What is "ghazal"

Ghazal \Ghaz"al\, Ghazel \Ghaz"el\, n. [Ar. ghazal.] A kind of Oriental lyric, and usually erotic, poetry, written in recurring rhymes.

n. A poetic form mostly used for love poetry in Middle Eastern, South, and Central Asian poetry.

The Ghazal ( Arabic/ Persian: غزل) is a poetic form consisting of rhyming couplets and a refrain, with each line sharing the same meter. A ghazal may be understood as a poetic expression of both the pain of loss or separation and the beauty of love in spite of that pain. The form is ancient, originating in Arabic poetry in Arabia long before the birth of Islam. The term ghazal is of North African and Middle Eastern origin. Its root term in Arabic is " gh-zl " and is derived from the Arabian panegyric qasida. The structural requirements of the ghazal are similar in stringency to those of the Petrarchan sonnet. In style and content it is a genre that has proved capable of an extraordinary variety of expression around its central themes of love and separation.

The ghazal spread into South Asia in the 12th century due to the influence of Sufi mystics and the courts of the new Islamic Sultanate. Although the ghazal is most prominently a form of Dari poetry and Urdu poetry, today it is found in the poetry of many languages of the Indian sub-continent.

Ghazals were written by Rumi and Hafiz of Persia; the Azeri poet Fuzûlî in the Ottoman Empire; Mirza Ghalib and Muhammad Iqbal of North India; and Kazi Nazrul Islam of Bengal. Through the influence of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), the ghazal became very popular in Germany during the 19th century; the form was used extensively by Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866) and August von Platen (1796–1835). The Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali was a proponent of the form, both in English and in other languages; he edited a volume of "real Ghazals in English". Ghazals were written by Moti Ram Bhatta (1866 - 1896 A.D.), the pioneer for Ghazal writing in Nepali language.

It is common in ghazals for the poet's name (known as takhallus) to be featured in the last verse (a convention known as the Maqta).

Ghazal is a band formed by Kurdish-Iranian kamencheh player Kayhan Kalhor, Indian sitarist Shujaat Khan, and Indian tabla player Swapan Chaudhuri. Together, they perform music blending North Indian and Persian classical and light classical traditions.

Ghazal's 2003 live album The Rain was nominated in 2004 for the Grammy Award for Best Traditional World Music Album.

A ghazal is a poetic form consisting of couplets which share a rhyme and a refrain.

Ghazal or Gazal may also refer to:

• Gazal (1964 film), Hindi film, starring Meena Kumari and Sunil Dutt
• Ghazal (1990 film), a 1990 Malayalam film
• Ghazal (1993 film), a 1993 Malayalam film
• Ghazal (band), world fusion group

Ghazal is a 1993 Malayalam film directed by Kamal. Vineeth and Mohini play the lead roles in the film and Thilakan appears in a supporting role. The film was blasted by the critics and was a box office disaster. But director Kamal considers the film close to his heart, a film that took him to childhood memories. The film was produced by the famous serial script writer Late Bhasi Mankuzhi.

Ghazal (in Persian: غزل) is a 1975 Iranian film directed by Masoud Kimiai. It stars Mohammad Ali Fardin, Faramarz Gharibian and Pouri Banayi. It is based on the short story "The Interloper", written by Jorge Luis Borges. Because Fardin had been typecast as a happy-go-lucky person who always appeared in movies with happy endings, this film was a departure for him and was not successful at the box office.

'Ghazal ' is a Malayalam language film. It was released in 1990.