓik’ (1)

Episode 104: Transcription

Sama‘ discusses our musical heritage through comparison and analysis…

A concept by Mustafa Said.

Dear listeners,

Welcome to a new episode of Sama‘ .

In this episode, we will discuss dawr Gaddidī yā nafs ḥaẓẓik — a simple dawr as only the madhhab is pre-composed — written by Sheikh Muḥammad al-Darwīsh and composed by ‘Abduh al-Ḥāmūlī — while some attribute its composition to Muḥammad ‘Uthmān because his son ‘Azīz ‘Uthmān sang it… We will discuss this point…

The madhhab of dawr Gaddidī yā ḥaẓẓik is to the muḥayyar, a bayyātī sub-maqām as mentioned while discussing dawr El-ḥelū lammā in‘aṭaf. I once asked a Sheikh why Sheikhs usually improvise to the muḥayyar when you are singing to the bayyātī and he answered: 'When we improvise to the ordinary bayyātī pattern, we are forced to ascend to the jawāb' as they did not use mics and had to improvise to the jawāb in order to be heard. He added: 'When we ascended to the jawāb and concluded, we were tired'. So, since the display of the muḥayyar is to the jawāb and its conclusion is to the qarār, the performers could rest their voice in the middle range and perform many qafla to the qarār and display to the jawāb. So they were not forced to remain on the jawāb even in the qafla such as in the bayyātī, and could descend, even if by less than half, to the qarār. This is why many Sheikhs like to improvise to the muḥayyar, as in all tawshīḥ composed to the bayyātī, such as Yā ayyuhā al-mukhtār that we will discuss later. In Nādat bi-ka al-ruslu al-kirām, they stop, perform, and improvise a lot: half the tawshīḥ is to the muḥayyar. I think all this goes back to this cause, and also that ‘Abduh al-Ḥāmūlī used to sing this dawr a lot — regardless of whether he composed it or not — as he was a performer while Muḥammad ‘Uthmān had stopped performing songs. All affirm that he did not sing as much as ‘Abduh al-Ḥāmūlī.

Our recordings of dawr Gaddidī yā nafs ḥaẓẓik include:

- the oldest one: the recording of Muḥammad Sālim al-Kabīr made on a large 35cm record during Odeon’s 1904 recording campaign;
- two recordings of ‘Abd al-Ḥayy Ḥilmī, one by Zonophone and one by Odeon, both made in 1905;
- a recording of Sheikh Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī made by Sama‘ al-Mulūk late in 1905;
- a recording of ‘Alī ‘Abd al-Bārī made by Odeon in 1907;
- a recording of Sheikh Yūsuf made by Gramophone in 1909;
- a third recording of ‘Abd al-Ḥayy Ḥilmī made by Baidaphon in 1910.

The dawr was recorded a lot. The long lists of recordings include:

- An electrical recording of Ṣāliḥ ‘Abd al-Ḥayy made later with Columbia — not included in today’s episode —;
- a recording of Jamīl ‘Izzat
… among many others

We will discuss three recordings of those made later:

- a recording of ‘Azīz ‘Uthmān made on one record-side during the 1932 Congress of Arab Music by His Master’s Voice/Gramophone;
- a very short recording also of ‘Uthmān excerpted from the movie Bint el-mu‘allim made in the late 1940s — maybe even shorter than the Congress’ recording;
- and, finally, a recording of Ṣāliḥ ‘Abd al-Ḥayy in a muḥayyar waṣla including a samā‘ī muḥayyar authored by Jamīl Bēk al-Ṭanbūrī, taqsīm of ‘ūd, kamanja, and qānūn, and layālī, followed by the dawr… yet we will only tackle the dawr.

Let us listen to different versions of the dawr’s madhhab, starting with Muḥammad Sālim’s version, followed by ‘Abd al-Ḥayy Ḥilmī, then by Sheikh Yūsuf…

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They all deal with the madhhab in the same manner: each performs his personal interpretation of it:

- Sheikh Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī abides the most by the melody;
- ‘Abd al-Ḥayy Ḥilmī’s interpretation is the farthest from it;
- Muḥammad Sālim interpretation is also free like ‘Abd al-Ḥayy’s, yet with infinite simplicity. In fact, I am among those who consider Muḥammad Sālim as an example of the singing manner before ‘Abduh al-Ḥāmūlī and Muḥammad ‘Uthmān.

We heard the madhhab to the 4/4 maṣmūdī (or 8/4… for theorists’ sake).

The display of the maqām is as written in books concerning the muḥayyar: it starts at the jawāb, i.e. the muḥayyar, goes to the sahm, descends to the rāst/nawā, sometimes stops a little at the muḥayyar, performs something resembling the bayā-ḥusaynī, stops a little at the ḥusaynī, descends one scale-step at a time until it sets on the dūkāh.

Before the ghuṣn, let us recite the lyrics of the dawr in full because many mistakes are made in this respect.

Madhhab:

Gaddidī yā nafs ḥaẓẓik munyati al-hāgir ta‘aṭṭaf
Wa-bashīr al-unsi wāfa wa-ḥabīb el-alb sharraf

Dawr 1:

Man yalumnī fī gharāmī ‘udhruhu gahl al-gharām
Anā wa-al-lāhī siqāmī aṣluhu hādhā al-malām

Dawr 2:

Zāda wagdī min gharāmī fī al-gharām irḥam muḥibbak
Wa-gafa gafnī manāmī min nahār el-alb ḥabbak

The language is neither colloquial nor literary…

Many, such as Sheikh Yūsuf and ‘Alī ‘Abd al-Bārī, say: 'Anā wa-al-lāhī siqāmī, min nahār el-alb ḥabbak', in both recordings. Neither sings dawr Man yalumnī fī gharāmī, yet only they both took from it the third hemistich 'Anā wa-al-lāhī siqāmī' instead of 'Wa-gafa gafnī manāmī'.

In Muḥammad Sālim’s recording, his performance of dawr Man yalumnī fī gharāmī is very concise. He concludes at Gaddidī yā nafs ḥaẓẓik: he returns to the madhhab and sings Gaddidī yā nafs ḥaẓẓik. There is a significant leeway for instrumental interpretation by the Odeon band accompanying him and lacking a nāy as it only includes a ‘ūd and a qānūn with Sayyid al-Suwaysī and ‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Qabbānī. He, inexplicably, did not improvise for long at all, and went back again to the madhhab following the old way, such as in Yā ḥlēwa yā msallīnī, as if the dawr were not composed by people from the Nahḍa period.

So he went back and sang Gaddidī yā nafs ḥaẓẓik. Let us listen to this modulation…

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Before moving to another one, let us listen to the full recording of Muḥammad Sālim. First, in order to hear a simplified version of the dawr before listening to the improvisations performed by the other muṭrib. Second, in order to note that even though Muḥammad Sālim sings layālī after the dawr, he, quite strangely, does not exploit the core of the dawr in his improvisation, such as his simplified improvisation on Man yalumnī fī gharāmī. We do not know if this is because improvisation before ‘Abduh al-Ḥāmūlī and Muḥammad ‘Uthmān was restricted to mawwāl and layālī… Muḥammad Sālim al-Kabīr’s performance is not influenced at all by the Sheikhs’ school as it includes no trace of inshād.

Let us listen to the dawr performed by Muḥammad Sālim al-Kabīr accompanied by Odeon’s band, recorded on a 35cm record, and thus longer than 5 minutes — the longest record-side duration at the time. Indeed, I never heard of an Arabic 14 inch’ disc besides those of the 1904 Odeon recording campaign.

Let us listen to Muḥammad Sālim…

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It seems that ‘Abd al-Ḥayy Ḥilmī recorded it in spring with Zonophone and in summer with Odeon: the durations of both recordings are very close and both are performed with the same instrumentalists Ibrāhīm Sahlūn and Muḥammad Ibrāhīm. Moreover, the sound/voice and the performance are very similar in both: the lyrics are the same except for some improvisations and simple ornaments.

Let us listen to an excerpt from Man yalumnī fī gharāmī recorded by Odeon, and then to the same part recorded by Zonophone…

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There is a strange similarity, even if prefer the mood in the Odeon recording.

Now, even though there is a four year’ gap between Sheikh Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī’s two recordings, they both display his specific personal improvisation pattern. Note his very frequent modulation from the qarār to the jawāb within the maqām, and the strong influence of Sheikhs relatively to extending and improvising during extensions.

Let us listen to an excerpt from the Sama‘ al-Mulūk recording as it is the oldest…

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Let us listen to the same part in Gramophone’s recording…

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There is a similarity coupled with differences as well as an obvious influence of the Sheikhs’ performance.

‘Alī ‘Abd al-Bārī was a member of Sheikh Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī’s biṭāna who became a muṭrib and made recordings. Note that, even though his Odeon recording was made in 1907, his voice is heard in the 1905 Sama‘ al-Mulūk recording and in the 1909 Gramophone recording, which indicates that he continued to work with Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī even after he had recorded the dawr on his own.

Let us listen to a part where he imitates Sheikh Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī, and note the differences as well as his modulation to the shūrī maqām. Let us listen to this recording made during the beautiful imitation days when imitation was considered an art in itself…

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In ‘Abd al-Ḥayy Ḥilmī’s recording made by Zonophone, a muḥayyar dūlāb is played again at the end of the dawr, a frequent occurrence in old 1903/4/5 recordings where the dūlāb is played in the end. Was it the same in live performances: did they play the dūlāb at the end of the dawr and conclude instrumentally? Did the dūlāb constitute the taslīm to the qaṣīda? I do not know why dūlāb were played in the end in old recordings, and/or if it was the same in live performances.

Let us listen to the conclusion of the dawr performed by ‘Abd al-Ḥayy Ḥilmī and recorded by Zonophone, and to the dūlāb played by Ibrāhīm Sahlūn and Muḥammad Ibrāhīm in the end…

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We conclude today’s episode with a full recording of the dawr published by AMAR in 2011 on the occasion of the centenary of Sheikh Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī’s death.

Here is dawr Gaddidī yā nafs ḥaẓẓik recorded by Gramophone in 1909. Sheikh Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī is accompanied by Muḥammad al-‘Aqqād (qānūn), ‘Alī ‘Abduh Ṣāliḥ (nāy), Sāmī al-Shawwā (kamanja), Muḥammad Abū Kāmil al-raqqāq (percussions), and the biṭāna of ‘Alī ‘Abd al-Bārī, Ḥasan Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī, and a person performing the qarār — who may be one of those two — whom you will hear in the beginning singing Gaddidī yā ḥaẓẓik to the qarār… he may even be Sheikh Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī himself!!!
Let us end today’s episode with Sheikh Yūsuf al-Manyalāwī…

We will meet again in a new episode of Sama‘ to resume our discussion about dawr Gaddidī yā nafs ḥaẓẓik.

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Sama‘ was presented to you by AMAR.