Christian Poché (26 July 1938 – 3 December 2010) was a French

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

music critic '' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...

radio producer A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. The job title covers several different job descriptions: *Content producers or executive producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature. The content producer might organize music cho ...

who specialised in

Middle Eastern The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and African music.

Biography

Poché was born the son of an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n father in the

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

n city of

Aleppo Aleppo is a city in Syria, which serves as the capital of the Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Governorates of Syria, governorate of Syria. With an estimated population of 2,098,000 residents it is Syria's largest city by urban area, and ...

, a centre of traditional Arabic music, where he spent most of his life. He lived several years of his youth in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, where he held the position of General Secretary, and then director of the '' Jeunesses Musicales'' (Musical Youths) from 1961 to 1969. During this time he also worked for two years as a music critic for the Lebanese newspaper '' L'Orient-Le Jour''. After his studies in Germany, he was appointed as researcher at the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies in Berlin and as co-editor of The World of Music magazine during the early 1970s. A former member of the Institute of the Arab World in Paris, he is the author of books and articles on Near Eastern,

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

African traditional music African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** List ...

styles, notably in encyclopedias such as the ''Encyclopédie de la musique'', the ''Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments'' and the '' Garland Encyclopaedia of World Music''. He was also part of the scientific committee of the Ocora and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

record collections. For several of his numerous editions of Near Eastern music, he was awarded the French Charles-Cros prize. Among others, he produced audio recordings of the

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

music of the

Syriac Orthodox Church The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The ch ...

. Historically spread across communities in

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; , ) "Antioch on Daphne"; or "Antioch the Great"; ; ; ; ; ; ; . was a Hellenistic Greek city founded by Seleucus I Nicator in 300 BC. One of the most important Greek cities of the Hellenistic period, it served as ...

, Tur 'Abdin,

Urfa Urfa, officially called Şanlıurfa (), is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. The city was known as Edessa from Hellenistic period, Hellenistic times and into Christian times. Urfa is situated on a plain abo ...

Mardin Mardin (; ; romanized: ''Mārdīn''; ; ) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqids, Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris ...

in modern

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, as well as in Aleppo and

Qamishli Qamishli is a city in northeastern Syria on the Syria–Turkey border, adjoining the city of Nusaybin in Turkey. The Jaghjagh River flows through the city. With a 2004 census population of 184,231, it is the List of cities in Syria, ninth most-po ...

in modern Syria, this

Oriental Orthodox church The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian tradition. Oriental Orthodoxy is ...

uses the

Syriac language The Syriac language ( ; ), also known natively in its spoken form in early Syriac literature as Edessan (), the Mesopotamian language () and Aramaic (), is an Aramaic#Eastern Middle Aramaic, Eastern Middle Aramaic dialect. Classical Syriac is ...

, an

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

historical language similar to that spoken by Jesus Christ and the Apostles. A producer at

Radio France Radio France () is the French national public radio broadcaster. Stations Radio France offers seven national networks: *France Inter — Radio France's "generalist media, generalist" station, featuring entertaining and informative talk mixed wi ...

, Poché presented regular programmes of

world music "World music" is an English phrase for styles of music from non-English speaking countries, including quasi-traditional, Cross-cultural communication, intercultural, and traditional music. World music's broad nature and elasticity as a musical ...

such as the ''Vocabulaire des musiques traditionnelles'' (''Vocabulary of Traditional Music''). Another of his radio programmes was broadcast on France Vivace called ''Sanza,'' and subsequently renamed ''Zambra''. Poché died on 3 December 2010 in Paris.

Publications

* * ''Dictionnaire des musiques et des danses traditionnelles de la Méditerranée'', Paris, Fayard, 2005, 409 p. * ''Musiques du monde arabe. Écoute et découverte'', Paris, Institut du monde arabe, 1996, 67 p. and 1 CD * ''Les danses dans le monde arabe ou l'héritage des almées'', sous la direction de Djamila Henni-Chebra et Christian Poché, Paris, Montréal,

l'Harmattan Éditions L'Harmattan, usually known simply as L'Harmattan (), is one of the largest French book publishers. It specialises in non-fiction books with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. It is named after the Harmattan, a trade wind in W ...

, Collection « Musique et musicologie », 1996, 169 p.
''Musique arabo-andalouse''
Paris, Cité de la Musique, Arles, Actes Sud, 1995, 155 p. et 1 CD

Translation

* Amnon Shiloah, ''La musique dans le monde de l'islam'', usic in the World of Islam, 1995 translated from English by Christian Poché, Paris, Fayard, collection ''Les chemins de la musique), 2002, 405 p. ''

References

Citations

Sources

* *

External links

*
Entry on the website of the Société française d'ethnomusicologie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poché, Christian People from Aleppo 1938 births 2010 deaths French radio producers French music critics French ethnomusicologists