Griffith 1

James Griffith

Dr. Hix

Music History I

22 April 2009

Cantigas de los Moriscos: The Influence of the Moors on Spanish Music

Few nations can boast of the liveliness and vitality of their culture as can the

nation of Spain. Like Iggy Pop, the Spanish can be said to have a lust for life. The arts

of Spain have become famous in recent times, such as the vibrant dance and idiomatic

music of flamenco. Equally of note are the musical achievements of former Spanish

colonies such as the Mariachi music of Mexico and the Rumba of Cuba. The unique

culture surrounding Spanish music is based in large part on its global scope – it draws

from the traditions of the mainland, Africa, and the thousands of different ethnic groups it

was exposed to during the height of the colonial period. Their music transcends

boundaries, yet also remains regional and distinct.

But the best answer to the question of Spain’s unique music is Spain’s rich,

diverse history. Like other European nations, in the Middle Ages Spain was not a unified

country. It was divided into a number of different states with distinct rulers, ethnic

groups and traditions. Unique in its history, though, is a dominating “foreign” presence

that existed in the area long enough to permeate through all of Europe. A group of

Muslim Arabs collectively known to Europeans as the Moors controlled much of the

peninsula from just after the time of the Roman Empire to the first voyage of Columbus.

The Moors’ impact on the politics, arts, and even religion of the Iberian peninsula cannot
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be overstated. It is probable, then, that the music of the Moors left a profound impact on

the music of Spain long after their departure.

To talk about the spread of culture in an area it is first vital to know the

geography, as this controls the spread of peoples as well. Spain has always been known

for its isolation, partly due to the Pyrenees, the mountain range dividing the peninsula

from the rest of Europe. Historically, it has also been easily accessible by sea. As early

as the 3rd Century BC, the legendary general Hannibal launched his attack on Rome by

first landing in Spain. It has had a cultural exchange with North Africa for most of

history due to the narrow Strait of Gibraltar. It was across this strait that the Arabs would

invade in 711.

For a Westerner unfamiliar with this period in history, it is strange to think that

for a brief moment in the 8th century, a coalition of Arabs and North Africans were doing

battle with Europeans in modern-day France.1 This was not a Hannibal-like thrust into

the heart of enemy territory; it was a methodical invasion, occupation and conversion.

By the time the Moors were expelled in 1492, Spanish arts, architecture, and lifestyles

had been permanently changed.

One of the unfortunate side effects of the cultural blending is an ostracism of

Spanish culture from the other countries of Western Europe. For most Spanish history,

its art music was virtually unknown and unstudied outside of its own borders. This trend

in European historiography toward ignoring the arts of Spain has become known as the

“Black Legend,” as coined by Julian Juderias in the early twentieth century.2 This “Black

Legend” concept was a backlash against centuries of other Europeans believing the
1
Mahmoud Makki, “The Political History of Al-Andalus,” in The Legacy of Muslim Spain, ed. Salma
Khadra Jayyusi (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992), 20-21.
2
Judith Etzion, “Spanish Music as Perceived in Western Music Historiography: A Case of the Black
Legend?” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 29, no. 2 (1998): 95.
 Griffith 3

Spanish to be ignorant, inferior, highly religious and superstitious. There was also a

certain racial element to the European disdain toward Spain – its high population of

Moors and Jews, and their influence over the culture, meant that it was “contaminated”

with “racial impurity.”3 Only adding to the inferior status of Spain was the importance of

folk music and dances over art music, something which the Europeans of the day would

have detested. Through these the country earned a unique outsider status in Europe,

where it was at once domestic and exotic.

When dealing with the roots of Spanish music, the first problem is lack of source

material. Spanish art song of the Middle Ages was of little importance. The strength of

Spanish music at this time was in folk song, which was mostly improvised. Little written

material survives. Of Arabic music, little survives from this era either except theoretical

texts.

However, there is substantial musical evidence to support a strong cultural

blending. Alfonso el Sabio, king of Castile and Leon in the 13th century, assembled a

collection of popular Spanish music known as the Cantigas de Santa Maria. Despite the

relative obscurity of Spanish composers at this time, the Cantigas have been recognized

in modern times as a definitive musical text of the Middle Ages. Many of these Cantigas

are structured identically to an Arabic form of poetry known as the zajal.4 Additionally,

the miniatures of the Cantigas portray a Spanish court that recognizes no political

boundaries - Arabic musicians playing alongside European musicians with instruments of

all origins. Considering that Alfonso was a Spanish king, the acceptance of Arabs into

3
Judith Etzion, “Spanish Music as Perceived in Western Music Historiography: A Case of the Black
Legend?” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music 29, no. 2 (1998): 95.
4
Gustave Reese, Music in the Middle Ages (New York: W.W. Norton, 1940), 246-47.
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his court ensembles underscores that the musical traditions of the area were not divided

by race or religion.

It is worth noting that the Moors were not a unified group, nor were many from

the area of modern-day Morocco. The original inhabitants of North Africa, the Maghreb,

were of entirely different traditions than the Arabs who came to rule over them in the

years leading up to the invasion of Spain. The Moorish armies were actually composed

primarily of Maghreb. To demonstrate the level of cultural fluidity between these

groups, it is pertinent to note that modern Maghreb musical ensembles are rooted firmly

in European customs. Most traditional instruments have been replaced with violins,

cellos and other instruments that would be considered European today. A conversion

such as this could just as easily happen in the other direction, and did.

The lute is one of the most well-known instruments in history. It was very

common in European folk music, especially dance music, and its popularity within

European art music was established by the time of the Renaissance. But for a xenophobic

continent such as Europe, there is a certain irony in the means by which the lute was

introduced to society. Originally an Arabic instrument known as “al’ud,” the lute was

introduced to the Europeans via Muslim Spain.5 As mentioned earlier, the dominant

Spanish music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance was folk music. Half of the

history of music is the story of cultures looking for exotic sounds; in the 8th century, the

lute embodied this exoticism. The innovators and premier lute players of this time were

the servants of the Arabic caliphs in Spain.6

5
Gilbert Chase, The Music of Spain (New York: Dover, 1941), 25.
6
Gilbert Chase, The Music of Spain (New York: Dover, 1941), 25-26.
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The lute would develop into several other instruments over time. In the

Renaissance, after the end of the Reconquista and the end of Arabic occupation, the

Spanish tried to establish their national unity. In Spanish music, a type of song called the

villancico served this purpose. An instrument called the vihuela saw a surge in

popularity at this time. It had developed from the lute, with six strings instead of five,

and its tuning was identical. The first use of the term vihuela appears around the 13th

century, around the same time as the guitar.7 Though this instrument is no longer used,

another instrument derived from it is. An Italian name for “vihuela” was “viola,” an

instrument still used in classical music today.

From the tradition of the Maghreb, often left out of discussions of the Moors,

comes an instrument called the rabab. Though it had little impact on the instrumentation

of European classical music, it introduced the concept of bowing, thereby challenging the

prominence of the lute and guitar.8It is therefore of little doubt that the Moorish

occupation of Spain left a lasting impact on not just Spanish music, but all of Western

classical tradition.

But timbre and instrumentation are only two aspects of the complex art form

known as music. In over 700 years of occupation, it is certain that the Moors left an

impact on Spanish musical theory and practice.

The Middle Ages were defined by the void in intellectual progress that

accompanied the fall of the Roman empire. Classical learning and the artistic ideas of the

Greeks were lost to the states of Europe. Not mentioned often is that this knowledge was

available to the Arabs after the rise of Muhammad. Arabic scholars were preserving the

7
Stanley Sadie, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol. 19 (London: Macmillan, 1980),
758.
8
Salma Khadra Jayyusi, The Legacy of Muslim Spain (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992), 566.
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texts of the Greeks and improving upon classical ideals. Arabic mathematicians and

scientists were continually making new discoveries, and Arabic musical theorists were

just as prominent. Several major theorists were producing advanced literature in an

Arabic classical tradition far more advanced than the European one today. Al-Kindi, al-

Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Safiyy al-Din had access to the writings of the Greeks and adapted

Greek theory with Arabic music to produce a unique system of art music that survives to

this day.9

The Arabic system of art music consists of what Westerners would call semitones,

having about twice as many notes as the Western system. Patterns of these notes are

divided into many modes called maqamlar, which are used interchangeably throughout a

song. Though Spanish music stays within the realm of Western theory, the use of mixed

modes in the Cantigas de Santa Maria are uncharacteristic of either European folk music

or art music at the time.10 The use of chromatically-adjacent notes is possibly an attempt

by the composer to imitate the maqamlar of the Moorish music they were hearing.

Even today, the influence of the Arabs on Western thought is still disputed on the

academic level and unknown by the peoples of most Western nations. The Europeans in

the Middle Ages were undoubtedly greatly affected by the presence of the Moors, and the

post-Reconquista attempt to expel the Moors could not expel seven centuries of cultural

blending. Spanish music was irreversibly influenced by the instruments, styles, and ideas

of the Moorish occupation, and today’s musicians can be thankful for the diversity that it

created in today’s musical realm.

9
Salma Khadra Jayyusi, The Legacy of Muslim Spain (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992), 555.
10
Gustave Reese, Music in the Middle Ages (New York: W.W. Norton, 1940), 247.
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Works Cited

Chase, Gilbert. The Music of Spain. New York: Dover, 1959.

Earle, T.F. and K.J.P. Lowe, ed. Black Africans in Renaissance Europe. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Etzion, Judith. “Spanish Music as Perceived in Western Music Historiography: A Case of

the Black Legend?” International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of

Music 29, no. 2 (1998): 93-120.

Jayyusi, Salma Khadra, ed. The Legacy of Muslim Spain. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1992.

Reese, Gustave. Music in the Middle Ages. New York: W.W. Norton, 1940.

Ribera, Julian. Music in Ancient Arabia and Spain. Translated and abridged by Eleanor

Hague and Marion Leffingwell. New York: Da Capo Press, 1970.

Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London:

MacMillan, 1980.

Schacht, Joseph and C.E. Bosworth, ed. The Legacy of Islam, 2nd ed. London: Oxford

University Press, 1974.