Guilherme Pais Antunes

Arab Music An Overview

Arab music covers a vast geographical area ranging from the Atlas Mountains, and parts of the Sahara in Africa, to the Arabian Gulf region and the banks of the Euphrates. Five principal processes have shaped Arab music, some purely intellectual and cultural, others political. Contact with assimilated cultures is the first and took place during the early centuries of Islam, with the growth of cosmopolitan cultural centers in Syria under the Umayyads (661-750) and in Iraq under the Abbasids (750-909). While retaining strong local elements, the music featured new performance techniques, new aspects of intonation, and new musical instruments. Court patronage of poets and musicians became common practice, in contrast to the antipathy of some early Muslims towards music and musicians. The second process was marked by the introduction of scholars of the Islamic world to ancient Greek treatises. The outcome of this exposure to the classical past was profound and enduring. The Arabic language was enriched and expanded by a wealth of treatises and commentaries on music written by prominent philosophers, scientists, and physicians. An early contributor was Ibn alMunajjim (died 912) who left us a description of an established system of eight melodic modes. Another major contribution was made by the philosopher al-Kindi (died about 873), who in his treatises discussed the phenomenon of sound, intervals, and compositions. Abu Nasr al-Farabi (died 950), whose Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir, The Grand Treatise on Music, is an encompassing work, is another great contributor. It discussed such major topics as the science of sound, intervals, tetrachords, octave species, musical instruments, compositions, and the influence of music. Safi ad-Din al-Urmawi (died 1291) In two authoritative treatises, discussed various aspects of musical knowledge, including rhythm and meter. The third major process affecting Arab music was the contact between the Islamic Near East and Europe at the time of the Crusades in the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth centuries and during the Islamic occupation of Spain (713-1492.) The westward movement of scientific scholarship into the Muslim universities of Spain is known to have influenced the Christian West and to have promoted the translation of Arabic works, including commentaries on Greek sources, into Latin. Influence in the case of instruments is indicated by name derivations: for example, the lute from al-'ud; the nakers, or kettledrums, from naqqarat; the rebec from rabab; and the anafil, or natural trumpet, from al-nafir. Added evidence comes from manuscript illustrations of instruments that have obvious Near Eastern origins.

The fourth major process influencing Arab music was the hegemony of the Ottoman Turks over Syria, Palestine, Iraq, the coasts of Arabia, and much of North Africa (15171917.) The Ottoman period was characterized by gradual assimilation and exchange. Arab music interacted with Turkish music, which had already absorbed musical elements from Central Asia, Anatolia, Persia, and medieval Islamic Syria and Iraq. The fifth and most recent process is the contact between Arab music and the modern West following the Napoleonic conquest of Egypt (1798-1801) and the subsequent cultural and political interaction during the nineteenth centuries. One of the earliest manifestations of Westernization in the Arab world was Muhammad 'Ali's importation of the European military-band concept into Egypt. Unifying Traits of Arab Music One aspect of unity in Arab music is the intimate connection between the music and the Arabic language. Another salient trait is the principal position of Arab melody in Arab music and the absence of complex polyphony. Melody in Arab music also incorporates microtonality, namely intervals that do not conform to the half-step and whole-step divisions of traditional Western music. The concept of melody is commonly connected with modality, a conceptual organizational framework widely known under the name maqm; plural, maqmt). Each of the maqmt is based on a theoretical scale, specific notes of emphasis, and a typical pattern of melodic movement, in many instances beginning around the tonic note of the scale, gradually ascending, and finally descending to the tonic. The modal conception and organization of melody is paralleled by a modal treatment of Arab rhythm. In Arab music, metric modes are employed in various metric compositions and are widely known by the name iqa'at (singular iqa'). Another feature of musical unity in the contemporary Arab world lies in the area of musical instruments and their use in specific settings. Instruments such as the qanun, 'ud, nay and the Western violin are found in most urban Arab orchestras. To conclude, aspects of unity are also found in the traditional musical content of Arab social and religious life. Since Islam is the prevalent religion of the Arab world, Qur'anic chanting is the quintessential religious expression, transcending ethnic and national boundaries.