Ma'l f is an Arabic word meaning 'familiar' or 'customary'. In Tunisia, it is the term used for the indigenous Arab Andalusian musical tradition. Like the related musical traditions of Morocco, Algeria, and Libya, the ma'l f originated in the Islamic courts and cities of medieval Iberia (Al-Andalus) and is associated with the migrations of Muslim and Jewish refugees into North Africa in the wake of the Christian reconquest. This...