Lyrical Poetry of the Countryside

Al-Hussein Al-Idreesi

Lyrical poetry has thus remained liberated from any authority on the premises that such poetry represents a renewed cultural institution in default of real centers. This innovative phenomenon attracted the colonists’ attention to an extent that made the Spanish military researcher, Emilio Blanco Ethica, to devote his book, Las dansas rifenas, to investigating it. This is in addition to the research work of the American anthropologist, David Hart, who maintained that “folk music of the countryside people” can be considered as ceremonial rituals representing Man’s struggle for survival. He treated this phenomenon a form of “ethnomusicology” which is concerned with the study of music types and forms and their cultural role in society, being a form of an oral tradition. David Hart too considered this phenomenon a crucial component of the identity of the countryside people as it represents a record of their daily life hopes and pains and setbacks and victories. In this functional approach, symbolic systems play a secondary role in achieving pragmatic and practical purposes. This phenomenon has encompassed all men and women of different ages in countryside society with varying degrees according to the needs and interests of each age. For example, love lyrical poetry was the concern of young (male and female) people, whereas old women were more interested in poetry of wisdom. The author maintains that the only mass medium which broadcasts such creative lyrical poetry is happy and sad ceremonial festivals, such as weddings, naming newborns, festivals of holy people, etc. Lyrical poetry, according to the author, is an oral tradition which is passed over from generation to another. It has not been recorded or documented. Male singers are more common in public festivals. This is in contrast with The Atlas area where female singers were more due to the conservative social nature of the families in the countryside. The author holds that the countryside, like other areas, has witnessed many social changes owing to the rapid pace of globalization which has affected all spheres of social life. The impact of this development has given birth to the multiplicity of forms and types of lyrical poetry since some new lyrics have stemmed from this change.