Difference between revisions of "Inshad dini"

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Inshad Dini = Islamic religious hymnody
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= Overview =
  
= Traditional inshad in the Arab world =
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Traditional Inshad Dini ("religious hymnody") = Islamic religious hymnody; sometimes known simply as inshad, nashid (nasheed, nasyid) or anashid.
  
* [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MR/Chanting%20devotion/Islamic/Cue%205.mp3 Ibtihalat]. Performed by Shaykh Taha al-Fashni, probably the most famous mubtahil of the 20th c. Here
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The words "musiqa" or "ghina'" are avoided for religious material such as inshad, adhan, tilawa, du`a'.
ibtihalat is based entirely on poetry. The recording is different from the dawn-prayer style heard above.
 
From Sono Cairo 67028/601.
 
  
* [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MR/Chanting%20devotion/Islamic/Cue%206.mp3 Tawashih diniyya]. Performed by Shaykh Muhammad al-Fayyumi and his bitana (chorus). Tawashih
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Inshad or nashid are standard terms in Arabic; other cultures may adopt these also, or use related terms for genres that fulfill nearly identical social roles, and carry the same themes (but may use different languages or musical styles), e.g. in South Asia there is "qawwali" (inshad) or "na`t" (praise).  
involve alternation between solo and chorus; the former improvisatory, the latter more precomposed and
 
quasi-metric. From Sono Cairo 75113/461.
 
  
 +
The performer of inshad or nashid (nasheed) is called  a  munshid, and if specialized is a respected religious figure. Performance centers on a religious poem, performed using local musical resources, but not recognized as music. Often musical instruments are avoided also.  Inshad draws upon languages and dialects around the world; it is meaning (rather than text) which is crucial (unlike Qur'an or adhan). Yet Arabic always retains its special sacred  status (and sometimes Arabic terminology comes to acquire a religious meaning outside the Arab world, e.g. the word "qasida" (Ar. poem) which comes to mean "religious poem" in SE Asia.
  
* Mawlid. Listen to a typical [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MR/Chanting%20devotion/Islamic/Mawlid%20example/Mawlid.mp3 mawlid] and read the associated [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MR/Chanting%20devotion/Islamic/Mawlid%20example/Mawlid%20notes.jpg album notes].
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The most common poetic themes are:
  
The mawlid is a celebration of the Prophet Muhammad's birth, including devotional singing; it is frequently recited in the mystical orders of Islam, the turuq Sufiyya - in this case the Hamidiyya Shadhiliyya order of Egypt.
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* ibtihalat or du`a': supplications to God
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* tasbih or tamjid or takbir: glorification of God
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* madih or na`t:  devotional praise, usually to the Prophet Muhammad
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* wa`z:  exhortations directed to the listener
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* qisas:  narratives, usually sira nabawiyya (stories of the Prophet's life, recited especially for his birthday, mawlid)
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* `ilm, fiqh, shari`a:  doctrinal statements (in mnemonic form)
  
[http://youtube.com/watch?v=5n_dikNnsS8 Here is an example from Jedda], in Saudi Arabia.
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Despite conceptual separation, there was always a close relation between singing (ghina') and devotional forms up until the mid 20th century, since voices were honed in Qur'anic recitation and inshad, and because inshad conveyed respectability. Singers often carried the title "shaykh" as a form of religious respect. Only with commercialization and educational reform was this link broken, in the mid 20th century.
  
[http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jclz7_YJI2Y Here's another, from Montreal]
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It is difficult to separate "inshad dini" (religious inshad) from "inshad Sufi" (Sufi inshad); the latter is mainly distinguished by context, behavior, and intention, since the themes overlap to a great extent.
 +
 
 +
Ideological fissures:
 +
* degrees of separation:  music and religion.  What kind of "music" is appropriate in a religious context?
 +
* Islamic movements: reformist Islam (Salafi, Wahhabi...) and traditional Islam ("Sufi")
 +
 
 +
=  Examples, mostly from Egypt =
 +
 
 +
* Ibtihalat
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** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bVC6PJrBUc Sung poetic supplications (ibtihalat)], from Egypt.
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** [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vsnjFds3RR_5ISJgDdj-tQGUrq6wlS2w More ibtihalat]. Performed by Shaykh Taha al-Fashni, probably the most famous mubtahil of the 20th c. Here ibtihalat is based entirely on poetry. The recording is different from the dawn-prayer style heard above. From Sono Cairo 67028/601.
 +
 
 +
* [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iADe6oG_tvrZEKYgLg3dhk547sRlgiHa Tawashih diniyya]. Performed by Shaykh Muhammad al-Fayyumi and his bitana (chorus). Tawashih
 +
involve alternation between solo (munshid) and chorus (bitana); the former improvisatory, the latter more precomposed and quasi-metric. From Sono Cairo 75113/461. This style was responsible for training many performers, who started out in the bitana.
 +
 
 +
* Mawlid. Listen to a typical [https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qAgakhXdx4tPxiEScriIFC1OdRmQXLMV mawlid]
  
For more information on inshad dini in Egypt, see the following:
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The mawlid is a celebration of the Prophet Muhammad's birth, including devotional singing; it is frequently recited in the mystical orders of Islam, the turuq Sufiyya - in this case the Hamidiyya Shadhiliyya order of Egypt. There are many mawlid texts, comprising poetry and prose; they can be chanted or sung, solo or group.  Several of the famous Arabic texts are the mawlids of Barzanji, of Manawi, and the Burda of al-Busiri. They may be performed for the Prophet's Birthday (12 Rabi`a al-Awwal) or on other occasions (religious holidays, or life cycle occasions). 
  
* [http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Bulletin/34-2/34-2%20Frishkopf.htm Inshad Dini and Aghani Diniyya in Twentieth Century Egypt: A Review of Styles, Genres, and Available Recordings], an article from MESA Bulletin
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[http://youtube.com/watch?v=5n_dikNnsS8 Here is an example of mawlid from Jedda], in Saudi Arabia.
  
= Musical inshad and aghani diniyya =
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[http://youtube.com/watch?v=Jclz7_YJI2Y Here's another, from Montreal]
  
Whereas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, singers and munshidin were often indistinguishable, the two streams "singing" and "hymnody" drifted apart by mid-century due to media and capitalist pressures.  Nevertheless crossover does happen--even in the present (with popular music more commercial than ever, while religious trends are more literalist than ever) pop singers may release "religious" songs from time to time.
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Perhaps the most famous Islamic poem of all time (and perhaps the most widely known poem in any language) is a mawlid, the "Burda" of Sharaf al-Din al-Busiri (1211–1294) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H65vD_lvoCE Here's a traditional recitation of the Burda in Pakistan.]
  
* [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MR/Chanting%20devotion/Islamic/Cue%2013.mp3 Orchestral inshad (religious song)]. Performed by Shaykh Sayyid al-Naqshabandi with chorus and
 
orchestra. Here is an example of transformation of the older ibtihalat and tawashih traditions. Shaykh
 
Naqshabandi became famous through media appearances. Formerly he performed in the traditional vocal
 
style, which was later augmented with orchestra and fixed arrangements. Note the focus on nay (reed
 
flute), whose sound is a symbol of Islamic mysticism and contemplation, as well as the duff (frame drum),
 
which is specially sanctioned by Prophetic traditions in Islamic music.
 
  
* [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MR/Chanting%20devotion/Islamic/Cue%2014.mp3 Aghani diniyya] (religious songs performed by ordinary singers=mutribin). Performed by ‘Abd al-Halim Hafez
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For more information on inshad dini in Egypt, see the following:  [https://sites.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MESA_Bulletin_34-2.pdf Inshad Dini and Aghani Diniyya in Twentieth Century Egypt: A Review of Styles, Genres, and Available Recordings], an article from MESA Bulletin
Hafez. ‘Abd al-Halim was Egypt’s Elvis, an extremely popular singer of romantic songs; he did not train
 
in the religious tradition and has no status as “shaykh”. However during religious holidays he might sing
 
religious material; this tape is an example. It cannot be considered pure inshad dini, since the context,
 
style, and performer do not certify the performance as a true devotional act. The nay is used to mark the
 
performance as religious, and the mood is subdued, with little meter; but vocal style is similar to ‘Abd al-
 
Halim’s standard popular fare.
 
  
* More recently Egyptian popular singer Hisham Abbas released this version of the [http://youtube.com/watch?v=8OVp2ASGOic 99 most beautiful names of God].  Compare this to his more usual "video clips" such as [http://youtube.com/watch?v=Lfcwqb3QFDQ this one], performed with an Indian singer, or [http://youtube.com/watch?v=MU5i10Sf8Zg this], performed with a Turkish singer.
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More contemporary versions of inshad are called nashid (nasheed) and tend to be closer to popular songs in their production values, often accompanied by a music video, though with a strictly religious focus.
  
= New mediated inshad =
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= Burda =
  
With the rise of mass music media—beginning with early 20th c phonograms—new modes of commodified production and consumption were enabled, transforming the sound and meaning of Islamic music.  Mass media tend both to replace traditional performance, and to standardize it, according to high-value models.  While cassettes (1970s) greatly expanded mediazation, until recently most distribution was regional.  
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The Burda is a truly global genre. Because the text is always the same, comparing Burda performances across history and culture provides a good opportunity to contrast sonic and pragmatic aspects of this key aspect of Islamic language performance.
  
Since the 1990s,  a studio-produced style called nashid or anashid, has been globally disseminated via satellite TV and Internet, in the ethos of Islamic reformism. While traditional themes of praise and supplication remain, new ones—political or social—are also taken up, in keeping with reformism’s more socially engaged worldview.
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(ranging from traditional to contemporary popular styles)
  
Conservative performers avoid instruments, though often admitting percussion as a matter of principle. Such inshad is restrained, with little improvisation or elaborate melisma, yet modernized through digital processing, harmonization, and music videos. One of the most media-savvy voices  is that of the Kuwaiti [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4937366452266404637 Shaykh Mashari Rashid al-`Afasy] (b. 1976), who also recites Qur’an and ad`iyya, serves as imam of Kuwait’s Grand Mosque, and even owns his own religious TV station (al-`Afasy TV). 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReVFoZCv7cM
  
The work of others is closer to popular music, often incorporating melodic instruments, and featuring contemporary arrangements, inflected by local pop style. Such performers include the British-Azeri [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbIaetu85OM Sami Yusuf]. In one album (My Umma) he scrupulously avoided use of musical instruments, but later made use of them as in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkkwgrjOBFQ this clip], though not without invoking criticism. Here he deliberately makes use of several languages, emphasizing unity in the Muslim Ummah.  Other performers of this type include [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvbgaw972c4 Zain Bhikha] from South Africa, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJQgVYG7ELE Mesut Kurtis] from Macedonia, the Indonesian [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5z-cWGESRY Haddad Alwi] and the phenomenal Malaysian boy band, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGtMXBDD2qY Raihan]. Note use of traditional gongs in some southeast Asian nasheed.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8dGisCH-HA
  
Islamic versions of Western popular music genres, usually created by Muslims living in the West, maintain musical style, while inserting Islamic texts and intentions.  Examples include Islamic hip-hop (Amir Sulayman), Islamic punk rock (Taqwacore) (e.g. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRTd80en1CI the Kominas], Islamic folk-rock ([http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBFkokotZDA Dawud Wharnsby Ali], and of course [http://youtube.com/watch?v=-L-GOHa5-YQ Yusuf Islam], aka Cat Stevens), even Islamic country ([http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y4P5Mvt0fmc Karim Salama]) (Buysse, 2007, Swedenburg, 2002, Miyakawa, 2005, Abdul Khabeer, 2007).  These musics tend to engage social issues afflicting diasporic Muslim communities, e.g. racism and drug use, addressing non-Muslims as well.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsoAOOFyQc8

Revision as of 23:33, 7 March 2018

Overview

Traditional Inshad Dini ("religious hymnody") = Islamic religious hymnody; sometimes known simply as inshad, nashid (nasheed, nasyid) or anashid.

The words "musiqa" or "ghina'" are avoided for religious material such as inshad, adhan, tilawa, du`a'.

Inshad or nashid are standard terms in Arabic; other cultures may adopt these also, or use related terms for genres that fulfill nearly identical social roles, and carry the same themes (but may use different languages or musical styles), e.g. in South Asia there is "qawwali" (inshad) or "na`t" (praise).

The performer of inshad or nashid (nasheed) is called a munshid, and if specialized is a respected religious figure. Performance centers on a religious poem, performed using local musical resources, but not recognized as music. Often musical instruments are avoided also. Inshad draws upon languages and dialects around the world; it is meaning (rather than text) which is crucial (unlike Qur'an or adhan). Yet Arabic always retains its special sacred status (and sometimes Arabic terminology comes to acquire a religious meaning outside the Arab world, e.g. the word "qasida" (Ar. poem) which comes to mean "religious poem" in SE Asia.

The most common poetic themes are:

  • ibtihalat or du`a': supplications to God
  • tasbih or tamjid or takbir: glorification of God
  • madih or na`t: devotional praise, usually to the Prophet Muhammad
  • wa`z: exhortations directed to the listener
  • qisas: narratives, usually sira nabawiyya (stories of the Prophet's life, recited especially for his birthday, mawlid)
  • `ilm, fiqh, shari`a: doctrinal statements (in mnemonic form)

Despite conceptual separation, there was always a close relation between singing (ghina') and devotional forms up until the mid 20th century, since voices were honed in Qur'anic recitation and inshad, and because inshad conveyed respectability. Singers often carried the title "shaykh" as a form of religious respect. Only with commercialization and educational reform was this link broken, in the mid 20th century.

It is difficult to separate "inshad dini" (religious inshad) from "inshad Sufi" (Sufi inshad); the latter is mainly distinguished by context, behavior, and intention, since the themes overlap to a great extent.

Ideological fissures:

  • degrees of separation: music and religion. What kind of "music" is appropriate in a religious context?
  • Islamic movements: reformist Islam (Salafi, Wahhabi...) and traditional Islam ("Sufi")

Examples, mostly from Egypt

  • Ibtihalat
    • Sung poetic supplications (ibtihalat), from Egypt.
    • More ibtihalat. Performed by Shaykh Taha al-Fashni, probably the most famous mubtahil of the 20th c. Here ibtihalat is based entirely on poetry. The recording is different from the dawn-prayer style heard above. From Sono Cairo 67028/601.
  • Tawashih diniyya. Performed by Shaykh Muhammad al-Fayyumi and his bitana (chorus). Tawashih

involve alternation between solo (munshid) and chorus (bitana); the former improvisatory, the latter more precomposed and quasi-metric. From Sono Cairo 75113/461. This style was responsible for training many performers, who started out in the bitana.

  • Mawlid. Listen to a typical mawlid

The mawlid is a celebration of the Prophet Muhammad's birth, including devotional singing; it is frequently recited in the mystical orders of Islam, the turuq Sufiyya - in this case the Hamidiyya Shadhiliyya order of Egypt. There are many mawlid texts, comprising poetry and prose; they can be chanted or sung, solo or group. Several of the famous Arabic texts are the mawlids of Barzanji, of Manawi, and the Burda of al-Busiri. They may be performed for the Prophet's Birthday (12 Rabi`a al-Awwal) or on other occasions (religious holidays, or life cycle occasions).

Here is an example of mawlid from Jedda, in Saudi Arabia.

Here's another, from Montreal

Perhaps the most famous Islamic poem of all time (and perhaps the most widely known poem in any language) is a mawlid, the "Burda" of Sharaf al-Din al-Busiri (1211–1294) Here's a traditional recitation of the Burda in Pakistan.


For more information on inshad dini in Egypt, see the following: Inshad Dini and Aghani Diniyya in Twentieth Century Egypt: A Review of Styles, Genres, and Available Recordings, an article from MESA Bulletin

More contemporary versions of inshad are called nashid (nasheed) and tend to be closer to popular songs in their production values, often accompanied by a music video, though with a strictly religious focus.

Burda

The Burda is a truly global genre. Because the text is always the same, comparing Burda performances across history and culture provides a good opportunity to contrast sonic and pragmatic aspects of this key aspect of Islamic language performance.

(ranging from traditional to contemporary popular styles)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReVFoZCv7cM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8dGisCH-HA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsoAOOFyQc8