Arabic Music
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the
Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
with all its diverse music styles and
genres Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguistic
dialects The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
, with each country and region having their own
traditional music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...
. Arabic music has a long history of interaction with many other regional musical styles and genres. It represents the music of all the peoples that make up the
Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
today, all the 22 states.


History


Pre-Islamic period (Arabian Peninsula)

Pre-Islamic Arabia Pre-Islamic Arabia ( ar, شبه الجزيرة العربية قبل الإسلام) refers to the Arabian Peninsula before the emergence of Islam in 610 CE. Some of the settled communities developed into distinctive civilizations. Informatio ...
was the cradle of many intellectual achievements, including music,
musical theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the " rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (k ...
and the development of musical instruments.'' Amnon Shiloah, Music in the World of Islam: A Socio-cultural Study, Wayne State University Press, 2000''
/ref> In
Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, the main center of pre-Islamic Arab sciences, literature and arts, musicians benefited from the patronage of the Kings of Sabaʾ who encouraged the development of music.''Singing in the Jahili period'' – khaledtrm.net
"Sharron Gu, A Cultural History of the Arabic Language"
/ref> For many centuries, the Arabs of Hejaz recognized that the best real Arabian music came from Yemen, and Hadhrami minstrels were considered to be superior. Pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula music was similar to that of Ancient Middle Eastern music. Most historians agree that there existed distinct forms of music in the Arabian peninsula in the pre-Islamic period between the 5th and 7th century AD. Arab poets of that time—called ''shu`ara' al-Jahiliyah'' (
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
: شعراء الجاهلية) or "Jahili poets", meaning "the poets of the period of ignorance"—used to recite poems with a high notes. It was believed that Jinns revealed poems to poets and music to musicians. The
choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
at the time served as a pedagogic facility where the educated poets would recite their poems. Singing was not thought to be the work of these intellectuals and was instead entrusted to women with beautiful voices who would learn how to play some instruments used at that time such as the drum, the lute or the rebab, and perform the songs while respecting the
poetic metre In poetry, metre ( Commonwealth spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) is the basic rhythmic structure of a verse or lines in verse. Many traditional verse forms prescribe a specific verse metre, or a certain set o ...
. The compositions were simple and every singer would sing in a single '' maqam''. Among the notable songs of the period were the ''huda'' (from which the ''ghina'' derived), the ''nasb'', ''sanad'', and ''rukbani''.


Early Islamic period

Both compositions and
improvisations Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
in traditional Arabic music are based on the ''maqam'' system. ''Maqams'' can be realized with either vocal or
instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
music, and do not include a
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
ic component.
Al-Kindi Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ar, أبو يوسف يعقوب بن إسحاق الصبّاح الكندي; la, Alkindus; c. 801–873 AD) was an Arab Muslim philosopher, polymath, mathematician, physician ...
(801–873 AD) was a notable early theorist of Arabic music. He joined several others like al-Farabi in proposing the addition of a makeshift fifth string to the oud. He published several tracts on musical theory, including the cosmological connotations of music. He identified twelve tones on the Arabic musical scale, based on the location of fingers on and the strings of the oud. Abulfaraj (897–967) wrote the ''
Kitab al-Aghani ''Kitab al-Aghani'' ( ar, كتاب الأغاني, kitāb al-‘aghānī, The Book of Songs), is an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions, attributed to the 10th-century Arabic writer Abu al- ...
'', an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions. Al-Farabi (872–950) wrote a notable book on
Islamic music Islamic music may refer to religious music, as performed in Islamic public services or private devotions, or more generally to musical traditions of the Muslim world. The heartland of Islam is the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, W ...
titled '' Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir'' (The Great Book of Music). His pure Arabian tone system is still used in Arabic music.Habib Hassan Touma (1996), ''The Music of the Arabs'', p. 170, trans. Laurie Schwartz, Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press,
Al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian poly ...
(1059–1111) wrote a treatise on music in
Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
which declared, "Ecstasy means the state that comes from listening to music". In 1252, Safi al-Din developed a unique form of musical notation, where
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
s were represented by geometric representation. A similar geometric representation would not appear in the Western world until 1987, when Kjell Gustafson published a method to represent a rhythm as a two-dimensional graph.


Al-Andalus

By the 11th century,
Islamic Iberia Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the Mus ...
had become a center for the manufacture of instruments. These goods spread gradually throughout France, influencing French
troubadour A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...
s, and eventually reaching the rest of Europe. The English words lute,
rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...
, and naker are derived from Arabic
oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
, rabab or
Maghreb rebab The Maghreb rebab is a bowed lute now played mainly in Northern Africa. It fits within the wider rebab traditions of the Arab world, but also branched into European musical tradition in Spain, Sicily, and the Holy Roman Empire. In the late Middle ...
, and
naqareh The ''naqareh'', ''naqqāra'', ''nagara'' or ''nagada'' is a Middle Eastern drum with a rounded back and a hide head, usually played in pairs. It is thus a membranophone of the kettle drum variety. The term ''naqqāra'' (), also ''naqqarat'', ...
.


16th to 19th century

Bartol Gyurgieuvits (1506–1566) spent 13 years as a slave in the
Ottoman empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. After escaping, he published ''De Turvarum ritu et caermoniis'' in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
in 1544. It is one of the first European books to describe music in Islamic society.


20th century–present


Egypt and the Levant

In the early 20th century,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
was the first in a series of Arab countries to experience a sudden emergence of
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
, as it became independent after 2000 years of foreign rule. Any English, French or European songs got replaced by national Egyptian music.
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
became a center for musical innovation. Female singers were some of the first to take a secular approach. Egyptian performer
Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum ( ar, أم كلثوم, , also spelled ''Oum Kalthoum'' in English; born Fatima Ibrahim es-Sayyid el-Beltagi, ar, فاطمة إبراهيم السيد البلتاجي, Fāṭima ʾIbrāhīm es-Sayyid el-Beltāǧī, link=no; 31 Dece ...
and Lebanese singer
Fairuz Nouhad Wadie' Haddad ( ar, نهاد وديع حداد, ; born November 21, 1934), known as Fairuz ( ar, فيروز, ; also spelled Fairouz, Feyrouz or Fayrouz), is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists a ...
were notable examples of this. Both have been popular through the decades that followed and both are considered legends of Arabic music. Across the Mediterranean, Moroccan singer Zohra Al Fassiya was the first female performer to achieve wide popularity in the Maghreb region, performing traditional Arab Andalusian folk songs and later recording numerous albums of her own. During the 1940s and 1960s, Arabic music began to take on a more Western tone – Egyptian artists
Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum ( ar, أم كلثوم, , also spelled ''Oum Kalthoum'' in English; born Fatima Ibrahim es-Sayyid el-Beltagi, ar, فاطمة إبراهيم السيد البلتاجي, Fāṭima ʾIbrāhīm es-Sayyid el-Beltāǧī, link=no; 31 Dece ...
and
Abdel Halim Hafez Abdel Halim Ali Shabana ( ar, عبد الحليم علي شبانة), commonly known as Abdel Halim Hafez ( ar, عبد الحليم حافظ,) (June 21, 1929 – March 30, 1977), was an Egyptian singer, actor, conductor, businessman, music teach ...
along with composers
Mohammed Abdel Wahab ''Mohamed Abdel Wahab'' ( ar, محمد عبد الوهاب), also transliterated ''Mohamed Abd El-Wahhab'' (March 13, 1902 – May 4, 1991), was a prominent 20th-century Egyptian singer, actor, and composer. He is best known for his Romantic ...
and Baligh Hamdi pioneered the use of western instruments in Egyptian music. By the 1970s several other singers had followed suit and a strand of
Arabic pop Arabic pop music or Arab pop music is a subgenre of pop music and Arabic music. Arabic pop is mainly produced and originated in Cairo, Egypt; as Egyptian music genre is by far the most widespread within the region. Also Beirut, Lebanon, and Gul ...
was born. Arabic pop usually consists of Western styled songs with Arabic instruments and lyrics. Melodies are often a mix between Eastern and Western. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Lydia Canaan, musical pioneer widely regarded as the first rock star of the Middle EastO'Connor, Tom
"Lydia Canaan One Step Closer to Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame"
'' The Daily Star'', Beirut, 27 April 2016.
fused English lyrics and Western sound with Middle-Eastern quarter tones and
microtones Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones— intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of t ...
and became the first internationally successful Lebanese recording artist. Western pop music was also being influenced by Arabic music in the early 1960s, leading to the development of
surf music Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental su ...
, a rock music genre that later gave rise to garage rock and punk rock. Surf rock pioneer
Dick Dale Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb. Dale was known a ...
, a
Lebanese American Lebanese Americans ( ar, أمريكيون لبنانيون) are Americans of Lebanese descent. This includes both those who are native to the United States of America, as well as immigrants from Lebanon. Lebanese Americans comprise 0.79% of the ...
guitarist, was greatly influenced by the Arabic music he learnt from his uncle, particularly the oud melodies and skills which he later applied to his
electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
playing when recording surf rock in the early 1960s. In the 1990s, several Arab artists have taken up such a style including Amr Diab,
Moustafa Amar Moustafa Amar ( ar, مصطفى قمر; born 22 September 1966) is an Egyptian musician and actor. Career Amar's first song was "Wala Yabou Khad Gameel", released on a collective album. In 1990, he released his first solo album, Wassaf. In 1 ...
,
Najwa Karam Najwa Karam ( ar, نجوى كرم, , born 26 February 1966) is a Lebanese singer, songwriter, producer, fashion icon, one of the best selling recording artist in the middle east with more than 60 million records worldwide. Known as the "Sun of ...
, Elissa,
Nawal Al Zoghbi Nawal El Zoghbi ( ar, نوال الزغبي, also spelled Nawal Al Zoghbi; born 29 June 1972) is a Lebanese pop singer. She achieved popularity first by dancing and singing traditional Arabic music with a pop sensibility, and later singing in ...
,
Nancy Ajram Nancy Nabil Ajram ( ar, نانسي نبيل عجرم, born May 16, 1983) is a Lebanese singer, television personality and businesswoman. Dubbed by Spotify as the " Queen of Arab Pop". With the support of her father, she began performing as ...
, Haifa Wehbe, Angham, Fadl Shaker, Majida Al Roumi,
Wael Kfoury Michel Émile Kfoury ( ar, ميشال اميل كفوري; born September 14, 1974), known by his stage name Wael Kfoury (), is a Lebanese singer, Wael Kfoury is called the king of romance and the common nightingale and perfect . Wael has many son ...
,
Asalah Nasri Assala Mostafa Hatem Nasri ( ar, أصالة مصطفى حاتم نصري; born 15 May 1969), commonly known as Assala ( ar, أصالة), is a Syrian musical artist. She is one of the most popular and famous Arab singers. Early life and career ...
, Myriam Fares,
Carole Samaha Carole Samaha ( ar, كارول سماحة; born July 25, 1972) is a Lebanese singer, actress, and performer. She has released six studio albums. Samaha has a Master's degree in acting and directing, which she earned in 1999 from the Saint Jose ...
, Yara,
Samira Said Samira Abdelrazak Bensaïd ( ar, سميرة عبد الرزاق بنسعيد, Samīra ʿAbd ar-Razzāq ibn Saʿīd; born 10 January 1958), professionally known as Samira Said ( ar, سميرة سعيد, Samīra Saʿīd), is a Moroccan singer, who ...
, Hisham Abbas, Kadhem Al Saher, Mostafa Amar, Ehab Tawfik, Mohamed Fouad,
Diana Haddad Diana Haddad ( ar, ديانا حداد; born 1 October 1976) is a Lebanese singer, actress, and television personality who also holds Emirati citizenship and is based in the United Arab Emirates. Haddad is one of the most popular Arabic pop mu ...
,
Mohamed Mounir Mohamed Mounir ( ar, محمد منير; born October 10, 1954) is an Egyptian singer and actor, with a musical career spanning more than four decades. He incorporates various genres into his music, including classical Egyptian music, Nubian mus ...
,
Latifa Latifa or Lateefa is a feminine Arabic (لٓطِيفٓة) given name which means "gentle" or "pleasant". It corresponds to the masculine Latif. Notable persons Lateefa * Lateefa Al Gaood, Bahraini politician * Lateefah Simon, American activist ...
, Cheb Khaled,
George Wassouf George Wassouf ( ar, جورج وسوف; 23 December 1961) is a Syrian singer. In a career spanning more than four decades, he has released more than 30 albums, with a significantly large audience of fans throughout the Arab world. Dubbed Sulta ...
, Hakim,
Fares Karam Fares Karam ( ar, فارس كرم; born 21 January 1973) is a Lebanese singer who specializes in the Dabke style and Lebanese music in general. He is known for the songs "Retani" (I wish), "El-Tannoura" (The Skirt), "Shefta" (I Saw Her) an ...
,
Julia Boutros Julia Boutros ( ar, جوليا بطرس; born April 1, 1968) is a Lebanese singer rose to prominence in the 1980s with a series of songs like "Ghabet Shams El Haq" and "Wein el Malayeen". She is also the sister of Ziad Boutros and the wife of t ...
, and
Amal Hijazi Amal Hijazi ( ar, أمل حجازي; born 20 February 1977) is a Lebanese singer and actress. Hijazi released her debut album, ''Akher Gharam'', in 2001, followed by her second album, '' Zaman'' in mid-2002. The latter included four number o ...
.


Iraq

Due to Iraq's diversity and the long history, the country encompasses the music of a number of ethnic groups and musical genres. In 1936, Iraq Radio was established by two of Iraq's most prominent performers and composers, the Iraqi Jewish musicians,
Saleh and Daoud al-Kuwaity Saleh (1908–1986) and Daud (1910–1976) Al-Kuwaity ( ar, صالح و داوود الكويتي) were Kuwait-born Israeli musicians of Iraqi-Iranian ancestry who rose to prominence in the Arab world in the early twentieth century. The ...
with an ensemble, with the exception of the percussion player. The brothers had a pioneering role in the modern music of Iraq. Saleh was considered the father of
Iraqi maqam Iraqi Maqam ( ar, المقام العراقي) is a genre of Arabic maqam music found in Iraq. The roots of modern Iraqi maqam can be traced as far back as the Abbasid Caliphate, when that large empire was controlled from Baghdad. The ensemble of ...
as he was the pioneer of its first song. He also composed for the most famous singers of that era in Iraq and in the Arab world, such as
Salima Murad Salima Mourad or Salima Murad ( ar, سليمة مراد; 2 February 1900 – 28 January 1974) was a well-known Iraqi Jewish singer and was well known and highly respected in the Arab world. She was given the nickname "Pasha" by the Iraqi Prime Mi ...
, Afifa Iskandar,
Nazem al-Ghazali Nazem al-Ghazali ( ar, ناظم الغزالي, given name also spelled ''Nazim'', ''Nadhim'', ''Nadhem'' or ''Nathem'') (1921 – 23 October 1963) was one of the most popular singers in the history of Iraq and his songs are still heard by man ...
,
Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum ( ar, أم كلثوم, , also spelled ''Oum Kalthoum'' in English; born Fatima Ibrahim es-Sayyid el-Beltagi, ar, فاطمة إبراهيم السيد البلتاجي, Fāṭima ʾIbrāhīm es-Sayyid el-Beltāǧī, link=no; 31 Dece ...
,
Mohammed Abdel Wahab ''Mohamed Abdel Wahab'' ( ar, محمد عبد الوهاب), also transliterated ''Mohamed Abd El-Wahhab'' (March 13, 1902 – May 4, 1991), was a prominent 20th-century Egyptian singer, actor, and composer. He is best known for his Romantic ...
. One of the main reasons for the predominance of Jewish instrumentalists in early 20th century
Iraqi music The music of Iraq or Iraqi music, ( ar, موسيقى عراقية), also known as the music of Mesopotamia, encompasses the music of a number of ethnic groups and musical genres. Ethnically, it includes Mesopotamian Arabic, Assyrian, Kurdish and ...
was a prominent school for blind Jewish children in Baghdad, which was founded in the late 1920s by the great ''qanunji'' ("qanun player") Joseph Hawthorne ('' Yusef Za'arur'') (
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: דנדהי ללוואלד-יוסף זערור‎). Salima Pasha was one of the most famous singers of the 1930s–1940s. The respect and adoration for Pasha were unusual at the time, since public performance by women was considered shameful by some countries in the region, and most female singers were recruited from brothels. The music in Iraq began to take a more Western tone during the 1960s and 1970s, notably by Ilham Madfai, with his Western guitar stylings with traditional Iraqi music which made him a popular performer in his native country and throughout the Middle East.


Influence of Arabic music

The majority of musical instruments used in European medieval and classical music have roots in Arabic musical instruments that were adopted from the medieval
Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
. They include the lute, which shares an ancestor with the ''
oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
'';
rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...
(an ancestor of the violin) from '' rebab'', guitar from ''qitara'', naker from ''
naqareh The ''naqareh'', ''naqqāra'', ''nagara'' or ''nagada'' is a Middle Eastern drum with a rounded back and a hide head, usually played in pairs. It is thus a membranophone of the kettle drum variety. The term ''naqqāra'' (), also ''naqqarat'', ...
'',
adufe The adufe is a traditional square tambourine of Moors, Moorish origin, which is used in Portugal and Galicia (Spain), Galicia. History A Portuguese percussion instrument, it was traditionally used in the Beira, Portugal, Beira region of Castelo ...
from '' al-duff'',
alboka The Basque ( es, albogue) is a single-reed woodwind instrument consisting of a single reed, two small diameter melody pipes with finger holes and a bell traditionally made from animal horn. Additionally, a reed cap of animal horn is placed arou ...
from ''al-buq'', anafil from ''al-nafir'', exabeba (a type of flute) from ''al-shabbaba'', atabal (a type of
bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...
) from ''al-tabl'', atambal from ''al-tinbal'', the balaban, castanet from ''kasatan'', and sonajas de azófar from ''sunuj al-sufr''. The Arabic
rabāb The ''rebab'' ( ar, ربابة, ''rabāba'', variously spelled ''rebap'', ''rubob'', ''rebeb'', ''rababa'', ''rabeba'', ''robab'', ''rubab'', ''rebob'', etc) is the name of several related string instruments that independently spread via I ...
, also known as the spiked fiddle, is the earliest known
bowed string instrument Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound. Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to t ...
and the ancestor of all European bowed instruments, including the
rebec The rebec (sometimes rebecha, rebeckha, and other spellings, pronounced or ) is a bowed stringed instrument of the Medieval era and the early Renaissance. In its most common form, it has a narrow boat-shaped body and one to five strings. Origi ...
, the
Byzantine lyra The Byzantine lyra or lira ( gr, λύρα) was a medieval bowed string musical instrument in the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. In its popular form, the lyra was a pear-shaped instrument with three to five strings, held upright and played by ...
, and the violin. The Arabic
oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
in
Arab music Arabic music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also man ...
shares an ancestor with the European lute. The
oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
is also cited as a precursor to the modern guitar. The guitar has roots in the four-string oud, brought to Iberia by the
Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...
in the 8th century. A direct ancestor of the modern guitar is the ' (Moorish guitar), which was in use in Spain by the 12th century. By the 14th century, it was simply referred to as a guitar. A number of medieval conical bore instruments were likely introduced or popularized by Arab musicians, including the xelami (from ''zulami''). Some scholars believe that the
troubador A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairit ...
s may have had Arabian origins, with
Magda Bogin Magda Bogin is a New York-based writer and literary translator who has produced a body of work that straddles fiction, poetry, opera and non-fiction. Born in Manhattan, she has lived and worked extensively in Mexico, France, Italy and Russia. Th ...
stating that the Arab poetic and musical tradition was one of several influences on European "courtly love poetry".
Évariste Lévi-Provençal Évariste Lévi-Provençal (4 January 1894 – 27 March 1956) was a French medievalist, orientalist, Arabist, and historian of Islam. The scholar who would take the name Lévi-Provençal was born 4 January 1894 in Constantine, French Algeria, ...
and other scholars stated that three lines of a poem by
William IX of Aquitaine William IX ( oc, Guilhèm de Peitieus; ''Guilhem de Poitou'' french: Guillaume de Poitiers) (22 October 1071 – 10 February 1126), called the Troubadour, was the Duke of Aquitaine and Gascony and Count of Poitou (as William VII) between 1086 and ...
were in some form of Arabic, indicating a potential Andalusian origin for his works. The scholars attempted to translate the lines in question and produced various different translations. The medievalist Istvan Frank contended that the lines were not Arabic at all, but instead the result of the rewriting of the original by a later scribe. The theory that the troubadour tradition was created by William after his experience of
Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or se ...
arts while fighting with the
Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
in Spain has been championed by
Ramón Menéndez Pidal Ramón Menéndez Pidal (; 13 March 1869 – 14 November 1968) was a Spanish philologist and historian."Ramon Menendez Pidal", ''Almanac of Famous People'' (2011) ''Biography in Context'', Gale, Detroit He worked extensively on the history of t ...
and
Idries Shah Idries Shah (; hi, इदरीस शाह, ps, ادريس شاه, ur, ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el- Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي) and by the pen name Ark ...
. George T. Beech states that there is only one documented battle that William fought in Spain, and it occurred towards the end of his life. Beech adds that William and his father did have Spanish individuals within their extended family, and that while there is no evidence he himself knew Arabic, he may have been friendly with some Europeans who could speak the language. Others state that the notion that William created the concept of troubadours is itself incorrect, and that his "songs represent not the beginnings of a tradition but summits of achievement in that tradition." Most scholars believe that
Guido of Arezzo Guido of Arezzo ( it, Guido d'Arezzo; – after 1033) was an Italian music theorist and pedagogue of High medieval music. A Benedictine monk, he is regarded as the inventor—or by some, developer—of the modern staff notation that had a ma ...
's
Solfège In music, solfège (, ) or solfeggio (; ), also called sol-fa, solfa, solfeo, among many names, is a music education method used to teach aural skills, Pitch (music), pitch and sight-reading of Western classical music, Western music. Solfège is ...
musical notation system had its origins in a Latin hymn, but others suggest that it may have had Arabic origins instead. It has been argued that the Solfège syllables (''do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti'') may have been derived from the syllables of an Arabic
solmization Solmization is a system of attributing a distinct syllable to each note of a musical scale. Various forms of solmization are in use and have been used throughout the world, but solfège is the most common convention in countries of Western cultur ...
system ''Durr-i-Mufassal'' ("Separated Pearls") (''dal, ra, mim, fa, sad, lam''). This was first proposed by Meninski in his ''Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalum'' (1680). However, there is no documentary evidence for this theory, and no Arabic musical manuscripts using sequences from the Arabic alphabet are known to exist.
Henry George Farmer Henry George Farmer (17 January 1882 – 20 December 1965) was a British musicologist and Arabist. He studied under Thomas Hunter Weir, Professor of Oriental Languages at University of Glasgow. He wrote extensively about Arab musical influen ...
believes that there is no firm evidence on the origins of the notation, and therefore the Arabian origin theory and the hymnal origin theories are equally credible.


Improvisational Music in the Arabic Mediterranean region.

Ethnomusicologist Ali Jihad Racy talks about the
improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...
style of music that is present in much of the
Mediterranean world The history of the Mediterranean region and of the cultures and people of the Mediterranean Basin is important for understanding the origin and development of the Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Canaanite, Phoenician, Hebrew, Carthaginian, Minoan, Gre ...
. Racy discusses the regional attitudes towards improvisation music in the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
describing that improvisation can suggest casual or untrained or even non-professional music-making. This is held only by certain communities within the
Arabic world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western As ...
and can differ from each region or community. Some regions look at improvisation music as the intuitive artistic ability that momentarily expresses the feeling of the player. Other groups tend to view improvisation as though it is the fulfillment of music transcending the classical maqam style or other styles of music playing. Other schools of thought on improvisation music, in the Arab world, believe that improvisation music shows a lack of understanding in musical training. Racy does not specify which groups have what views. Rather, the discussion is more focused on the idea that the Arabic music world is not
monolithic A monolith is a monument or natural feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock. Monolith or monolithic may also refer to: Architecture * Monolithic architecture, a style of construction in which a building is carved, cast or excavated ...
in its view on improvisation in music. Other groups view improvisation as only learned through trial and error taking many years to perfect thus being a style played professionals.


Taqasim

A respectable tradition in improvisation music is known as Taqasim. Taqasim music uses a
maqam MAQAM is a US-based production company specializing in Arabic and Middle Eastern media. The company was established by a small group of Arabic music and culture lovers, later becoming a division of 3B Media Inc. "MAQAM" is an Arabic word meaning a ...
and improvises the form or structure of the song, which creates a cathartic experience for the listener. Further, the improvisation aspects go beyond the form and are expressed in the quartertones of the song. This tradition historically was performed as a chant. Now it is used by performers on the
oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
/ud,
violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
, or nay, a type of flute. This style of improvisation is known for the effects it can conjure from a listener. Listeners have been known to laugh, cry, and shout, all from different parts of the same performance due to the improvisation music aligning exactly to draw extreme emotion from someone.


Improvisation in Chant

* A certain type of Arabic chant is in the
melisma Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referr ...
tic style and is both long and highly ornamented. It has specific elements of free rhythm and improvisation as part of its structure. Syllabic chant is isochronic and is accompanied by an al-durbkkeh (a percussion instrument. drum.) while being relatively fast in its nature. There is usually participation from the listeners who contribute through the clapping of hands to the rhythm. * Ethnomusicologist Jargy tells of another type of improvisation music in which he uses the name ''Median''''.'' This music is a combination of the syllabic chant and the melismatic style. Median improvisation music uses more extreme improvisation methods and expands the boundaries of improvisation and is usually faster than syllabic chant. * The last improvisation style discussed by Jargy is the recitative style that is sung predominantly by women and is built on aural tradition.


Genres


Franco-Arabic

Franco-Arabic music is a popular form of West-meets-East style of music, similar in many respects to modern Arabic Pop. This blend of western and eastern music was popularized by artists such as
Dalida Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti (; 17 January 1933 – 3 May 1987), professionally known as Dalida, was an Italian-French singer and actress born in Egypt. She sang in eleven languages and sold millions of records internationally. Her best known son ...
(Egypt), Sammy Clark (Lebanon), and Aldo from Australia. Although Franco-Arabic music includes many forms of cross-cultural blending between the West and the Middle East, musically the genre crosses over many lines as is seen in songs that incorporate Arabic and Italian, Arabic and French and, of course, Arabic and English styles or lyrics.


Arabic R&B, reggae, and hip hop

There has also been a rise of R&B,
reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
and hip hop influenced Arab music in the past couple of years. These songs usually feature a
rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...
in a traditional Arab pop song (such as
Ishtar Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in S ...
's song 'Habibi Sawah'). The Moroccan singer Elam Jay developed a contemporary version of the
Gnawa The Gnawa (or Gnaoua, Ghanawa, Ghanawi, Gnawi'; Arabic: ڭناوة) are an ethnic group inhabiting Morocco. The name Gnawa probably originated in the indigenous language of North Africa and the Sahara Desert. The phonology of this term accordi ...
genre that is fused with R&B which he named ''Gnawitone Styla''. Another variation of contemporary
Gnawa The Gnawa (or Gnaoua, Ghanawa, Ghanawi, Gnawi'; Arabic: ڭناوة) are an ethnic group inhabiting Morocco. The name Gnawa probably originated in the indigenous language of North Africa and the Sahara Desert. The phonology of this term accordi ...
played in
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
is introduced by
Darga Darga (Hebrew: ) is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah, and other books. The symbol for the darga resembles a backwards Z. The darga is usually followed by a Tevir. It is most often found in places where a Tevir clause has ...
. Based in
Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
, the group fuses
Gnawa The Gnawa (or Gnaoua, Ghanawa, Ghanawi, Gnawi'; Arabic: ڭناوة) are an ethnic group inhabiting Morocco. The name Gnawa probably originated in the indigenous language of North Africa and the Sahara Desert. The phonology of this term accordi ...
with
Reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
. Political
Reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...
artists such as TootArd from the occupied
Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...
and from
Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
(Originally from Iqrith) started gaining popularity in
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
in 2011 after the YouTube premiere of a song about the
Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...
(mainly the Tunisian revolution), called "The Green Revolution", sung by them and an ensemble of Palestinian artists, most notable among them being Mahmoud Jrere of
DAM A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...
. Notable is
Shadia Mansour Shadia Mansour ( ar, شادية منصور , born 1985), also known as "the first lady of Arabic hip hop" See also is a British-Palestinian rapper who performs in Arabic and English. Much of her music revolves around Middle Eastern politics ...
, a Palestinian British rapper known as "The First Lady of Arab Hip Hop." Much of her music focuses on the Palestinian cause. Also there is the
Moroccan pop Moroccan pop or abbreviated as Morocco-pop music is a genre of the new Moroccan music generation along the hip hop, rap music in Morocco. Jeunesdumaroc.com List of Moroccan singers *Manal * Asmaa Lmnawar *Saad Lamjarred Saad Lamjarre ...
introduced by the Moroccan singer Oussama Belhcen who's mixing between the American and the Moroccan music in his songs. However certain artists have taken to using full R&B and reggae beats and styling such as
Darine Darine ( ar, دارين; born 1983) is a Lebanese-Swedish singer-songwriter. With two albums in account, her debut single was "Aiwa" on her album ''Ma Rulez''. In 2006, she released her second studio album ''My Compliments''. Biography Darine ...
. This has been met with mixed critical and commercial reaction. As of now it is not a widespread genre.


Arabic electronica

Electronic dance music is another genre to come out into popularity. Often, songs in this genre would combine electronic musical instruments with traditional Middle Eastern instruments. Artists like Richii popularized this style with songs like "Ana Lubnaneyoun".


Arabic jazz

Another popular form of West meets East, Arabic
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
is also popular, with many songs using jazz instruments. Early jazz influences began with the use of the saxophone by musicians like Samir Suroor, in the "oriental" style. The use of the saxophone in that manner can be found in
Abdel Halim Hafez Abdel Halim Ali Shabana ( ar, عبد الحليم علي شبانة), commonly known as Abdel Halim Hafez ( ar, عبد الحليم حافظ,) (June 21, 1929 – March 30, 1977), was an Egyptian singer, actor, conductor, businessman, music teach ...
's songs, as well as Kadim Al Sahir and Rida Al Abdallah today. The first mainstream jazz elements were incorporated into Arabic music by the
Rahbani brothers The Rahbani brothers (Arabic: الأخوان رحباني), Assi Rahbani (4 May 1923 – 21 June 1986) and Mansour Rahbani (1925 – 13 January 2009) were Lebanese sibling musicians, composers, songwriters, authors, and playwrights/dramatists, be ...
.
Fairuz Nouhad Wadie' Haddad ( ar, نهاد وديع حداد, ; born November 21, 1934), known as Fairuz ( ar, فيروز, ; also spelled Fairouz, Feyrouz or Fayrouz), is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists a ...
's later work was almost exclusively made up of jazz songs, composed by her son
Ziad Rahbani Ziad Rahbani ( ar, زياد الرحباني, born 1956) is a Lebanese composer, pianist, playwright, and political commentator. He is the son of Fairouz, one of Lebanon and the Arab world's most famous singers, and Assi Rahbani, one of the fou ...
. Ziad Rahbani also pioneered today's oriental jazz movement, to which singers including Rima Khcheich, Salma El Mosfi, and (on occasion)
Latifa Latifa or Lateefa is a feminine Arabic (لٓطِيفٓة) given name which means "gentle" or "pleasant". It corresponds to the masculine Latif. Notable persons Lateefa * Lateefa Al Gaood, Bahraini politician * Lateefah Simon, American activist ...
adhere. We can also find a lot of jazz music in
Mohamed Mounir Mohamed Mounir ( ar, محمد منير; born October 10, 1954) is an Egyptian singer and actor, with a musical career spanning more than four decades. He incorporates various genres into his music, including classical Egyptian music, Nubian mus ...
's songs starting from his first album Alemony Eneeki in 1977, and he is considered to be the King of Arabic Jazz and Arabic Music generally. Another notable performer of this genre is the Palestinian singer
Reem Kelani Reem Kelani (born 1963) is a British Palestinian musician, born in Manchester, England. Initially influenced by the jazz music her father played on his record player, her interest in Palestinian music was sparked by the music at a family wedd ...
who blends jazz with Arabic music, both in her own compositions and in her arrangements of traditional songs. Arabic Jazz has met many new kinds of composition since the end of the 20th century: * Modal forms with
Anouar Brahem Anouar Brahem ( أنور براهم); born on 20 October 1957) is a Tunisian oud player and composer. He is widely acclaimed as an innovator in his field. Performing primarily for a jazz audience, he combines Arabic classical music, folk music and ...
and
Rabih Abou Khalil Rabih Abou-Khalil ( ar, ربيع أبو خليل, born August 17, 1957) is an oud player and composer born in Lebanon, who combines elements of Arab music, Arabic music with jazz, classical music, and other styles. He grew up in Beirut and moved t ...
* Mixed electric sound experiences with
Dhafer Youssef Dhafer Youssef ( ar, ظافر يوسف; born 19 November 1967) is a Tunisian composer, singer and oud player. Biography Dhafer Youssef was born in Téboulba (a small village of coastal Tunisia); his grandfather was a muezzin. He calls the radio ...
and
Kamal Musallam Kamal may refer to: *Kamal (name), a male given name and surname with multiple origins *Kamal (navigation), a navigational instrument for measuring latitude *Kamal, Jhapa, a rural municipality in Nepal *Alfa Romeo Kamal, an SUV by Alfa Romeo *Oper ...
* New pop jazz styles with Titi Robin and Toufic Farroukh * Other acoustic youth experiences with Hamdi Makhlouf, Amine & Hamza M'raihi and Jasser Haj Youssef


Arabic rock

Rock music is popular all around the world, the Arab world being no exception. There have been many
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
rock bands along the years that fused rock,
metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
and
alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...
sounds with traditional Arab instruments. Arabic rock has been gaining a lot of attention lately in the Middle East with bands like
JadaL JadaL ( en , Controversy) ( ar, جدل) is a Jordanian Arabic Rock band and music project from Amman, Jordan, formed in 2003 by Composer/Music Producer/Guitarist Mahmoud Radaideh, which has held various members over the years. Biography Jada ...
, Kayan, Autostrad,
El Morabba3 El Morabba3 ( ar, المربّع meaning "The Square") is an Arabic rock band from Amman, Jordan, formed in 2009. Biography The Jordan-based group was formed in 2009 as an Arab rock band. In July 2012 they released their debut album, titled ''El ...
and
Akher Zapheer Akher Zapheer ( ar, أخِر زَفير meaning Last Exhale) is a Jordanian grunge Arabic rock band from Amman, Jordan, formed in late 2007. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Basem Sayej who has been the only constant member throug ...
of
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
The Wanton Bishops The Wanton Bishops is a Lebanese rock music, rock band formed in Beirut, Lebanon in 2011. The group consists of Nader Mansour (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards) and Eddy Ghossein (guitar, backing vocals, banjo). The duo began as an independen ...
,
Mashrou' Leila Mashrou' Leila ( ar, مشروع ليلى, link=no, Latn, ar, Mashrūʿ Laylā, ; sometimes transliterated as Mashrou3 Leila or translated as Leila's Project) was a Lebanese four-member indie rock band. The band formed in Beirut, Lebanon in 2008 ...
,
Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis, ; derived from the Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord". R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23. was the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. One day, Adonis was gored by ...
and Meen of
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
,
Cairokee Cairokee is an Egyptian rock band that was officially launched in 2003 but came to prominence with its revolutionary music following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 due to its politically-inspired lyrics and protest songs released following the ...
,
Massar Egbari Massar Egbari is an Egyptian Rock band that was officially launched in 2005 from Alexandria, Egypt. The band consists of 4 musicians: Ayman Massoud (Keyboards), Hany El Dakkak (Guitar and Lead Vocal), Ahmed Hafez (Bass guitar), and Tamer Attallah ( ...
, Sahara,
Wyvern A wyvern ( , sometimes spelled wivern) is a legendary winged dragon that has two legs. The wyvern in its various forms is important in heraldry, frequently appearing as a mascot of schools and athletic teams (chiefly in the United States, Un ...
and Cartoon Killerz of
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, Khalas, and Chaos of
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
and
Acrassicauda Acrassicauda is an Iraqi thrash metal band formed in 2001 in Baghdad and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. It is often credited as the first heavy metal group to emerge from Iraq. The original band consisted of four members and played concer ...
of
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. The Tunisian rock band
Myrath Myrath ( ar, ميراث ''mīrāth'', "Legacy") is a Tunisian progressive metal band formed in 2001 by guitarist Malek Ben Arbia and currently based in Tunisia. The band has been noted for its mix of Arabic and Middle Eastern instrumentation wi ...
is gaining popularity worldwide. The band
Hoba Hoba Spirit Hoba Hoba Spirit is a musical fusion band based in Casablanca, Morocco that was formed in 1998. It is composed of Adil Hanine (drummer), Anouar Zehouani (guitarist), Saâd Bouidi (Bass guitar), Reda Allali - (vocalist and guitarist) and Othmane H ...
from
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
is also gaining popularity, especially in the
Maghrebi Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Alge ...
region.
Rachid Taha Rachid Taha ( ar, رشيد طه, Latn, ar, Rashīd Ṭāhā, ; 18 September 1958 – 12 September 2018) was an Algerian singer and activist based in France described as "sonically adventurous". His music was influenced by many different styles ...
, an
Algerian Algerian may refer to: * Something of, or related to Algeria * Algerian people This article is about the demographic features of the population of Algeria, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, econo ...
musician, played a fusion of rock and
raï Raï (, ; ar, راي, Latn, ar, rāʾy, ), sometimes written rai, is a form of Algerian traditional music, folk music that dates back to the 1920s. Singers of Raï are called ''cheb'' (Arabic: شاب) (or ''shabab,'' i.e. young) as opposed ...
. Recently, there has been a new wave of bands emerging in the underground scene across the Arab world. These include Shaghaf, Khayal, Sada That, Code Masr and Hawas of
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
and Ayloul of
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
.


Musical regions

The world of modern Arabic music has long been dominated by musical trends that have emerged from
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
, Egypt. The city is generally considered one of the important
cultural center A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run. Asia * Ce ...
s in the Arab world. Innovations in popular music via the influence of other regional styles have also abounded from
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
to
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. In recent years,
Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
has become an important city where singers can fluently sing in various
Arabic Dialects The varieties (or dialects or vernacular languages) of Arabic, a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic family originating in the Arabian Peninsula, are the linguistic systems that Arabic speakers speak natively. There are considerable varia ...
. Other regional styles that have enjoyed
popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...
status throughout the Arab world, including:


North Africa

* Al Jeel (
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
) *
Shaabi Shaabi ( arz, شعبي'' ''  ) is an Egyptian musical genre. It is a form of popular working-class music which evolved from Egyptian Baladi in the second half of the 20th century, it's the core of Egyptian people music in streets and wedding ...
Music (
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
) *
Mawwal In Arabic Music, the ''mawwāl'' ( ar, موال; plural: ''mawāwīl'', ) is a traditional and popular Arabic genre of vocal music that is very slow in beat and sentimental in nature, and is characterised by prolonging vowel syllables, emotional ...
(
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
) * Semsemya (
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
) * Andalusian classical music (
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
and Algeria) and Tunisia * Malouf (Libya) * Chaabi (Algeria) * Chaabi (Morocco) * gnawa music, Gnawa (
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
and the southwest of Algeria) * Haqibah * Malhun (
Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...
) * Mezwed (Tunisia) * Raï (Algeria)


Arabian Peninsula

* Adani * Ardah * Ardham * Bandari Khaliji * Dazah * Fann at-Tanbura * Fijiri * Khabayti * Khaliji (music), Khaliji * Khuwizaani * Liwa (music), Liwa * Mizmar (dance), Mizmar * M'alayah * Rumba Khaliji * Samri * sawt (music), Sawt * Shaabi Khaliji * Yanbaawi * Yowlah * Zafah Khaliji


Sacred and Art music


Sacred music

Arabic religious music includes Jewish music, Jewish (Pizmonim and Baqashot), Christian music, Christian, and Islamic music, Islamic music. However, Islamic music, including the ''Tajwid'' or recitation of Qur'an readings, is structurally equivalent to Arabic secular music, while Christian Arab music has been influenced by Syriac sacral music, Syriac Orthodox, Roman Catholic Church, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Anglican, Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, Coptic, and Maronite church music.


Art music

Secular art musical genres include maqam al-iraqi, andalusi nubah, muwashshah, Fijiri songs, qasidah, layali, mawwal, taqsim, bashraf, sama'i, tahmilah, dulab, sawt (music), sawt, and liwa (music), liwa.


Characteristics of Arabic music

Much of Arabic music is characterized by an emphasis on melody and
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
, as opposed to harmony. There are some genres of Arabic music that are polyphonic, but typically, Arabic music is homophony, homophonic. Habib Hassan Touma submits that there are five components that characterize Arabic music: # The Arab tone system; that is, a musical tuning system that relies on specific interval structures and was invented by al-Farabi in the 10th century # Rhythmic-temporal structures that produce a rich variety of
rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...
ic patterns, known as ''Rhythm in Arabian music, awzan'' or "weight", that are used to accompany metered vocal and instrumental genres, to accent or give them form. # A number of musical instruments that are found throughout the Arab world that represent a standardized tone system, are played with generally standardized performance techniques, and display similar details in construction and design. # Specific social contexts that produce sub-categories of Arabic music, or musical genres that can be broadly classified as urban (music of the city inhabitants), rural (music of the country inhabitants), or Bedouin (music of the desert inhabitants)..." # An Arab musical mentality, "responsible for the esthetic homogeneity of the tonal-spatial and rhythmic-temporal structures throughout the Arab world whether musical composition, composed or improvised, instrumental or vocal, secular or sacred." Touma describes this musical mentality as being composed of many things.


Maqam system

The basis of Arabic music is the maqam (pl. maqamat), which looks like the mode, but is not quite the same. The Tonic (music), tonic note, Dominant (music), dominant note, and ending note (unless modulation occurs) are generally determined by the maqam used. Arabic maqam theory as described in literature over the ages names between 90 and 110 maqams, that are grouped into larger categories known as fasilah. Fasilah are groupings of maqams whose first four primary pitches are shared in common.


Ajnas

The maqam consists of at least two ''ajnas'', or scale segments. ''Ajnas'' is the plural form of ''jins'', which in Arabic comes from the Latin word ''genus'', meaning "type". In practice, a jins is either a trichord (three notes), a tetrachord (four notes), or a pentachord (five notes). A maqam usually covers only one octave (usually two ajnas), but can cover more. Like the melodic minor scale, some maqamat use different ajnas when descending and ascending. Due to continuous innovation and the emergence of new ajnas, and because most music scholars have not reached consensus on the subject, a solid figure for the total number of ajnas in use is uncertain. In practice, however, most musicians would agree there are at least eight major ajnas: ''rast'', ''bayat'', ''sikah'', ''hijaz'', ''saba'', ''kurd'', ''nahawand'', and ''ajam'', and commonly used variants such as ''nakriz'', ''athar kurd'', ''sikah beladi'', ''saba zamzama''. For example, ''Mukhalif'' is a rare jins (in the Sikah) family used almost exclusively in Iraq, and it is not used in combination with other ajnas.


Microtones in Arabic music

Unlike the tradition of Western music, Arabic music contains
microtones Microtonal music or microtonality is the use in music of microtones— intervals smaller than a semitone, also called "microintervals". It may also be extended to include any music using intervals not found in the customary Western tuning of t ...
, which are notes that lie between notes in the Western chromatic scale. While notes in the chromatic scale are separated by semitones (or half steps), notes in Arabic music can be separated by quarter tones. In some treatments of theory, the quarter tone scale or all twenty four tones should exist, but according to Yusuf Shawqi, Yūsuf Shawqī (1969), fewer tones are used in practice. Additionally, in 1932, at the Cairo Congress of Arab Music held in Cairo, Egypt—and attended by such Western luminaries as Béla Bartók and
Henry George Farmer Henry George Farmer (17 January 1882 – 20 December 1965) was a British musicologist and Arabist. He studied under Thomas Hunter Weir, Professor of Oriental Languages at University of Glasgow. He wrote extensively about Arab musical influen ...
—experiments were done that determined conclusively that the notes in actual use differ substantially from an even-tempered 24-tone scale. Furthermore, the intonation of many of those notes differ slightly from region to region (Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq).


Regional scales

As a result of these findings, the following recommendation was issued: "The tempered scale and the natural scale should be rejected. In Egypt, the Egyptian scale is to be kept with the values, which were measured with all possible precision. The Turkish, Syrian, and Iraqi scales should remain what they are...." Both in modern practice, and evident in recorded music over the course of the last century, several differently-tuned Es in between the E-flat and E-natural of the Western Chromatic scale are used, that vary according to the types of maqams and ajnas used, and the region in which they are used.


Practical treatment

Musicians and teachers refer to these in-between notes as quarter tones, using "half-flat" or "half-sharp" as a designation for the in-between flats and sharps, for ease of nomenclature. Performance and teaching of the exact values of intonation in each jins or maqam is usually done by ear. It should also be added, in reference to Habib Hassan Touma's comment above, that these quarter tones are not used everywhere in the maqamat: in practice, Arabic music does not modulate to 12 different tonic areas like the Well-Tempered Klavier. The most commonly used quarter tones are on E (between E and E), A, B, D, F (between F and F), and C.


Vocal traditions

Arab classical music is known for its famed virtuoso singers, who sing long, elaborately ornamented, melismatic tunes, coloraturas unheard in any other musical genres and are known for driving audiences into ecstasy. Its traditions come from pre-Islamic times, when female singing slavery, slaves entertained the wealthy, inspired warriors on the battlefield with their rajaz poetry, and performed at weddings. A vast number of female Arab vocalists are mezzo-sopranos who possess darker and richer tones than generic Soprano voices as a result of having thicker vocal folds and larger larynx.


Instruments and ensembles

The prototypical Arabic music ensemble in Egypt and Syria is known as the Takht (music), takht, and includes, (or included at different time periods) instruments such as the 'oud, kanun (instrument), qānūn, rabab, ney, violin (introduced in the 1840s or 50s), riq and goblet drum, dumbek. In Iraq, the traditional ensemble, known as the chalga, chalghi, includes only two melodic instruments—the jowza (similar to the rabab but with four strings) and Santur (Iraqi instrument), santur—accompanied by the riq and dumbek. The Arab world has incorporated instruments from the West, including the electric guitar, cello, double bass and oboe, and incorporated influences from jazz and other foreign musical styles. The singers have remained the stars, however, especially after the development of the recording and film industry in the 1920s in
Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
. These singing celebrities are (or were) the biggest stars in Arabic classic music, they include Farid al-Atrash, Farid Al Attrache, Asmahan,
Abdel Halim Hafez Abdel Halim Ali Shabana ( ar, عبد الحليم علي شبانة), commonly known as Abdel Halim Hafez ( ar, عبد الحليم حافظ,) (June 21, 1929 – March 30, 1977), was an Egyptian singer, actor, conductor, businessman, music teach ...
, Sayed Darwish, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Warda Al-Jazairia, Wadih El Safi,
Fairuz Nouhad Wadie' Haddad ( ar, نهاد وديع حداد, ; born November 21, 1934), known as Fairuz ( ar, فيروز, ; also spelled Fairouz, Feyrouz or Fayrouz), is a Lebanese singer. She is considered by many as one of the leading vocalists a ...
, Sabah (singer), Sabah, and
Umm Kulthum Umm Kulthum ( ar, أم كلثوم, , also spelled ''Oum Kalthoum'' in English; born Fatima Ibrahim es-Sayyid el-Beltagi, ar, فاطمة إبراهيم السيد البلتاجي, Fāṭima ʾIbrāhīm es-Sayyid el-Beltāǧī, link=no; 31 Dece ...
.


Research and documentation of Arabic music

Even though musical traditions in the Arab world have been handed down orally, Arab scholar
Al-Kindi Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ar, أبو يوسف يعقوب بن إسحاق الصبّاح الكندي; la, Alkindus; c. 801–873 AD) was an Arab Muslim philosopher, polymath, mathematician, physician ...
,and Persian scholars Abulfaraj or Al-Farabi and later Safi al-Din published treatises in Arabic on Persian music since at least the 9th century AD. In 1932, the first Cairo Congress of Arab Music, Congress of Arab Music was held in Cairo, where scholarship about the past, present and future of Arabic music was presented both from Western as well as Arab experts. The results were later documented, both in writing as well as in the form of audio recordings. Research on Arabic music is a focus of departments of ethnomusicology at universities worldwide, and the global interest in World music has led to a growing number of studies and re-issues of historic recordings by independent researchers or private companies. Making use of digital archives for texts, pictures and sounds, detailed information on the history of Arabic music is also made accessible over the Internet. The Lebanese foundation AMMAR, for example, is committed to the preservation and dissemination of traditional Arab music and has published a host of historical documents.


See also

* Arabic poetry * Byzantine music * Durood * Hamd *
Islamic music Islamic music may refer to religious music, as performed in Islamic public services or private devotions, or more generally to musical traditions of the Muslim world. The heartland of Islam is the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, W ...
* Islamic poetry * Mawlid * Mehfil * Middle Eastern music * Music of Africa * Music of Asia * Music of Southeastern Europe * Na'at * Nasheed * Pizmonim * Sufi music * Sufi poetry * Sufism * History of Sufism * Arabic Oud House * Arabic pop music


References


Further reading

* Lodge, David and Bill Badley. "Partner of Poetry". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), ''World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East'', pp 323–331. Rough Guides Ltd., Penguin Books. ISBN * Shiloah, Amnon. ''Music in the World of Islam. A Socio-Cultural Study'' 2001. ISBN * Julián Ribera y Tarragó. ''La música árabe y su influencia en la española'' (1985). * Fernández Manzano, Reynaldo. ''De las melodías del reino nazarí de Granada a las estructuras musicales cristianas. La transformación de las tradiciones Hispano-árabes en la península Ibérica''. 1984. * Fernández Manzano, Reynaldo y Santiago Simón, Emilio de (Coordinación y supervisión ed.). ''Música y Poesía del Sur de al-Andalus''. 1995. * Fernández Manzano, Reynaldo.: ''La música de al-Andalus en la cultura medieval, imágenes en el tiempo'', Granada, Universidad e Granada, 2012.


External links


A Brief History of Arab Music – VideoInformation about history of music from Arabic textsArabic 78 RPM Records Collection at Harvard Loeb Music LibraryMaqam World
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arabic music Wikipedia Student Program Arabic music, Middle Eastern music North African music, North African music Classical and art music traditions