Preface
This volume is a small
contribution to the continuing international research in the field of muwashshah and zajal.
Our first publication on these
matters – effectively Volume 1 – was the outcome of the conference that we
organised at the School of Oriental and African Studies
[SOAS, London] in 2004.1
A further conference followed,
again held at SOAS (June 2015), and then another at the Fundación
EuroArabe in Granada (April 2020). The latter
conference could not take place because of the Covid
pandemic; however, a number of our contributors agreed that they would present
their papers for publication in this present volume.
The passage of time has meant
that some of our contributors are no longer with us. In particular we note the
passing of our colleague Federico Corriente, of the University
of Zaragoza, who died in June 2020. Our book contains
two papers which he saw as his last words on our subject.
During the preparation of this
present volume, I took the liberty of conducting an inquiry among our research
community. In particular, they were asked to send their thoughts on desirable
paths for future research into the muwashshah and zajal. The resulting research agenda is outlined in
the Appendix to this present volume.
This book will be printed in a
limited numbers of copies – for the principal national libraries, and for
interested colleagues. The individual articles are also available on a
dedicated website. They can be found at the following address:
www.geocities.ws/muwashshah2020
With the editing work now
completed, our thoughts turn to the future. There are encouraging signs that a
new generation of muwashshah and zajal researchers is emerging, and with that in
mind we are planning a next conference. The plan is to hold it
in Granada in Autumn 2022.
For further details, write
to [email protected]
E.E.
Cambridge
1 May 2021
Note 1: Muwashshah :: Proceedings of the Conference on Arabic and Hebrew Strophic Poetry and
its Romance Parallels, School of Oriental and African Studies
[SOAS], London, 8-10 October 2004
The 2004 volume is published online
at www.geocities.ws/muwashshah2004