Poesia e performance del cantore epico arabo

In Upper Egypt, the poet who sings the epics of the Banu Hilal tribe is an important figure. It is only this epic cycle which is considered shi'r (poetry) par excellence, while the other epic cycles are thought to have derived from written sources. The poet, who is also a musician, a rababa or tambourine-player, is a professional who learns the epic through the oral tradition from te "poets" family. The Hilaliyya narrates the migration in the 10-11th centuries of the Bedouin tribe of the Banu Hilal from Arabia to Egypt and then to North Africa (Tunisia), spreading out a process of "bedouinization". The paper deals whit the main characteristics of the Arab epic singer's performance.