14 - 20 March 2002
Issue No.577
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 March 2002 Issue No.577 |
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Illiterate creativity
The Graying of the Raven, Aida Adib Bamia, Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2001. pp141This study, while bearing the sub-title "Cultural and Sociopolitical Significance of Algerian Folk Poetry," deals in particular with the work of a single unpublished oral poet, Muhammad bin al-Tayyib 'Alili, who lived during the first half of the last century. Little is known about him except that he was a khammas i.e. one of those numerous peasants who worked somebody else's land in exchange for a mere fifth of what it produced. Being a khammas he was poor, illiterate and without any special skills; he lived in a house built of straw and mud, was married with children and suffered from bad health as a result of an injury.
He was born and lived in a village inhabited in the main by colons from various European countries, also by an Algerian Jewish community engaged in trade. 'Alili was able to make for himself a slightly better social position than the average khammas through his gift for composing folk poetry, known in the Maghrib as malhun, and by reciting it in his local cafe and in surrounding villages. Malhun is a form of poetry in the colloquial language with no regard for grammar or vocalisation. This form of poetry had first become widespread in Andalusia as a result of the presence of a predominance of non-native speakers of Arabic living in an Arab society; it was called zajal and has been practiced, for instance in Egypt, by such talents as Bairam El-Tunsi and Salah Jahin.
Similar to malhun poetry was ray, a form of folk poetry which is usually sung and which has in the last few years gained worldwide popularity. Ray originated in the Oran region of Algeria soon after the French occupation and was at first primarily sung by women, whereas malhun poetry was almost exclusively the preserve of men. The malhun, and folk literature generally, became "the voice of the silent majority," the illiterate and poor who had no way of expressing the misery of their lot under French colonial rule.
A public performance in Milyana, Algeria Photo: Lehnert and Landrock
A man of 'Alili's talents shared with his fellow peasants their hopelessness and frustration, being like them illiterate and uneducated, yet was able to depict for them, in a shared language, what most of his countrymen had not the insight to see. Folk poetry, the writer points out, also has a therapeutic role for those who possess no other means of expressing their impotence in bearing the pains of injustice. Thus in his poetry 'Alili targets many aspects of village life: he ridicules those villagers who cooperate with the oppressors in the hope of gaining some material advantage and shows up the charlatans of popular medicine; he also denounces saint worship, which was widely practiced and was exploited by the French administration in Algeria. Oral poetry was an effective weapon against the occupying power in that it is difficult to control and easy to circulate; double meanings are often not understood by non-native speakers, even by those with a knowledge of the classical language.
None of 'Alili's poems was ever published -- as indeed was the case with most malhun poets who were his contemporaries. Why, then, was 'Alili chosen by the author as the main subject of her study? This was due to the fact that his small repertoire of poems had been collected by a certain Hadj-Sadok whom the author of the book happened to meet; also because of the originality of 'Alili's work.
The book contains in effect all of 'Alili's poetry, written in Arabic with an English translation alongside. The longest poem is entitled "The Hoe" (Al- Qadum). Told in the first person, it relates in vivid style the story of a poor peasant who has his precious hoe, a particularly beautiful one, as elegant and desirable as a beloved woman, stolen from him. He tries every possible way of getting it back: asking every one in the village, at one time hiring a town-crier, and at the end going to a fortune- teller who suggests he take a train to a suburb of Algiers, something which for the poor labourer is an impossibility. The hoe has become an eloquent symbol of unattainable happiness.
The writer, presently professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Florida, won with this book the AUC Middle East Studies Award. While as the study of an individual Algerian poet it makes interesting reading, its important message is summed up in the final words of the book: "Thus while 'Alili's poetry entertains and informs, it provides yet another example of the valuable contribution folklore makes to our knowledge of a society, and argues in favour of efforts for the protection of every country's folk heritage."
Reviewed by Denys Johnson-Davies
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