The Musician's Secret of Granada | سِرُّ المُوسِيقَارِ في غَرْنَاطَة
"In the Alhambra's shadow, a blind oud player discovers that his most beautiful compositions are born from touching a woman whose voice guides him through darkness."
سِرُّ المُوسِيقَارِ في غَرْنَاطَة
The Musician's Secret of Granada
الفَصْلُ الأَوَّل: الظَّلَامُ وَالنَّغَم
Chapter One: Darkness and Melody
كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ بنُ زِرْيَابٍ أَشْهَرَ عَازِفِ عُودٍ فِي غَرْنَاطَة. أَلْحَانُهُ تُبْكِي الحَجَرَ وَتُرْقِصُ الجَبَل. لَكِنَّهُ كَانَ أَعْمَى مُنْذُ الوِلَادَة، يَرَى العَالَمَ بِأُذُنَيْهِ وَأَصَابِعِه.
Ibrahim ibn Ziryab was the most famous oud player in Granada. His melodies made stones weep and mountains dance. But he had been blind since birth, seeing the world through his ears and fingers.
كَانَ فِي الخَامِسَةِ وَالأَرْبَعِينَ، وَحِيدًا لَمْ يَتَزَوَّجْ قَطّ. كَانَ يَقُولُ: "كَيْفَ أُحِبُّ امْرَأَةً لَا أَرَاهَا؟" وَكَانَ يَكْتَفِي بِعُودِهِ عَشِيقًا.
He was forty-five, alone and never married. He would say: "How can I love a woman I cannot see?" He contented himself with his oud as his beloved.
الفَصْلُ الثَّاني: الصَّوْتُ الَّذِي أَضَاء
Chapter Two: The Voice that Illuminated
فِي لَيْلَةٍ كَانَ يَعْزِفُ فِي قَصْرِ الحَمْرَاء، سَمِعَ صَوْتًا يُغَنِّي مَعَ عُودِهِ. صَوْتٌ عَمِيقٌ دَافِئٌ كَالعَسَل، يُكَمِّلُ أَلْحَانَهُ كَأَنَّهُ جُزْءٌ مِنْهَا.
One night while playing in the Alhambra, he heard a voice singing with his oud. A deep warm voice like honey, completing his melodies as if part of them.
"مَنْ أَنْتِ؟" سَأَلَ الظَّلَام.
"Who are you?" he asked the darkness.
"أَنَا رَيَّا، خَادِمَةٌ فِي القَصْر."
"I am Rayya, a servant in the palace."
"صَوْتُكِ أَجْمَلُ مِنَ الوَصْف. هَلْ أَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ أَلْمِسَ وَجْهَكِ لِأَرَاكِ؟"
"Your voice is more beautiful than description. May I touch your face to see you?"
اقْتَرَبَتْ مِنْهُ. مَدَّ يَدَهُ فَلَامَسَ خَدًّا نَاعِمًا دَافِئًا، ثُمَّ أَنْفًا صَغِيرًا، ثُمَّ شَفَتَيْنِ مُمْتَلِئَتَيْن. "أَنْتِ جَمِيلَة،" قَالَ.
She approached him. He extended his hand and touched a soft warm cheek, then a small nose, then full lips. "You are beautiful," he said.
"وَكَيْفَ عَرَفْتَ؟"
"How do you know?"
"لِأَنَّنِي أَرَى بِيَدَيَّ."
"Because I see with my hands."
الفَصْلُ الثَّالِث: رُؤْيَةٌ جَدِيدَة
Chapter Three: A New Vision
بَدَأَتْ رَيَّا تَزُورُهُ كُلَّ لَيْلَةٍ. تُغَنِّي مَعَهُ، وَيَعْزِفُ لَهَا. وَبَدَأَ يَكْتَشِفُهَا بِيَدَيْهِ: شَعْرُهَا طَوِيلٌ كَأَوْتَارِ العُودِ، عُنُقُهَا نَاعِمٌ كَرَقَبَةِ الآلَة، وَجَسَدُهَا مُمْتَلِئٌ كَصُنْدُوقِ العُودِ الَّذِي يَحْتَوِي الصَّوْت.
Rayya began visiting him every night. She sang with him, and he played for her. He began discovering her with his hands: her hair was long as oud strings, her neck smooth as the instrument's neck, her body full as the oud's resonating body that contains sound.
"جَسَدُكِ عُودٌ،" قَالَ لَهَا لَيْلَة، "وَأَنَا أُرِيدُ أَنْ أَعْزِفَ عَلَيْه."
"Your body is an oud," he told her one night, "and I want to play upon it."
"اعْزِفْ،" قَالَتْ وَهِيَ تَأْخُذُ يَدَهُ إِلَى صَدْرِهَا.
"Play," she said, taking his hand to her chest.
وَجَدَ نَهْدَيْهَا مُمْتَلِئَيْنِ كَثِمَارِ الرُّمَّانِ الغَرْنَاطِيّ. لَمَسَهُمَا بِأَصَابِعِهِ الَّتِي تَعْرِفُ الأَوْتَار، فَأَنَّتْ أَنَّةً كَانَتْ أَجْمَلَ لَحْنٍ سَمِعَه.
He found her breasts full as Granada's pomegranates. He touched them with fingers that knew strings, and she moaned a sigh that was the most beautiful melody he had ever heard.
الفَصْلُ الرَّابِع: السِّيمْفُونِيَّة
Chapter Four: The Symphony
عَزَفَ عَلَى جَسَدِهَا كَمَا يَعْزِفُ عَلَى عُودِه: بَدَأَ بِمُقَدِّمَةٍ بَطِيئَةٍ عَلَى عُنُقِهَا، ثُمَّ انْتَقَلَ إِلَى صَدْرِهَا فِي إِيقَاعٍ مُتَصَاعِد، ثُمَّ نَزَلَ إِلَى بَطْنِهَا فِي مَوَّالٍ طَوِيل، حَتَّى وَصَلَ إِلَى مَا بَيْنَ فَخِذَيْهَا فِي ذُرْوَةِ النَّغَم.
He played upon her body as he played his oud: beginning with a slow prelude on her neck, then moving to her chest in rising rhythm, then descending to her belly in a long mawwal, until he reached between her thighs at the melody's peak.
صَرَخَتْ رَيَّا صَرَخَاتٍ كَانَتْ أَجْمَلَ مِنْ أَيِّ مُوَشَّحٍ سَمِعَهُ. وَعَرَفَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ أَنَّهُ وَجَدَ آلَتَهُ الحَقِيقِيَّة.
Rayya screamed with cries more beautiful than any muwashah he had heard. Ibrahim knew he had found his true instrument.
"لَقَدْ أَرَيْتِنِي،" قَالَ لَهَا، "مَا لَمْ تُرِنِي عَيْنَان."
"You have shown me," he said to her, "what no eyes could show."
الفَصْلُ الخَامِس: الثُّنَائِيّ
Chapter Five: The Duet
أَعْتَقَهَا السُّلْطَانُ حِينَ سَمِعَ قِصَّتَهُمَا، وَزَوَّجَهَا لِإِبْرَاهِيم. وَصَارَا يُغَنِّيَانِ مَعًا فِي كُلِّ أَعْرَاسِ غَرْنَاطَة: هُوَ يَعْزِفُ وَهِيَ تُغَنِّي، صَوْتَانِ وَعُودٌ وَاحِدٌ.
The Sultan freed her when he heard their story, and married her to Ibrahim. They sang together at every wedding in Granada: he playing and she singing, two voices and one oud.
"كَيْفَ تُحِبُّ امْرَأَةً لَا تَرَاهَا؟" سَأَلَهُ أَحَدُهُم.
"How do you love a woman you cannot see?" someone asked him.
"أَرَاهَا بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ إِلَّا عَيْنَيَّ،" أَجَاب. "وَهَذِهِ الرُّؤْيَةُ أَصْدَق."
"I see her with everything except my eyes," he answered. "And this vision is truer."
الخَاتِمَة
Epilogue
أَلَّفَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ نَوْبَةً مُوسِيقِيَّةً سَمَّاهَا "نَوْبَةَ رَيَّا"، يُقَالُ إِنَّهَا أَجْمَلُ مَا أُلِّفَ فِي الأَنْدَلُس. وَمَنْ يَسْمَعُهَا يَشْعُرُ بِأَصَابِعَ تَلْمِسُ رُوحَهُ.
Ibrahim composed a musical nuba he called "Rayya's Nuba," said to be the most beautiful composed in Andalusia. Whoever hears it feels fingers touching their soul.