Casa Árabe presents Coplas de la región de Yebala, norte de Marruecos (“Coplas from the Yebala Region in Northern Morocco”), by Carlos Pereda Roig (2014. Presentation, study notes, glossary and bibliography by Francisco Moscoso García. Barcelona, Alboránbellaterra), at an event which will include attendance of Francisco Moscoso García, the editor of these coplas and a professor at the Universidad Autónoma in Madrid; Eloy Martín Corrales, director of the Alborán Collection and a professor at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Cecilia Fernández Suzor, of the Cervantes Institute, and Carlos Pereda Mendoza, son of Carlos Pereda Roig. The presentation will be directed by Nuria Medina, Casa Árabe’s Coordinator of Cultural Programs.

Carlos Pereda Roig (1909-1978) is an Africanist who trained, worked and lived until the time of his death in Morocco. His professional career began as an interpreter in 1927, a position which he held until 1934. He then worked as a government auditor until Morocco’s independence in 1956, at which time he became a member of the technical-administrative corps which was to be discontinued. He held his final position in 1966, until his death, at the National Tourism Office in Tangier. He left behind 651 unpublished coplas, belonging to the sub-genres of `ayyu:`, mainly, and àyta yebliyya or taqtuqa yebliyya, which he had gradually collected throughout his life. These poems, meant to be sung when they are composed, are the result of the creative expression of the inhabitants of the region of Yebala, of which Pereda was enamoured. Their publication has been made possible thanks to the fact that his family donated his archives to the Juan Goytisolo Library of the Cervantes Institute in Tangier. 

Francisco Moscoso García (editor of the coplas) has been a professor at the Universities of Cadiz and Alicante. He is currently a professor of Classical Arabic and Moroccan Arabic at the Universidad Autónoma in Madrid. His lines of research include the study of traditional Arabic dialects from Morocco, the oral tradition of that country, the study of Moroccan Arabic in Spain from the eighteenth century to the modern day, linguistic policy in Morocco and the teaching of Moroccan Arabic. His most notable works include: El dialecto árabe de Chauen (The Arabic Dialect of Chaouen, Cádiz, UCA, 2003), Curso de árabe marroquí (Moroccan Arabic Course, Cádiz-Cuencua, UCLM, 2006), Cuentos en dialecto árabe del norte de Marruecos (Stories in the Arabic Dialect of Northern Morocco, Cádiz, UCA, 2007), Aproximación al cuento narrado en árabe marroquí (Approaching the Story Narrated in Moroccan Arabic, Helsinki, University of Helsinki 2012), b chuiya b chuiya (Almería, Albujayra, 2013, co-authored with Nadi Nouaouri and Óscar Rodríguez). 

Eloy Martín Corrales (director of the Alborán collection) has been a professor at the University of Seville and the University Autònoma in Barcelona. He is currently a professor at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. As a result of his interest in studying Spanish-Muslim relations throughout the period lasting from the sixteenth to twentieth centuries, he has produced the following titles: La Segunda República en Melilla. Memoria histórica: 1931-1936 (The Second Republic in Melilla: Historical Memory: 1931-1936, Melilla, Consejería de Cultura, 2000); Comercio de Cataluña con el Mediterráneo musulmán (siglos XVI-XVIII). El comercio con los enemigos de la fe (Catalonia’s Trade with the Muslim Mediterranean in the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries: Trading with the Enemies of Faith, Barcelona, Belllaterra, 2001); Marruecos y el colonialismo español (1859-1912). De la guerra de Africa a la penetración pacífica, (Morocco and Spanish Colonialism, 1859-1912: From the War in Africa to Peaceful Penetration, Bellaterra, 2002, as both editor and author); La imagen del magrebí en España. Una perspectiva histórica, siglos XVI-XX (The Image of the Maghrebi in Spain: A Historical Perspective, Sixteenth-Twentieth Centuries, Barcelona, Bellaterra, 2002); Semana trágica. Entre las barricadas de Barcelona y el Barranco del Lobo (Tragic Week: Between the barricades in Barcelona and the Barranco del Lobo, editor and author; Barcelona, Bellaterra, 2011) and most recently, Judíos entre Europa y el norte de África: Siglos XV-XXI (Jews Between Europe and North Africa: Fifteenth to Twenth-first Centuries, editor and author; Bellaterra, 2013). 

Cecilia Fernández Suzor (director of the Cervantes Institute in Tangier until November 2014) was born in Tangier and has a degree in Arabic Philology. She has held different positions at the main headquarters of the Cervantes Institute, including head of the Department of Cultural Activities from 2002 to 2004. She was the director of the Cervantes Institute in Tangier and Tetouan for the last five years, until November of 2014. Prior to that, she also held the position of Director in Fez and Tangier. During her last term in Tangier, Carlos Pereda Roig’s family donated his library and personal archives to the Cervantes Institute in that city. At present, she works at the central headquarters of the Cervantes Institute. 

Carlos Pereda Mendoza (the son of Carlos Pereda Roig) was born in the city of Chaouen and completed his studies up to secondary schooling in the city of Tangier. He later earned a degree in Advertising and Public Relations. He lives in Tres Cantos (Madrid). He has worked as a marketing director and consultant to several companies, as well as teaching courses on advertising and communication.