First English Anthology of Malhun in Works
I am delighted to announce my latest Special Project, developing the first English anthology of Moroccan Malhun poetry, building on my PhD dissertation and fieldwork and time spent in Morocco on and off, over more than a decade. Mbarek Sryfi, poet and professor at The University of Pennsylvania, is co-translator. Growing up in Morocco, he is a long-term fan of Malhun. The NEA is helping to fund our work (details here).
American Support for Moroccan Malhun Poetry in English
Hespress – Wail Bourchachene
Saturday, January 15, 2020 – 02:30
For original Arabic article in Moroccan press from Hespress, written by Wail Bourchachene, see here. English translation here by Marhaba Language Expertise.
A new project to translate Moroccan Malhun poetry into English is now seeing the light of day, bringing together translators from Morocco and America. The works of six Malhun poets written between the 15th and 20th centuries in the Moroccan Darija dialect were selected for this project.
Through the efforts of translators Melanie Magidow and Mbarek Srifi, this project hopes to convey the poems of ‘Abd al’Azīz al-Maghrāwī, al-Jīlālī Mtīrd, Muhuammad bin ‘Alī Wild Arzīn, ‘Abd al-Qādir al-‘Alamī, Thāmī al-Mdaghrī, and al-Makkī bi-l-Gurshī into English.
This translation project gained the support of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in 2022, an independent agency of the US federal government that supports and funds “projects demonstrating artistic excellence.”
Aside from academic and research efforts to preserve Malhun poetry as part of the popular cultural heritage of Morocco, from the books and encyclopedia of Mohamed El Fasi to Abbas Jirari’s “qasidah” thesis, the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco has also published 11 volumes entitled “The Malhun Encyclopedia.” Each of these volumes includes a collection of Malhun works, whose sources and transmission have been investigated, verified, and collated by Moroccan researchers under Abbas Jirari’s academic supervision.
More Publicity:
Article in Morocco World News here
Expressions of Support:
