Quick Facts
Biography
Abu Bakr Abd al-Malik ibn Quzman (Arabic: أبو بكر بن قزمان, 1078–1160) was the most famous poet in the history of al-Andalus; he is also considered to be one of its most original. He was born and died in Cordoba during the reign of the Almoravids but seems to have spent most of his time in Sevilla. He has earned his fame from his zajals. Characteristics of the zajal or zejel include its colloquial language, as well as a typical rhyming scheme, aaab cccb dddb, where b rhymes with a constantly recurring refrain of one or two lines. The zajal is extremely similar to the Malhoun poetry found in North Africa, both in style and vocabulary.
The lifestyle of Ibn Quzman was similar to that of troubadours. His approach to life as expressed in his melodious poems, together with their mixed idiom (occasionally using words of the Romance languages), shows a resemblance to the later vernacular troubadour poetry of France.
A collection of poems by Ibn Quzman (Spanish "Cancionero") was rediscovered in Saint Petersburg in 1881.
