of its old traditions ...." Indeed, as in so many other areas of Andalusi culture and society, Jews have played an important role in the evolution and preservation of the musical heritage of al-Andalus throughout its history. From the very beginning, one of Ziryāb's colleagues at the court of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān II was a fine musician Manṣūr al-Yahūdī ("Mansur the Jew"). The scholars Avraham Elam-Amzallag and Edwin Seroussi further highlight the important role played by Jews in the history of Andalusi music, pointing out that not only have many important North African Andalusi musicians been Jews, but also Moroccan Jewish communities today in Israel preserve Andalusi melodies and even song texts in their religious music. Lyrical song texts of Andalusi music A number of old manuscripts preserve song texts and elements of Andalusi musical philosophy. The oldest surviving collection of these texts is found in two chapters from Aḥmad al-Tīfāshī's Mutʿat al-ʾismāʿ fī ʿilm al-samāʿ () (ca. 1253). More recent is a document entitled, al-ʿAdharā al-māyisāt fī-l-ʾazjāl wa-l-muwashshaḥāt (, "The Virgins Swaying for Zajals and Muwashshaḥs"), which probably dates to the middle of the 15th century and seems to be linked to the Andalusi music of Tlemcen in Algeria. By far the best-documented Andalusi tradition is that of Morocco, with the first surviving anthology having been produced by Muḥammad al-Būʿiṣāmī (d. ca. 1738). But the most important collection was Kunnāsh al-Ḥāʾik (the first of several versions is dated 1202/1788), which was revised by the wazīr al-Jāmiʿī in 1886 (numerous copies are found in libraries in Morocco, Madrid, London and Paris). Each of the modern nations of North Africa has at least one style of Andalusi music. In Morocco the secular instrumental version is called al-Āla (), while the religious a cappella style is called al-samāʿ wa-l-madīḥ (). In Algeria there are three styles: al-Gharnāṭī (referring to Granada) in the West, al-ṣanʿa () in the region around Algiers, and al-maʾlūf () in the East. The Tunisian and Libyan traditions are also called al-maʾlūf. Today A suite form, Andalusi nubah, is the basis of al-āla. Though it has roots in al-Andalus, the modern nūba () is probably a North African creation. Each nūba is dominated by one musical mode. It is said that there used to be twenty-four nūbāt linked to each hour of the day, but in Algeria there are only sixteen, and in Morocco, eleven have survived (although some nūbāt