Arabic music (Arabic:الموسيقى العربية,romanized: al-mūsīqā l-ʿarabiyyah) is the music of theArab world with all its diversemusic styles andgenres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguisticdialects, with each country and region having their owntraditional music.
Arabic music has a long history of interaction with many other regionalmusical styles and genres. It represents the music of all thepeoples that make up the Arab world today.
Pre-Islamic Arabia was the cradle of many intellectual achievements, including music,musical theory and the development ofmusical instruments.[1] InYemen, the main center of pre-Islamic Arab sciences, literature and arts, musicians benefited from the patronage of the Kings ofSabaʾ who encouraged the development of music.[2][3] For many centuries, the Arabs ofHejaz recognized that the best real Arabian music came from Yemen, andHadhrami minstrels were considered to be superior.[3] Pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula music was similar to that of Ancient Middle Eastern[4] 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—calledshu`ara' al-Jahiliyah (Arabic: شعراء الجاهلية) or "Jahili poets", meaning "the poets of the period of ignorance"—used to recite poems with a high notes.[2]
It was believed thatJinns revealed poems to poets and music to musicians.[2] Thechoir 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, thelute or therebab, and perform the songs while respecting thepoetic metre.[2] The compositions were simple and every singer would sing in a singlemaqam. Among the notable songs of the period were thehuda (from which theghina derived), thenasb,sanad, andrukbani.
Bothcompositions andimprovisations in traditional Arabic music are based on themaqam system.Maqams can be realized with eithervocal orinstrumental music, and do not include arhythmic component.
Al-Kindi (801–873 AD) was a notable early theorist of Arabic music. He joined several others likeal-Farabi in proposing the addition of a makeshift fifth string to theoud. He published several tracts onmusical theory, including thecosmological connotations of music.[5] He identified twelvetones on the Arabic musical scale, based on the location of fingers on and the strings of the oud.[6]
Abulfaraj (897–967) wrote theKitab al-Aghani, an encyclopedic collection of poems and songs that runs to over 20 volumes in modern editions.
Al-Farabi (872–950) wrote a notable book onIslamic music titledKitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir (The Great Book of Music). His pureArabian tone system is still used in Arabic music.[7]
Al-Ghazali (1059–1111) wrote a treatise on music inPersia which declared, "Ecstasy means the state that comes from listening to music".
In 1252,Safi al-Din developed a unique form ofmusical notation, whererhythms were represented bygeometric 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.[8]
By the 11th century,Islamic Iberia had become a center for the manufacture of instruments. These goods spread gradually throughout France, influencing Frenchtroubadours, and eventually reaching the rest of Europe. The English wordslute,rebec, andnaker are derived from Arabicoud,rabab orMaghreb rebab, andnaqareh.[9][10][vague]
Bartol Gyurgieuvits (1506–1566) spent 13 years as a slave in theOttoman Empire. After escaping, he publishedDe Turcarum ritu et caermoniis inAmsterdam in 1544. It is one of the first European books to describe music in Islamic society.[11]
In the early 20th century,Egypt was the first in a series of Arab countries to experience a sudden emergence ofnationalism, as it became independent after 2000 years of foreign rule. English, French and European songs were replaced by national Egyptian music.Cairo became a center for musical innovation.
Female singers were some of the first to adopt a secular approach. Egyptian performerUmm Kulthum and Lebanese singerFairuz were notable examples of this. Both have been popular through the decades that followed and considered legends of Arabic music. Moroccan singerZohra Al Fassiya was the first female singer 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 artistsUmm Kulthum andAbdel Halim Hafez along with composersMohammed Abdel Wahab and Baligh Hamdi pioneered the use of western instruments in Egyptian music. By the 1970s several other singers had followed suit and a strand ofArabic pop was born. Arabic pop usually consists of Western styled songs with Arabic instruments and lyrics. Melodies are often a mix between Eastern and Western.
Western pop music was also influenced by Arabic music in the early 1960s, leading to the development ofsurf music, a rock music genre that later gave rise togarage rock andpunk rock.[12] Surf rock pioneerDick Dale, aLebanese American guitarist, was greatly influenced by the Arabic music he learnt from his uncle, particularly theoud melodies and skills which he later applied to hiselectric guitar playing when recording surf rock in the early 1960s.[12]
Baligh Hamdi[13] who created and composed many hit songs for several Arab singers, frequently said that he drew upon musical ideas and aesthetics in Egyptian folk melodies and rhythms in composing his songs. He also drew on ideas in the contemporary music of his time. His sound has a classical flavor due to the heavy use of the string orchestra. But he also made some use of electronic keyboards and guitars in harmony with the strings, or alternating with the strings.His best work is published as recordings under the name of the singer. The singers includeUmm Kulthum,Abdel Halim Hafez,Shadia,Layla Murad,Najat Al Saghira,[14]Fayza Ahmed,Warda (whom he was married to for a decade),Sabah, and other singers. He had also collaborated with the legendary singerAziza Jalal[15][16] who promoted her songsMestaniak andHaramt El Hob Alaya one of the best Arabic songs in the 80s.[17]
In the 1990s, Arab artists who took up this style wereAmr Diab,Moustafa Amar,Najwa Karam,Elissa,Nawal Al Zoghbi,Nancy Ajram,Haifa Wehbe,Angham,Fadl Shaker,Majida Al Roumi,Wael Kfoury,Asalah Nasri,Myriam Fares,Carole Samaha,Yara,Samira Said,Hisham Abbas,Kadhem Al Saher,Ehab Tawfik,Mohamed Fouad,Diana Haddad,Mohamed Mounir,Latifa,Cheb Khaled,George Wassouf,Hakim,Fares Karam,Julia Boutros, andAmal Hijazi.In 1936, Iraq Radio was established by the Iraqi Jewish musicians,Saleh and Daoud al-Kuwaity. The brothers played a pioneering role in the modern music of Iraq. Saleh was considered the father of Iraqi maqam and wrote the first song.[18] He also composed for famous singers of that era in Iraq and the Arab world, such asSalima Murad,Afifa Iskandar,Nazem al-Ghazali,Umm Kulthum,Mohammed Abdel Wahab.[18][19]
One of the main reasons for the predominance of Jewish instrumentalists in early 20th century Iraqi music was a school forblind Jewish children in Baghdad founded in the late 1920s by theqanunji ("qanun player") Joseph Hawthorne (Yusef Za'arur) (Hebrew: 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 in the region, and most female singers were recruited from brothels.[20][18]
The music in Iraq began to take a more Western tone during the 1960s and 1970s, notably byIlham 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.[21][22]
The majority ofmusical instruments used in European medieval and classical music have roots in Arabic musical instruments that were adopted from the medievalArab world.[23][24] They include thelute, which shares an ancestor with theoud;rebec (an ancestor of the violin) fromrebab, guitar fromqitara,naker fromnaqareh,adufe fromal-duff,alboka fromal-buq,anafil fromal-nafir, exabeba (a type of flute) fromal-shabbaba, atabal (a type ofbass drum) fromal-tabl, atambal fromal-tinbal,[24] thebalaban,castanet fromkasatan, andsonajas de azófar fromsunuj al-sufr.[25]
The Arabicrabāb, also known as the spiked fiddle, is the earliest knownbowed string instrument and the ancestor of all the European bowed instruments, including therebec, theByzantine lyra, and the violin.[26][27] The Arabicoud in Arab music shares an ancestor with the Europeanlute.[28][failed verification] Theoud is also cited as a precursor to themodern guitar. The guitar has roots in the four-string oud, brought to Iberia by theMoors in the 8th century.[29] A direct ancestor of the modern guitar is theguitarra morisca (Moorish guitar), which was in use in Spain by the 12th century. By the 14th century, it was simply referred to as a guitar.[30]
A number of medievalconical bore instruments were likely introduced or popularized by Arab musicians,[31] including the xelami (fromzulami).[32]
Some scholars believe that thetroubadors may have had Arabian origins, withMagda Bogin stating that the Arab poetic and musical tradition was one of several influences on European "courtly love poetry".[33]Évariste Lévi-Provençal and other scholars stated that three lines of a poem byWilliam IX of Aquitaine 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.[34]
The theory that the troubadour tradition was created by William after his experience ofMoorish arts while fighting with theReconquista in Spain has been championed byRamón Menéndez Pidal andIdries Shah. 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.[34] 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."[35]
Most scholars believe thatGuido of Arezzo'sSolfège musical notation system had its origins in a Latin hymn,[36] 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 Arabicsolmization systemDurr-i-Mufassal ("Separated Pearls") (dal, ra, mim, fa, sad, lam). This was first proposed by Meninski in hisThesaurus 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.[37]Henry George Farmer 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.[38]
Ethnomusicologist Ali Jihad Racy talks about theimprovisation style of music that is present in much of theArab world.[39] Racy discusses the regional attitudes towards improvisation music in theMiddle East describing that improvisation can suggest casual or untrained or even non-professional music-making.[39] This is held only by certain communities within theArabic world and can differ from each region or community.[39][40] Some regions look at improvisation music as the intuitive artistic ability that momentarily expresses the feeling of the player.[39][40] 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.[39][40] Other schools of thought on improvisation music, in the Arab world, believe that improvisation music shows a lack of understanding in musical training.[39] Racy does not specify which groups have what views. Rather, the discussion is more focused on the idea that the Arabic music world is notmonolithic 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.[39]
A respected tradition in improvisation music is known asTaqsim.[41][39] Taqsim music uses amaqam and improvises the form or structure of the song, which creates a cathartic experience for the listener.[39] Further, the improvisation aspects go beyond the form and are expressed in thequartertones of the song.[39] This tradition historically was performed as a chant. Now it is used by performers on theoud/ud,violin, or nay, a type of flute.[39] This style of improvisation is known for the effects it can conjure up in a listener.[39] Listeners may laugh, cry, and shout at different points in the performance due to the emotions evoked by the music.[39]
Franco-Arabic music is a form of music similar to modern Arabic Pop. The genre was popularized by artists such asDalida from Egypt, Sammy Clark from Lebanon and Aldo from Australia. Franco-Arabic music includes a variety of languages, including Arabic, Italian, French Arabic and English.[43]
A rise of ArabicR&B,reggae andhip hop has been taking place since the early 2010s. These songs usually feature arapper in a traditionalArab pop song (such asIshtar's song 'Habibi Sawah'). The Moroccan singer Elam Jay developed a contemporary version of theGnawa genre that is fused with R&B, namedGnawitone Styla. Another variation of contemporary Gnawa played inMorocco was introduced by the bandDarga. Based inCasablanca, the group utilises a mix Gnawa and Reggae in some of their songs.
Political Reggae artists such as TootArd from the occupied SyrianGolan Heights started gaining popularity inPalestine in 2011 after the release of a song about theArab Spring (mainly the Tunisian revolution), called "The Green Revolution". It was sung by them and an ensemble of Palestinian artists, most notable among them being Mahmoud Jrere ofDAM. Another notable Arab artist isShadia Mansour, who is a Palestinian British rapper known as "The First Lady of Arab Hip Hop. Much of her music focuses on the Palestinian cause.
Starting in the 2010s, some artists such asDarine began to utilise fully R&B and reggae beats in their songs. This has been met with mixed reviews and mixed commercial performance.
A combination of electronic music with traditional Middle Eastern instruments has been popularized byRichii with songs like "Ana Lubnaneyoun".
Arabicjazz using jazz instruments has become popular. Musicians like Samir Suroor began to play the saxophone in the "oriental" style.Abdel Halim Hafez, Kadim Al Sahir and Rida Al Abdallah also play in this style. The first mainstream jazz elements were incorporated into Arabic music by theRahbani brothers.Fairuz's later work was almost exclusively made up of jazz songs, composed by her sonZiad Rahbani. Ziad Rahbani also pioneered today's oriental jazz movement, to which singers including Rima Khcheich, Salma El Mosfi, and (on occasion)Latifa adhere. We can also find a lot of jazz music inMohamed Mounir's songs starting from his first albumAlemony Eneeki in 1977, and he is considered to be the King of Arabic Jazz and Arabic Music generally.[citation needed] Another notable performer of this genre is the Palestinian singerReem Kelani who blends jazz with Arabic music, both in her own compositions and in her arrangements of traditional songs.[44][45]
Arabic Jazz has met many new kinds of composition since the end of the 20th century:
There have been manyArab rock bands along the years that fused rock,metal andalternative rock sounds with traditional Arab instruments.
Arabic rock has been gaining attention in the Middle East since the early 2000s, with bands such as Tanjaret Daghet,JadaL, Kayan, Autostrad,El Morabba3,Akher Zapheer, The Wanton Bishops,Mashrou' Leila,Adonis andMeen,Cairokee,Massar Egbari, Sahara,Wyvern, Cartoon Killerz,Khalas, Chaos andAcrassicauda all gaining popularity.
Recently, there has been a new wave of bands emerging in the underground scene across the Arab world. These includeShaghaf, Khayal, Sada That, Code Masr and Hawas ofEgypt and Ayloul ofLebanon.
The world of modern Arabic music has long been dominated by musical trends that have emerged fromCairo, Egypt. The city is generally considered one of the importantcultural centers in the Arab world. Innovations in popular music via the influence of other regional styles have also abounded fromMorocco toSaudi Arabia. In recent years,Beirut has become an important city where singers can fluently sing in variousArabic Dialects. Other regional styles that have enjoyedpopular music status throughout the Arab world, including:
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Arabicreligious music includesJewish (Pizmonim andBaqashot),Christian, andIslamic music. However, Islamic music is structurally equivalent to Arabic secular music, whileChristian Arab music has been influenced bySyriac Orthodox,Catholic,Greek Orthodox,Anglican,Coptic, andMaronite church music.[46]
Secularart musical genres includemaqam al-iraqi,andalusi nubah,muwashshah,Fijiri songs,qasidah,layali,mawwal,taqsim,bashraf,sama'i,tahmilah,dulab,sawt, andliwa.[47]
Much of Arabic music is characterized by an emphasis onmelody andrhythm, as opposed toharmony. There are some genres of Arabic music that arepolyphonic, but typically, Arabic music ishomophonic.[48]
Habib Hassan Touma submits that there are five components that characterize Arabic music:[49]
The basis of Arabic music is themaqam (pl. maqamat), which looks like the mode, but is not quite the same.[clarification needed] Thetonic note,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.[50]
The maqam consists of at least twoajnas, or scale segments.Ajnas is the plural form ofjins, which in Arabic comes from the Latin wordgenus, meaning "type". In practice, a jins is either atrichord (three notes), atetrachord (four notes), or apentachord (five notes). A maqam usually covers only oneoctave (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, andajam, and commonly used variants such asnakriz,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.[51]
Unlike the tradition of Western music, Arabic music containsmicrotones, which are notes that lie between notes in the Westernchromatic scale. While notes in the chromatic scale are separated bysemitones (or half steps), notes in Arabic music can be separated byquarter tones. In some treatments of theory, the quarter tone scale or all twenty four tones should exist, but according toYūsuf Shawqī (1969), fewer tones are used in practice.[7]
Additionally, in 1932, at theCairo Congress of Arab Music held in Cairo, Egypt—and attended by such Western luminaries asBéla Bartók andHenry George Farmer—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).
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...."[52] 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.
Musicians and teachers refer to these in-between notes asquarter 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 toHabib 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 theWell-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.
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 singingslaves 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 cultivate darker and richer tones than generic Soprano voices.
The prototypical Arabic music ensemble in Egypt and Syria is known as thetakht, and includes, (or included at different time periods) instruments such as the'oud,qānūn, rabab,ney, violin (introduced in the 1840s or 50s),riq anddumbek. In Iraq, the traditional ensemble, known as thechalghi, includes only two melodic instruments—the jowza (similar to the rabab but with four strings) andsantur—accompanied by theriq anddumbek. 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 inCairo. These singing celebrities are (or were) the biggest stars in Arabic classic music, they includeFarid Al Attrache,Asmahan,Abdel Halim Hafez,Sayed Darwish,Mohamed Abdel Wahab,Warda Al-Jazairia,Wadih El Safi,Fairuz,Sabah, andUmm Kulthum.
Even though musical traditions in the Arab world have been handed down orally, Arab scholarsAl-Kindi,Abulfaraj orAl-Farabi and laterSafi al-Din published treatises in Arabic music since at least the 9th century AD. In 1932, the firstCongress 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.[53]
Research on Arabic music is a focus of departments ofethnomusicology at universities worldwide, and the global interest inWorld music has led to a growing number of studies and re-issues of historic recordings by independent researchers or private companies.[54]
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.[55]
