A.J. Racy, a scholar of ethnomusicology, provides an intimate portrayal of the Arab musical experience in this pioneering book. Racy focuses on tarab, a multifaceted concept that has no exact equivalent in English and refers to the indigenous music and the ecstasy associated with it. His book examines aspects of musical craft, including basic skills, musician's inspiration, love lyrics as tools of ecstasy, and the relationship between performers and listeners.
Frishkopf, Michael: Introduction: Music and media in the Arab world and music and media in the Arab world as music and media in the Arab world : a metadiscourse. - S. 1-64 Nassar, Zein: A history of music and singing on Egyptian radio and television. - S. 67-76 Abdel-Aziz, Moataz: Arabic music videos and their implications for Arab music and media. - S. 77-89 Wassimi, Mounir al-: Arab music and changes in the Arab media. - S. 91-96 Cestor, Elisabeth: Music and television in Lebanon. - S. 97-110 Ulaby, Laith: Mass media and music in the Arab Persian Gulf. - S. 111-126 Abdel-Latif, Yasser: Music of the streets : the story of a television program. - S. 129-136 Grippo, James R.: What's not on Egyptian television and radio! : locating the 'popular' in Egyptian Sha'bi . - S. 137-162 Elmessiri, Abdel-Wahab: Ruby and the checkered heart. - S. 163-172 Kubala, Patricia: The controversy over satellite : music television in contemporary Egypt. - S. 173-224 Barghouti, Tamim al-: Caliphs and clips. - S. 225-230 Armbrust, Walter: What would Sayyid Qutb say? : some reflections on video clips. - S. 231-254 Darwish, Hany: Images of women in advertisements and video clips : a case study of Sherif Sabri. - S. 255-263 Khachab, Walid El-: Arab video music : imagined territories and the liberation of desire (or sex lives in video (clip)). - S. 265-275 Abdel-Fattah, Wael: The biographies of Stalets today : revolutions in sound and images. - S. 277-290 Meizel, Katherine: Real-politics : televised talent competitions and democracy promotion in the Middle East. - S. 291-308.
What makes hundreds of listeners cheer ecstatically at the same instant during a live concert by Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum? What is the unspoken language behind a taqsim (traditional instrumental improvisation) that performers and listeners implicitly know? How can Arabic music be so rich and diverse without resorting to harmony? Why is it so challenging to transcribe Arabic music from a recording? Inside Arabic Music answers these and many other questions from the perspective of two "insiders" to the practice of Arabic music, by documenting a performance culture and a know-how that is largely passed on orally. Arabic music has spread across the globe, influencing music from Greece all the way to India in the mid-20th century through radio and musical cinema, and global popular culture through Raqs Sharqi, known as "Bellydance" in the West. Yet despite its popularity and influence, Arabic music, and the maqam scale system at its heart, remain widely misunderstood. Inside Arabic Music de-mystifies maqam with an approach that draws theory directly from practice, and presents theoretical insights that will be useful to practitioners, from the beginner to the expert - as well as those interested in the related Persian, Central Asian, and Turkish makam traditions. Inside Arabic Music's discussion of maqam and improvisation widens general understanding of music as well, by bringing in ideas from Saussurean linguistics, network theory, and Lakoff and Johnson's theory of cognition as metaphor, with an approach parallel to Gjerdingen's analysis of Galant-period music - offering a lens into the deeper relationships among music, culture, and human community.
Based on a decade of research, including in-depth interviews with many leading figures in the story, this edition is essential for anyone who wants to understand the roots of the turmoil engulfing the Middle East, from civil wars to the rise of Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
The first in-depth study of diverse and radical innovation in Arab music From jazz trumpeters drawing on the noises of warfare in Beirut to female heavy metallers in Alexandria, the Arab culture offers a wealth of exciting, challenging, and diverse musics. The essays in this collection investigate the plethora of compositional and improvisational techniques, performance styles, political motivations, professional trainings, and inter-continental collaborations that claim the mantle of "innovation" within Arab and Arab diaspora music. While most books on Middle Eastern music-making focus on notions of tradition and regionally specific genres, The Arab Avant Garde presents a radically hybrid and globally dialectic set of practices. Engaging the "avant-garde"—a term with Eurocentric resonances—this anthology disturbs that presumed exclusivity, drawing on and challenging a growing body of literature about alternative modernities. Chapters delve into genres and modes as diverse as jazz, musical theatre, improvisation, hip hop, and heavy metal as performed in countries like Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and the United States. Focusing on multiple ways in which the "Arab avant-garde" becomes manifest, this anthology brings together international writers with eclectic disciplinary trainings—practicing musicians, area studies specialists, ethnomusicologists, and scholars of popular culture and media. Contributors include Sami W. Asmar, Michael Khoury, Saed Muhssin, Marina Peterson, Kamran Rastegar, Caroline Rooney, and Shayna Silverstein, as well as the editors.
Music in Arabia extends and challenges existing narratives of the region's distinctive but understudied music to reveal diverse and dynamic music cultures rooted in centuries-old heritage. Contributors to Music in Arabia bring a critical eye and ear to the contemporary soundscape, musical life, and expressive culture in the Gulf region. Including work by leading scholars and local authorities, this collection presents fresh perspectives and new research addressing why musical expression is fundamental to the area's diverse, transnational communities. The volume also examines music circulation as a commodity, such as with the production of early recordings, the transnational music industry, the context of the Arab Spring, and the region's popular music markets. As a bonus, readers can access a linked website containing audiovisual examples of the music, dance, and expressive culture introduced throughout the book. With the work of resident scholars and heritage practitioners in conversation with that of researchers from the United States and Europe, Music in Arabia offers both context and content to clarify how music articulates identity and nation among multiethnic, multiracial, and multinational populations.
This book is written for and dedicated to the many people and businesses thinking of, or already doing, business in the Arab world. Of course, there is no shortage of books advising Westerners on what they should do when they are in the Arab world, but this book differs by making it easier for you to put the advice into practice; this book is a current and up to date comparative guide of the differences between the Western and Arab worlds. It addresses the real, day to day problems that businesses face in the Arab world, for example, how to sign a contract and enforce it when you know that your Arab partner will not abide by it. Trust me, I'm an Arab, will help you to understand the Arab world in just a few words and through a small graphics sum up in single images what some studies spend thousands of words trying to explain. an infographic series of 46 images designed with a minimalistic visualisation using simple shapes and symbols to convey the deference between the two cultures. The information in this book focuses on the differences you will see and face as a Westerner in the Arab world or dealing with Arab people. It will walk you through the differences between the two cultures and what to do to reduce the chance of cultural blunders. The book will show you the value of understanding these differences as well as what is and is not acceptable to Arabs and what their expectations from you. You will learn how to make friends with Arab people and how to negotiate with them. It is the aim that through explanation of background behaviours and rationale for Arab attitudes, which can be confusing to Westerns, this book will lead readers to understand the Arab culture. It is the hope of this book that will help people to create successful partnerships between the Western and Arab world.
How does a Middle Eastern community create a modern image through its expression of heritage and authenticity? In Among the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria, Jonathan H. Shannon investigates expressions of authenticity in Syria's musical culture, which is particularly known for embracing and preserving the Arab musical tradition, and which has seldom been researched in depth by Western scholars. Music plays a key role in the process of self-imaging by virtue of its ability to convey feeling and emotion, and Shannon explores a variety of performance genres, Sufi rituals, song lyrics, melodic modes, and aesthetic criteria. Shannon shows that although the music may evoke the old, the traditional, and the local, these are re-envisioned as signifiers of the modern national profile. A valuable contribution to the study of music and identity and to the ethnomusicology of the modern Middle East, Among the Jasmine Trees details this music and its reception for the first time, offering an original theoretical framework for understanding contemporary Arab culture, music, and society.
This book provides a clear and authoritative introduction to the emerging Arab media industries in the context of globalization and its impacts, with a focus on publishing, press, broadcasting, cinema and new media. Through detailed discussions of the regulation and economics of these industries, the authors argue that the political, technological and cultural changes on the global media scene have resulted in the reorganization of the Arab media field. They provide striking examples of this through the particular effects on media policies, media technology and the content and genres developed for the new generation of media consumers. As part of the book's overview of the contemporary characteristics of Arab media, the authors outline the development of the role of modern Arab media from a tool of mobilizing the public to a tool of commercial and symbolic profit. Overall, the volume illustrates how the Arab region represents a unique case where the commercialization and liberalization of selected media industries has gone hand in hand with continuous state intervention and an increasing self censorship. Written for students without prior knowledge of the topic, Arab Media will be essential reading for all interested in the contemporary global media industries.
