Zambra Moraby Dondi Dahlin

he interest in Zambra Mora began for me around 1995. I was al-ready an established belly dancer at the clubs in Southern California and South Florida and was looking for something a bit different. I had to return to my hometown of San Diego and heard of a woman named Tatiana who was teaching “Zambra Mora” and Tajikistan dancing. I wasn’t sure what to expect but loving surprises and really wanting to do something new, I went to class with Tatiana of Minnesota. I later took workshops in Zambra Mora with Alex-andra King and Maria Morca.

Throughout the years I continued to Belly Dance around the world and first visited Spain in 2004 when I was tour-

ing with The Belly Dance Superstars. After a month of performing in the Teatre Victòria in Barcelona I headed to Andalucía to research Zambra Mora. It was VERY frustrating. Records of the “forbidden dance” have been lost and hidden since the time that Zambra Mora flourished over 400 years ago. The following is not HARD evidence for Zambra Mora. If you are on a quest to “find” Zambra Mora, it can be dis-couraging. Even after spending time in Andalusia and searching for the dance more than once I can only make intel-ligent “guesses” about the dance. Please research Spanish and Moorish cultural history in Spain between 711-1492 for more information. IT IS VERY DE-

T

TAILED. Look at the time before 711 and before the Moors ruled Spain and look at the 1700’s when the Moors were starting to come back to Spain. There is some scattered information on the inter-net. Some of the better resources are Morocco of New York and Amaya of New Mexico. Some of the women in the US who have performed Zambra Mora on video tape are Alexandra King, Mesmera, and Elena Lentini.

The beat of Zambra Mora is dramatic and slow. It is referred to as a 4/4 rhythm and is performed free form, that is to-tal improvisation without a determined choreography. The dance has little or no taconeo (footwork) like that of Flamenco. The footwork of Zambra Mora is earthier and more of a stomp and traveling step. The arms are flowing and the upper body bends, twists, undulates and circulates. Circular hand and wrist movement is common (floreo.) Zambra Mora em-braces all of the five elements. The facial expressions are of joy, confidence, defi-ance and concentration.

Don’t mistake Zambra Mora for the “Zambra.” It can be quite different. Be clear when you speak to people because the “Zambra” nowadays is more of a Flamenco dance. It is performed by the Romani people (Gitanos) of Granada. The Zambra dance forms part of the wedding ceremonies at Gitano weddings, and gyp-sies perform it for tourists in the Andalu-cian Sacromonte Caves and Hills.

Zambra Mora has roots in Southern Spain (mainly Granada) from 711-1492 with

the Gitano’s or “Spanish Gypsies.” The Moors ruled Southern Spain for 800 years. This means that Zambra Mora is older than Flamenco which was first referred to in literature in the 1700’s. In Maghrebi (Moroccan Arabic) Zambra means celebration/party and Mora is for the Moors~ the people from North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria) of mixed Arab/Berber decent. It was outlawed when Catholicism started ruling Spain...when Moors and Jews were having to hide their cultures, dance and music. In modern times it has been espoused by flamenco dancers Carmen Amaya, La Chunga, Pi-lar Lopez and Puela Lunaris. It is usually danced barefoot with a coin hip sash or coin belt and bra. Finger cymbals and/or tambourine are often used. The blouse is tied under the bust and the skirt is tight around the hips, then flares out and has a

ruffle at the end. This dance is fiery, pas-sionate, forceful and seductive. The cos-tuming is colorful and flowing.

Many people say that this dance is an ancestor of Flamenco. There is a similar-ity, though many movements are Arabic and based in the hips. There are others still who claim that Zambra Mora is an Arabic/Flamenco fusion. I do not believe that Zambra Mora can be classified as a “fusion” of Arabic and Flamenco. I have studied both. Zambra Mora came long before Flamenco...(could it be the God-mother of Flamenco?) Zambra Mora is VERY DIFFERENT than Flamenco in movement, music and attitude. For a large part of Moorish rule in Spain, there were happy, peaceful times between Jews, Moors and Christians. I believe that would have been reflected in Zambra Mora. Flamenco is much more angst-ridden in the emotions. There is a story of struggle and strife of the Gypsies told through Flamenco dance and it can be seen in all master Flamenco dancers. If we look at history it would make sense that Zambra Mora was more joyous, happy and light-hearted in its feeling. Again, this is just my opinion. There are MANY opinions about Zambra Mora and I believe one has to dig deep into history to even get a glimpse of what it might have been. Unfortunately, I believe it truly is lost and now we can only guess at what it might have been.

Zambra

The following are facts and statements from the Internet, books and other teachers that you might find interesting:

Moors and IslamThe Moors, from northern Africa, landed at Gibraltar, in the south of Spain, in 711, It took them less than seven years to conquer all of Spain, except for a few Christian kingdoms in the north. The Moors ruled Spain for the next 800 years. They settled mainly in the southern part of the country, in a region known as Andalusia. The Moors had an enormous influence on life in Spain. Farmland flourished when the Moors introduced sophisticated methods of irrigation. The Moors built beautiful palaces, public baths, schools, and gardens. They introduced the religion of Islam, practiced by Muslims, to Spain. Many Spanish people became Muslims during the Moors´ rule, although the Moors allowed Christians and Jews to follow their own religious beliefs. The Moors were also very knowledgeable about math and science. Under the Moors, Spain became a center of learning and culture.

ReconquestEventually, the Christian kingdoms in the north began a long fight to win Spain back from the Moors. This period, from 718 to 1491, is known as the Reconquest. The two most powerful kingdoms in northern Spain were Castile and Aragon. When Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon married in 1469, they united their forces. Isabella and Ferdinand finally drove the Moors out of Spain when they captured the kingdom of Granada, the Moors´ last stronghold, in 1492.

The Spanish InquisitionFerdinand and Isabella practiced Roman Catholicism. They insisted that everyone in Spain also practice Catholicism. Mosques and synagogues were destroyed and rebuilt as churches. Jews and Muslims were given a choice: convert to Catholicism or leave Spain. Those who chose to convert were still persecuted. For example, Muslim converts were forced to live in certain rural areas. In 1478, Ferdinand and Isabella set up the Inquisition, a court to investigate whether people were practicing Roman Catholicism. People who had not converted or whose beliefs were questioned were sent out of Spain, punished severely, or executed. Five thousand people were executed in the first 50 years of the Inquisition, which finally ended in 1834. Small num-bers of Jews started to arrive in Spain in the 19th century, and synagogues were opened in Madrid. The Jews of Morocco, where the initial welcome had turned to oppression as centuries passed by, had welcomed the Spanish troops conquering Spanish Morocco as their liberators.

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Spanish historians started to take an interest in the Sephardim and their language.

Music and DanceMoorish influence in the Iberian Peninsula goes back thousands of years, but it was the Islamic invasion in 711 that brought the main musical influences. The conquerors brought their music, and were in turn influenced by native Spanish forms.It is believed that when Spain colonized the New World, they brought back the influence of Latin American dance steps and music. It would appear the fandango picked up dance steps deemed inappropriate for European tastes. Thus, the dance for fandango, for chacon, and for zarabanda, were all banned in Europe at one time or another. References to Gypsy dancers can be found in the lyrics of some of these forms, e.g., the chacon. Indeed, Gypsy dancers are often mentioned in Spanish literary and musical works from the 1500s on.

The first mention of flamenco in literature is in 1774 in the book Cartas Marruecas by José Cadalso. The word Flamenco is from the Arabic word “fellahmengu” which means “expelled peasant” after the end of the Moorish reign. Traditional flamencologists, like Molina and Maire-na, called the period 1780-1850 “The Hermetic Period” when flamenco was said to be secretly danced in Gypsy homes in the Seville and Cádiz area. Álvarez Caballero (1998) went further, stating that if there is no record of flamenco before the late 1780s, it is because flamenco simply did not exist. During the Golden Age of Flamenco, between 1869–1910, flamenco devel-oped rapidly in cafés cantantes, a new type of venue offering ticketed public performances.

Dondi performing Zambra Mora at the “Celebrating Dance” festival in England, 2006.

1492 was a HUGE year in Spain and worth reading about. The following is a brief time-line and can be found many places on the Internet. I borrowed the following information from: http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/1492/

1492 - What happened in 1492?

January 1492Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, surrenders. The first grammar of a modern lan-guage, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.

March 14921492 - Queen Isabella of Castille orders her 150,000 Jewish subjects to convert to Christianity or face expulsion. Ferdinand and Isabella sign a decree aimed at expelling all Jews from Spain unless they convert to Roman Catholicism.

April 1492Spain and Christopher Columbus sign a contract for him to sail to Asia to get spices.

August 1492Ferdinand and Isabella drive the Jews out of Spain. The Jews of Spain are expelled by the Cath-olic Monarchs.

October 1492Columbus misses Florida when he changes course. Christopher Columbus’s expedition makes landfall in the Caribbean. Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba.

December 1492Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to set foot on the island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). After 1525 all residents of Spain were officially Chris-tian, but forced conversion and nominal orthodoxy were not sufficient for complete integra-tion into Spanish society. Purity of blood (pureza de sangre) regulations were imposed on can-didates for positions in the government and the church, to prevent Moriscos from becoming a force again in Spain and to eliminate participation by Conversos whose families might have been Christian for generations. Many of Spain’s oldest and finest families scrambled to recon-struct family trees.

Dondi performing Zambra Mora at Cairo Caravan on the Queen Mary, 2010.Photos by Lee Corkett

Zambra Mora