Arab Music: A Survey of Its History and Its Modern Practice

Description

Arab Music: A survey of its history and modern practice is primarily meant for the general Western reader with some basic knowledge of music and music notation. It aims at correcting the still prevalent romantic image of Arab music, spread in the 19th century, as exotic and typified by long, plaintive and erotic sounding melodic lines and inciting rhythms. It offers the reader a comprehensive survey of the history and the development of Arab music and musical theory from its pre-Islamic roots until 1970, as well as a discussion of the major genres and forms practiced today, such as the Egyptian gīl, the Algerian raï and Palestinian hip hop. Other topics touched upon are musical instruments and folk music. The analysis of each genre is accompanied by a complete musical notation of an exemplary composition or improvisation, including lyrics and translation. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Page Part 1 Historical background Introduction The legacy of past centuries Egypt and Mesopotamia From the third century BCE to the seventh century CE. Arab music before the arrival of the Islam. The Bedouins Mecca and Medina Musical instruments The early Islamic period and the Umayyad Caliphate (600 - 750) The muḳannaṯ Damascus The Golden Age of the Abbasids (eighth and ninth centuries) Music at the court of Harun ar-Rasid The emergence of Andalusia Music theory The beginning of the Andalusian music tradition: Ziryāb The tenth to the thirteenth century Music theory in the Mashriq Al-Fārābī Al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad Ibn Sīnā Developments since the tenth century in the Maghreb From circa 1250 to 1600 Musical life Music Theory The basic tone range The basic scales jins and šadd Transposition of modes Rhythm Forms of compositions The organization of the modes and cosmology Musical instruments From the late fifteenth to the mid-nineteenth century From 1850 to the end of the twentieth century The period of the Arab renaissance, the nahḍa The twentieth century The lyric theatre The music film and Muḥammad ʿAbdū-l-Wahhāb The radio and Umm Kulthūm The turāṯ or musical heritage The seventies, a change of generations Part 2 Part 2 The Modern Time Introduction The tone system Temperament The jins The maqām The number of maqāmāt The tonal structure of a maqām The main maqāmāt — Rāst — Bayātī — Sīkā — Huzām — Sabā — Nahāwand — Nawā aṯar — ʿAjām — Ḥijāz Modulations Meter and rhythm Simple binary awzān Simple ternary awzān Some compound awzān aqsāq ṯaqīl: aqsāq: dawr hindī: nawaḳt: dawr kabīr turkī: samāʿī ṯaqīl: ʿawīs: The classical urban music The tradition of Iraq: al-maqām al-ʿirāqī The classical tradition of Syria and Egypt, the waṣla The instrumental forms of the Syrian and Egyptian tradition The taqsīm The bašraf The samāʿī The lūnga The dūlāb The taḥmīla The vocal forms of the Syrian and Egyptian tradition The mawwāl The dawr The layālī The uġniya The muwaššaḥ Classical traditions in North Africa: the nawba The Moroccan nawba tadition The Algerian nawba tradition The Tunisian nawba tradition Popular music Firqa songs The Egyptian šaʿbī The Egyptian gīl The Algerian raï The Moroccan šaʿbī (chaâbi) The Arab hiphop Folk Music The Middle East The Bedouins The sedentary population Non-metrical songs of the sedentary population. Metrical songs of the sedentary population The music of the inhabitants of the eastern and southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula The Maghreb Vocal Music Instrumental music Bibliography Discography List of recorded music Websites Index