Outline of the history of music in the Arab world
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
- Pre-Islamic period (jahiliyya) (to 622)
- Arab consciousness not yet established
- Music of Arabic-speakers: poetry-centric, localized
- Early Islamic: rise of Great Tradition (to 750)
- Multicultural influences: Persian Sasanian, Byzantine, Syrian, Egyptian...
- Rise of Arab consciousness and expansion of Arab character
- Abbasid and Andalusian "golden age" of Great Tradition (750-900)
- Multicultural society
- Increased Persian influence
- Decline in Arab character and identity
- Increase in Islamicate character and identity
- Political fragmentation (from late 9th c)
- Decline of Arabic-speaking powers
- Destruction of Baghdad (1258) by Mongols
- Foreign domination of Cairo
- Rise of non-Arabic speaking dynasties
- Turkish (from 10th century, but especially Ottomans from 1299, took Egypt in 1517)
- Mamluks, from 1250 in Arabic speaking regions (Cairo) (Turkish speaking)
- Persian (especially Safavids from 1501-1736)
- Berber (Almoravids from 1040, Almohads from 1121)
- Mughal (from 1526; Urdu)
- Reconquista (Christian reconquest of Spain, expulsion/conversion of Muslims and Jews completed 1492)
- Contraction of "Arab" concept
- Decline of Arabic-speaking powers
- Emergence of regional art music traditions (esp. after 13th c)
- Gradual divergence from Great Tradition, and development of regional art music tarab traditions
- Arabic-speaking world
- North Africa (influence of Andalusia) = maghrib (vs. eastern areas = mashriq)
- Egypt
- Levant
- Iraq
- Arabia/Gulf
- Turkic world (Ottomans)
- Persianate world (Safavids, Qajars)
- Mughal world (Hindustani music)
- Rise of "turath" and pan-Arab music (1900+)
- Factors: Arab nationalism, recording era, economy of music
- Reclamation of an "Arab" heritage, despite regional diversity
- "Old" art music labelled as Arabic "al-turath al-`arabi al-qadim" (old Arab heritage)
- Influence of radio, film, commodification, western music
- Rise of a new modern music: mediated tarab, via films, radio, later TV
- Few media producers/channels, centralized
- Therefore: appearance of pan-Arab music (top-down, Cairo-centered), inducing ideological pan-Arabism
- Appearance of cassette tape, greater private sector freedom (1970s)
- Explosion of decentralized producers/channels with limited distribution
- decline of pan-Arab music
- Rise of new mass media (1990s)
- Satellite TV, mobile phone, Internet
- Private ownership
- Distributed ownership
- Return of pan-Arab music, inducing emergent pan-Arabism