Relationship Between Poetry and Music in the Context of Mawlid Recitation: A Philosophical Analysis

Abstract

When we say `mawlid recitation', we first understand three basic points: 1) The tradition of religious experience; 2) Mawlid or poetry as a form of oral and written literature; 3) The rarely composed and generally improvisational performance of this poem in musical maqams. Analyzing the relations between these three basic elements is important for understanding the mawlid tradition. When we say the tradition of mawlid, we will refer to the tradition of recitation of the poems written and collected by Suleyman Celebi (Sulaiman Chalabi) in his Vasila al-Nejat. Our philosophical analyses will focus on the relationships between the poems in this book and their musical recitations. The relationship between words (poetry) and music in the Mawlid recitation sometimes becomes an area of interaction where words and sometimes music gain more effectiveness and weight. Considering the composed versions of the mawlid, we can say that a dialogue or conversational activity generally occurs in the poetry-word relationship.