Yemenite Jewish poetry, often referred to as "paraliturgical poetry" because of its religious nature, has been an integral part of Yemenite Jewish culture since time immemorial. The Jews of Yemen have preserved a well-defined singing arrangement which not only includes the very poetic creation itself, but also involves a vocal and dance performance, accompanied in certain villages outside Sana'a by drumming on an empty tin-can (tanakeh) or a copper tray. The Jews of Yemen, maintaining strict adherence to Talmudic and Maimonidean halakha, observed the gezeirah which prohibited playingWhile also "listening" to musical instruments is proscribed by Maimonides, before he brings down this prohibition, however, he first speaks about the prohibitions of playing musical instruments and of rejoicing at the playing thereof. Understandably, there were instances where the Jews in Yemen, by no fault of their own, would hear music from their Arab neighbors (note Halikhoth Teiman p. 288), and there was no practice to shut one's ears in Yemen upon hearing, in passing, an Arab playing a musical instrument. musical instruments,Maimonides, Mishneh Torah (Hil. Ta'niyyoth 5:14) (see Touger commentary, footnote 14); Maimonides (1989), vol. 2, responsum # 224 / vol. 4 [Rubin Mass and Makhon Moshe, Jerusalem, 2014] p. 137); Rabbi Yosef Qafih's commentary to Mishneh Torah, ibid., in note 27 following his citation of Maimonides' responsa, "לא דיים ששותים יין בכלי זמר שיש כבר שתי עברות כפי שמנה רבנו לעיל" (English: they drink wine with musical instruments, which alone involves two sins as our master enumerated above [prohibitions three and four of the five enumerated in responsum # 224]). Qafih, Y. (1989), vol. 2, p. 959, s.v. השירה והלחנים בתפילת יהודי תימן, which reads: "אין יהודי תימן מלווים שירתם בכלי ואפילו שירים הנאמרים בבתי משתאות בגלל האיסור שבדבר, קל וחומר תפילתם, כך שאין יהודי תימן מכירים שירה בכלי כלל (מה שמקצת כפרים מלווים את שירת משתיהם על פח איני יודע אם ימצא מי שהוא שיקרא לזה כלי שיר) לא כלי הקשה לא כלי פריטה ולא כלי נשיפה." English translation "Yemenite Jews do not accompany their song with instruments–even songs said in houses of feasting–due to the prohibition of the matter, all the more so their prayers. Thus Yemenite Jews do not at all recognize song with instruments (that which some villages accompany the songs of their feasts by tin, I don't know if there's anyone who would call this a musical instrument), neither percussion instruments, string instruments, nor wind instruments." and "instead of developing the playing of musical instruments, they perfected singing and rhythm."Spielberg Jewish Film Archive - Teiman: The Music of the Yemenite Jews: 4:32–4:48: "Drumming was used by all. Mourning the destruction of the second temple resulted in the prohibition of using musical instruments. The Yemenites, stringent in their observance, accepted this ban literally. Instead of developing the playing of musical instruments, they perfected singing and rhythm." (For the modern Yemenite-Israeli musical phenomenon see Yemenite Jewish music.) This arrangement was integrated into the walks of life familiar to the Jews of Yemen. The texts used in the arrangement were put down in writing and laterRatzaby, Yehuda (1995), p. 228. included in separate song collections (dīwāns). The social strictures and norms in Yemenite Jewish culture provide for separate settings for men and for women, where the sexes are never mixed. Men's song usually expressed the national aspirations of the Jewish people,Sassoon, D.S. (1932), vol. 1 (Introduction), p. xxxvii. and it was far removed from the singing associated with the Muslim environment, whereas folk songs of Jewish women were sung by rote memory (unwritten poetry) and expressed the happiness and sorrows inherent in their daily life and was, as a rule, closer to that of Muslim women.Maswari-Caspi, Mishael (1973), pp. 87, 89.
Structure In terms of the formal structure, men's songs during social gatherings among Yemenite Jews are of three genres: nashīd (introduction), shirah (poem) and hallel (praise).Spielberg Jewish Film Archive - Teiman: The Music of the Yemenite Jews: "The Diwan, the basis of all songs for men, is always divided into three parts. The first part, called the nashid, is an introduction, always sung by a soloist." (4:59–5:11)... "The nashid concludes with a paraphrased verse from the book of songs, chanted in a set melody, which serves as a bridge to the second part called shirah." (5:22–5:31)... "At the end of the shirah the singer recites the last line. This, signals the beginning of the third part of the diwan, the hallel. The hallel begins and ends with the word haleluya. It is always sung to a fixed melody, a living testimony of the most ancient sounds of Jewish music that, despite the millennia of exile in Yemen, remain unchanged." (8:23–9:02) The nashīd is written in the form of a classical Arabic qaṣīda. All songs of praise are always preceded by a song of supplication and of entreaties, known in Arabic as a nashīd. The shirah (poem) is a Hebrew term denoting two known structures taken from Arabic poetry, namely, the muwashshaḥ (lit. "girdle poem,"Carmi, T., ed. (1981), p. 30 being the most common poetic form in Yemen)Maswari-Caspi, Mishael (1980), p. 178. and the Andalusian zajal.Yosef Tobi (Professor emeritus, the Department of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of Haifa), lecture notes. In the muwashshaḥ, the first strophe of the poem sets up a specific rhyme, and each strophe that follows is composed of four verses, whose last rhymes with the original strophe.Maswari-Caspi, Mishael (1980), pp. 173–198 These poetic genres were strictly composed in Hebrew, or else with a mixture of the two languages (Hebrew and Judeo-Arabic), although, occasionally, it could be found solely in Judeo-Arabic. The vast majority of these compositions are contained in an anthology known as the Dīwān.
The Nashīd The nashīd is a song that, from the beginning to end, uses only one metre and one rhyme. It is sung by one or, at most, two members of a group, who are answered by the rest in attendance. The nashīd is a serious, often sad chant.Daum, W., ed. (1987), p. 279 Its content is religious rather than secular, the tone slow and monotonous, while the language employed is generally Hebrew.
The Shirah The shirot constitute the chief and essential component of the singing performance. If the atmosphere is agreeable, several shirot (plural of shirah, or poems) are performed one after the other. "When the atmosphere becomes charged the singer switches the melody or changes the rhythm. The more switches there are the more successful the event and the more esteemed the singer."Spielberg Jewish Film Archive - Teiman: The Music of the Yemenite Jews: 6:29–6:39.
In the dīwān, the structural layout of the shirah (poem), such as those performed at wedding celebrations, is the double muwaššaḥ, a structure that is characteristic of Muslim and Jewish poetry of Yemen, alike. The sense here is that the qufl, or simṭ (the lines which conclude the rhyme), is made-up of two parts: (a) three or four short lines, embodying a single rhyme which changes from one rhymed strophe to another; (b) two long lines whose rhyme is identical in all the strophes. In Yemenite Jewish tradition, these short lines are called tawšīḥ. The performance of the shirah (poem) at wedding celebrations by the professional meshorer (precentor) opens with a melodious tune; the ghuṣn lines (the first lines that open the rhyme in the first strophe) being by nature slow and full of yearning. When the precentor reaches the third line of the ghuṣn, the tempo becomes more charged. At this point another person joins the performance, not necessarily an experienced precentor, who sings the second part of each line, or repeats the short tawshīḥ lines.
The Hallel The halleloth (plural for Hallel) are short songs of blessing that begin and conclude with the word Hallelujah. As far as musical intonation and performance is concerned, the hallel (praise) is considered the simplest of the three genres. One man of the party opens with the starting words of the hallel, while the entire party loudly and eagerly joins in with him in a monotonous staccato melody, and who audibly draws out the end of the textual and musical frames.
Content Yemenite poetry is often steeped in allegorical expressions drawn from the Kabbalah and esoteric writings.Idelsohn, A.Z. (1930), p. 6 Although it might incorporate themes of wine and of love, or that of a bridegroom and bride, it is, nonetheless, distinctly set apart from songs of hedonism sung in revelry and in drinking bouts. In Yemenite poetry, such themes serve a mystical meaning, not to be understood in its literal context of a marriage between a man and a woman in the flesh, but of the bridegroom being the Holy One, and his bride, the people of Israel (Knesset Yisroel). The poem's principal content is the bride's supplication, meaning, Israel who was banished in exile from the groom's inheritance, from the holy city of Jerusalem, and also the incensed groom's (God's) ethical words of reproof and his longing for his bride. The arch-poet, Shalom Shabazi, many of whose poems make-up a large segment of the dīwān, has written a warning not to think of his poetry in sensual or secular terms, since all had been written as an allegory.In Shalom Shabazi's own words: "Let no man think that they are, may God forbid, words of lust of a profane [make-up], but rather, [they have been written] after the similitude of a proverb or riddle, like the Song of Songs [of Solomon], and all of them have been built upon an esoteric approach, but he who would think they are [merely] profane words, may God forbid, concerning him it has been said: Let that man be cursed who makes an idol image and mask." (Original Hebrew: אזהרה לכל מי שישיר לבל יחשוב שהם חס וחלילה דברי חשק של חול כי אם דרך משל וחידה כעין שיר השירים וכולם בנויים ע"ד הסוד והחושב דברי חול ח"ו נאמר עליו ארור האיש אשר יעשה פסל ומסכה).
The nashīd (plural: nashwad) is quintessentially religious, usually an appeal to God. The shirah (poem) is the principal genre sung on different joyous occasions, especially weddings. It is a long song which incorporates different themes–primarily philosophy, praise, and supplicationQafih, Y. (1976), pp. 58–59; reprinted in Qafih, Y. (1989), vol. 2, pp. 914–915, who writes: "When we examine the poetry of Yemenite Jewry during the different social gatherings and in the banqueting houses, it can be said that all of them are poems of reflection, of praise and of prayer... There are many describing the joy of the groom and bride, but these are stated as if it were only incidentally, seeing that the main substance of the poem is one's reflection [on the words], the rabbinic literature, the praise and the prayer." Qafih further writes that the corpus of Yemenite poems is in accordance with Ḥazal's words in Sanhedrin 101a, entirely halakhic, mishnaic, and haggadic. See Qafih, Y. (1976), p. 63; Qafih, Y. (1989), vol. 2, p. 919, who wrote: "And when we look upon the Yemenite Jewish poetry, we find that all of it, in its entirety, is in accordance with the words of Israel's Sages, of blessed memory, in Sanhedrin 101a, mentioned above, 'All of it is Halacha, Mishnah, and Haggadah'. – and has a fixed opening structure in which God is praised, and an ending in which the party of men gathered on that joyous occasion are praised. Actually, on such occasions several shirot (songs) are sung one after the other.
Songs of redemption feature prominently in the Yemenite repertoire of para-liturgical poetry. One example is Sapari Tamo, two stanzas of which are as follows, and where birds are used allegorically for the gentile nations:
Manner of performance