Medieval Arab Music and Musicians

Medieval Arab Music and Musicians PDF Author: Dwight Reynolds
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004501541
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
Medieval Arab Music and Musicians offers complete, annotated English translations of three of the most important medieval Arabic texts on music and musicians: the biography of the musician Ibrāhīm al-Mawṣilī from al-Iṣbahānī’s Kitāb al-Aghānī (10th c), the biography of the musician Ziryāb from Ibn Ḥayyān’s Kitāb al-Muqtabis (11th c), and the earliest treatise on the muwashshaḥ Andalusi song genre, Dār al-Ṭirāz, by the Egyptian scholar Ibn Sanā’ al-Mulk (13th c). Al-Mawṣilī, the most famous musician of his era, was also the teacher of the legendary Ziryāb, who traveled from Baghdad to al-Andalus and is often said to have laid the foundations of Andalusi music. The third text is crucial to any understanding of the medieval muwashshaḥ and its possible relations to the Troubadours, the Cantigas de Santa María, and the Andalusi musical traditions of the modern Middle East.

Medieval Arab Music and Musicians

Medieval Arab Music and Musicians PDF Author: Dwight Reynolds
Publisher: Brill Studies in Middle Easter
ISBN: 9789004501515
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
"Medieval Arab Music and Musicians offers complete, annotated English translations of three of the most important medieval Arabic texts on music and musicians: the biography of the musician Ibrāhīm al-Mawṣilī from al-Iṣbahānī's Kitāb al-Aghānī (10th c), the biography of the musician Ziryāb from Ibn Ḥayyān's Kitāb al-Muqtabis (11th c), and the earliest treatise on the muwashshaḥ Andalusi song genre, Dār al-Ṭirāz, by the Egyptian scholar Ibn Sanā' al-Mulk (13th c). Al-Mawṣilī, the most famous musician of his era, was also the teacher of the legendary Ziryāb, who traveled from Baghdad to al-Andalus and is often said to have laid the foundations of Andalusi music. The third text is crucial to any understanding of the medieval muwashshaḥ and its possible relations to the Troubadours, the Cantigas de Santa María, and the Andalusi musical traditions of the modern Middle East"--

Music and Musicians in the Medieval Islamicate World

Music and Musicians in the Medieval Islamicate World PDF Author: Lisa Nielson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0755617908
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 375

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Book Description
During the early medieval Islamicate period (800–1400 CE), discourses concerned with music and musicians were wide-ranging and contentious, and expressed in works on music theory and philosophy as well as literature and poetry. But in spite of attempts by influential scholars and political leaders to limit or control musical expression, music and sound permeated all layers of the social structure. Lisa Nielson here presents a rich social history of music, musicianship and the role of musicians in the early Islamicate era. Focusing primarily on Damascus, Baghdad and Jerusalem, Lisa Nielson draws on a wide variety of textual sources written for and about musicians and their professional/private environments – including chronicles, literary sources, memoirs and musical treatises – as well as the disciplinary approaches of musicology to offer insights into musical performances and the lives of musicians. In the process, the book sheds light onto the dynamics of medieval Islamicate courts, as well as how slavery, gender, status and religion intersected with music in courtly life. It will appeal to scholars of the Islamicate world and historical musicologists.

Inside Arabic Music

Inside Arabic Music PDF Author: Johnny Farraj
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019065838X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
What makes hundreds of listeners cheer ecstatically at the same instant during a live concert by Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum? What is the unspoken language behind a taqsim (traditional instrumental improvisation) that performers and listeners implicitly know? How can Arabic music be so rich and diverse without resorting to harmony? Why is it so challenging to transcribe Arabic music from a recording? Inside Arabic Music answers these and many other questions from the perspective of two "insiders" to the practice of Arabic music, by documenting a performance culture and a know-how that is largely passed on orally. Arabic music has spread across the globe, influencing music from Greece all the way to India in the mid-20th century through radio and musical cinema, and global popular culture through Raqs Sharqi, known as "Bellydance" in the West. Yet despite its popularity and influence, Arabic music, and the maqam scale system at its heart, remain widely misunderstood. Inside Arabic Music de-mystifies maqam with an approach that draws theory directly from practice, and presents theoretical insights that will be useful to practitioners, from the beginner to the expert - as well as those interested in the related Persian, Central Asian, and Turkish makam traditions. Inside Arabic Music's discussion of maqam and improvisation widens general understanding of music as well, by bringing in ideas from Saussurean linguistics, network theory, and Lakoff and Johnson's theory of cognition as metaphor, with an approach parallel to Gjerdingen's analysis of Galant-period music - offering a lens into the deeper relationships among music, culture, and human community.

Three Master Musicians

Three Master Musicians PDF Author: Fuad Matthew Caswell
Publisher: Matador
ISBN: 9781780884998
Category : Identity (Psychology)
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
An interesting and readable book about the master musicians of the medieval Islamic world.Taking as its subject the world of medieval Islamic music, Three Master Musicians deals with the three men who led artistic life in Abbasid Baghdad in the 9th century. Two of these men were Ibrahim al-Mawsili and his son Ishaq who were musicians to caliphs and aristocrats and kept the equivalent of a latter day academy of music. The third man featured in Dr. Caswell's new book is Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi - a remarkable musician for his time. He was the son of a caliph and the uncle of several caliphs (and he himself held the caliphate of Baghdad for a brief spell being known as the Black Caliph due to his colour). Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi was a wonderful musician with a formidable vocal range who popularised singing and is said to have created the 'modern' mode of Arabic singing.Three Master Musicians is an in-depth look at the medieval music makers who changed Arabic music forever.

Arabic Musical Scales

Arabic Musical Scales PDF Author: Cameron Powers
Publisher: cameron powers
ISBN: 0974588245
Category : Maqām
Languages : en
Pages : 58

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Book Description
How to play Arabic music. Maqam structures with traditional quarter-tone intervals presented in easy-to-read formats. This book has become a widely-used standard for instrumentalists and singers who wish to enter the magical world of Arabic music.

The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture

The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture PDF Author: Dwight F. Reynolds
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521898072
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
An accessible and wide-ranging survey of modern Arab culture covering political, intellectual and social aspects.

The Music of the Arabs

The Music of the Arabs PDF Author: Habib Hassan Touma
Publisher: Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN: 9781574670813
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
(Amadeus). Encompassing a history of more than 2000 years, the music of the Arabs is unique among the world's various musical cultures. This book presents an overview of Arabic music throughout history and examines the artistic output of contemporary musicians, covering secular and sacred, instrumental and vocal, improvised and composed music. Typical musical structures are elucidated, and a detailed bibliography, a discography (mainly covering the last 50 years) and a guide to the Arabic alphabet for English speakers are also provided. The paperback edition (00331635) includes a CD of seven traditional Arabic pieces performed by contemporary Arab musicians.

Performing al-Andalus

Performing al-Andalus PDF Author: Jonathan Holt Shannon
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 0253017742
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Performing al-Andalus explores three musical cultures that claim a connection to the music of medieval Iberia, the Islamic kingdom of al-Andalus, known for its complex mix of Arab, North African, Christian, and Jewish influences. Jonathan Holt Shannon shows that the idea of a shared Andalusian heritage animates performers and aficionados in modern-day Syria, Morocco, and Spain, but with varying and sometimes contradictory meanings in different social and political contexts. As he traces the movements of musicians, songs, histories, and memories circulating around the Mediterranean, he argues that attention to such flows offers new insights into the complexities of culture and the nuances of selfhood.

The Musical Heritage of Al-Andalus

The Musical Heritage of Al-Andalus PDF Author: Dwight Reynolds
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000289524
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
The Musical Heritage of Al-Andalus is a critical account of the history of Andalusian music in Iberia from the Islamic conquest of 711 to the final expulsion of the Moriscos (Spanish Muslims converted to Christianity) in the early 17th century. This volume presents the documentation that has come down to us, accompanied by critical and detailed analyses of the sources written in Arabic, Old Catalan, Castilian, Hebrew, and Latin. It is also informed by research the author has conducted on modern Andalusian musical traditions in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria. While the cultural achievements of medieval Muslim Spain have been the topic of a large number of scholarly and popular publications in recent decades, what may arguably be its most enduring contribution – music – has been almost entirely neglected. The overarching purpose of this work is to elucidate as clearly as possible the many different types of musical interactions that took place in medieval Iberia and the complexity of the various borrowings, adaptations, hybridizations, and appropriations involved.