View source for MofA Week 2: The history of Arab music & the construction of “Arab music” ("al-musiqa al-`arabiyya")

=  Intro =

* Arab musical warm up!  Melody and rhythm with nay and riqq accompaniment. (We'll try to do this daily - feel free to bring instruments!)
Concepts/practices of [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MENAME/Theory/Maqamat.jpg maqam][http://maqamworld.com] and [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MENAME/Theory/Durub%20chart%20rev%202009.pdf darb]


* What is an SC paper? - ex: [http://www.fwalive.ualberta.ca/~michaelf/MENAME/ArabCulture/dev.arabworld.nitle.org/textsf339.html?module_id=5&reading_id=45&sequence=1 Touma] . Concepts of "source" vs. "reference" (e.g. [[Wallaschek's 1893 account of Khoikhoi music in SW Africa ("Hottentot")]] - 

* Notes:
** Please don't sign out all the reserve readings at once!
** You don't need to complete readings by Tuesday
** New readings finalized by Saturday.
** Beware of Firefox.
** [[Notes on using Jstor from off-campus | Adjust jstor links when off campus]]

= Some concepts...critiques =
== Critical concepts ==
* emic (insider perspective) vs. etic ("objective" perspective) distinction (e.g.:  "what is music?")
* source vs. reference
* ethnocentrism:  viewing the world from a limited perspective of your own culture - and not recognizing that fact!
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Said#mediaviewer/File:Jean-L%C3%A9on_G%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_-_Le_charmeur_de_serpents.jpg Orientalism]:  closure and self-replication in discursive networks

== Learning and hearing music ==
* oral continuity vs written continuity; secondary orality & notation and mnemonic
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornbostel-Sachs Hornbostel-Sachs] system for classifying musical instruments (try to find:  nay, riqq, oud, lyre).
* concept of frequency ratios and musical intervals (e.g. an octave is 2:1). We'll take this up next week, in the context of theoretical discourses about music.
* 'Microtones', 'quartertones' (see www.maqamworld.com), equal temperament vs. frequency ratios
== Studying music ==
* As you may observe in your readings, there are multiple disciplinary approaches to our area of study: ethnomusicology (anthropology of music), comparative musicology (e.g. comparative music theory), non-western music history (e.g. Farmer and Sawa on Arab music history), music performance.

=  Continue critical introduction =

"What is ethnomusicology of the Arab world?" (what is the Arab world? who is an Arab? what is Arab music?...)

* [https://eclass.srv.ualberta.ca/mod/page/view.php?id=1056464 Critique of "Music of the Arab World"] (for Ethnomusicology of the Arab World).
* [https://eclass.srv.ualberta.ca/mod/page/view.php?id=1056465 Definitions?]
* Question: we can always define "etic" musical categories - but to what extent do they cohere ''musically'' as "Arab music" or even "Music of the Arab world"?
* Your turn: empirical investigations. Let's listen to some examples from the "Arab world". You write down the salient features and think about how these examples cohere (or don't). ([https://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/fwa_mediawiki/index.php?title=MofA_Multimedia audio and video recordings])

=  History of the word "Arab"  =
* First documented use of the word is around 853 BC, by Akkadian speaking outsiders in reference to people of the Arabian peninsula to their south, perhaps referring to the grassland "steppe" (Arabah) where these nomads dwelled. 
* Originally the more urban and sedentary south Arabians did not regard themselves as "Arabs", though later Muslim genealogy turned them into the "true" Arabs (Arab Ariba) originating with Qahtan, vs. the northerners, originating from Adnan (Arab Musta`riba).  Ironically it is the latter who are the ancestors of Muhammad (via Abraham's son Ismail).
* First use of the term "Arab" in Arabic: not until 328 AD.  
* Earliest Arabic texts date from the 6th century, immediately before Islam (Jahiliyya poetry).
* In Arabia, a plethora of tribes speaking related dialects were united by Islam;  the concept of "being Arab" became more explicit, and dialectical differences probably lessened; Arabic of the Quraysh became most important.
* Arab armies (especially under Caliph Umar) conquered surrounding areas as "Arabs" (in contrast to others) ruling an "Arab empire" (Umayyad), often living separately in camps ("amsar").  But gradually they assimilated other cultures at the center (Medina, Damascus) and periphery, especially with Islamicization.
* The shift to Abbasid caliphate (and to Baghdad as capital) responded to second-class status of non-Arabs (mawali) and the shu`ubiyya (anti-Arab privilege) movement, and corresponded to an ethnic widening. Arabic remained crucial lingua franca, but many scholars, musicians, administrators didn't identify as "Arab", and Persian was also used.  With influx of Turkic peoples, the empire was thereafter better characterized as "Islamicate".
* Eventually Arabic declined in the secular sphere,  in favor of other languages (Turkish, Persian, Urdu), though it was always retained as the essential language of Islam, both for scholarship and for ritual practice.
* Revivals of "Arab" (the nahda), concepts of "Arab nationalism" ((al-qawmiyya al-`arabiyya) and "Arab world" began in the 19th century, as a response to colonialism.

Concepts of nation and region are applied to music - but which are most musically real? e.g. "Arab music" (vs. "Middle Eastern music", "Egyptian music", "Islamic music", etc.)

= History of Arab music =

Histories are always constructed.  The construction is often as interesting as the history itself.

* Nomenclature and relation to political forces - the development of "al-musiqa al-arabiyya"
** Pre-Islamic music of Arabia: Beduin Huda and Nasb; urban music of the qayna (Sinad and Hazaj). Many qiyan became very famous.
** Khulafa Rashidun and Ummayad periods 632-750 (before Greek influence during the Abbasid period): development of Ghina', inshad with influx of culture, people, and wealth from expanding empire.
** Abbasid period: 750 - 1258  Formation of Arab Music of the east (mashriq), with Greek influence - introduction of terms Musiqa or Musiqi (term and theoretical perspectives, esp. Pythagoras, Aristoxenus). Great musicians such as Ibrahim and Ishaq al-Mawsili, and Prince Ibrahim al-Mahdi.
** Flowering of Andalus 711-1492:  Formation of Arab Music of the west (maghrib), interaction with Europe. Ziryab.
** Decline of "Arab" concept subsequently 
** Modern colonial period: influence: al-Musiqa al-Sharqiyya (e.g. early 20th c:  al-Ma`had al-Maliki lil-Musiqa Sharqiyya); reaction as "Arab nationalism"
** Ottoman influence:  "Arab" also as ethnic designation in opposition to "Turkish" (attempts to "purge" Turkish influence); al-Ma`had al-Maliki lil-Musiqa Sharqiyy sponsored the 1932 conference "Mu'tamar al-Musiqa al-`Arabiyya)
* Historical overview...
** [[Periodization of Islamicate history | Islamicate timelines and periods, and music]]
** [[The history of Islamicate music]] (as presented by Touma, himself an Arab nationalist)
** [[Critique of "Arab music" history]]
** [[Outline of the history of music in the Arab world]] (as presented by me)
* [[Typology of Music of the Arab World]] today.

= Films relating to the "Golden Ages" of Arab music =

* Abbasid Baghdad:  Umm Kulthum in ''Dananeer''. Songs from the film: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMQvcEBO0Ew][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H72D7QjPvd0][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGuNoqLqHcM&feature=related][http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vT6gFzB0m2g&feature=related]

Three ways of reading "Dananeer":

# as an (explicit) representation of 9th c Abbasid culture
# as an (implicit) representation of Egyptian perceptions of "Arab history" in 1940 (Arabism vs. Persians and other outsiders, Arab nationalism in the song while marching to Iraq)
# as an (implicit) representation of Egyptian film music and music culture in 1940 (including Umm Kulthum's own journey from village to Cairo)

* [http://digital.films.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=11416&psid=0&sid=0&State=&title=An%20Art%20of%20Living:%20Arab%20Aesthetics%20in%209th-Century%20Spain&IsSearch=N&parentSeriesID= An Art of Living] (on Ziryab in Cordoba)


= El Mastaba and CSL =

See:

* [https://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/fwa_mediawiki/index.php?title=Ethnomusicology_of_the_Arab_World_(Fall_2014)#CSL_component CSL with El Mastaba], from the course outline.
* [https://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/fwa_mediawiki/index.php?title=CSL_for_El_Mastaba  This wiki page, summarizing our CSL project, and including lots of media.]
* [https://eclass.srv.ualberta.ca/mod/page/view.php?id=1188220 More media, via eClass]

Which band most interests you and why?