To do

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 maqam [1] and darb

Notes:
- Please don't sign out all the reserve readings at once!
- You don't need to complete readings by Tuesday
- Beware of Firefox.
- Adjust jstor links when off campus

Some concepts...critiques

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!
Orientalism: closure and self-replication in discursive networks

oral continuity vs written continuity; secondary orality & notation and mnemonic
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

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.

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

Critique of "Music of the Arab World" (for Ethnomusicology of the Arab World).
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). (audio and video recordings)

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

Role of Arab nationalism (since 19th c) in formulating the concept of "Arab music" as "al-musiqa al-arabiyya"
Historical overview...
- Pre-Islamic types in the Arabian jahiliyya
  - the qayna as courtesan (like geisha?), in hana or royal palaces. Sinad (complex) and hazaj (simple) songs. Stringed instrument (lute?): mizhar, kiran, muwattar, or sanj. Wind instruments: quassab, mizmar; percussion: duff; jalajil.
  - Beduin song: huda' (camel driver's song) and nasb (individual rider's song)
- 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)
What is an SC paper? - ex: Touma (critical reading & analysis, together...)
Film: the celebrated pan-Arab singer Umm Kulthum plays the role of the famous Abbasid-era qayna, Dananeer, in the film Dananeer (1940).

Three ways of reading this film

as an (explicit) representation of 9th c Abbasid culture
as an (implicit) representation of Egyptian perceptions of "Arab history" in 1940
as an (implicit) representation of Egyptian film music in 1940

See:

Which band most interests you and why?