cathy

I've started reading Making Music in the Arab World: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab by A.J. Racy, published by Cambridge University Press (ISBN 0521316855)

This is from the introduction:

Guillaume Andre Villoteau lead a musicological research team for Napoleon in Egypt in 1798-99. He admitted complete lack of appreciation for the music, and annoyance and puzzlement at what he called "a bizarre display of passion and unreasonably extravagant praise for the performers." But at least he also said "It is pointless to pass an absolute judgment agaist the taste of a whole nation."

Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq visited Malta, England, and France around 1855 and wrote about how Western music affected the listener compared to Eastern. He said Europe's music is ideally suited for representing images and concepts, whereas Arab Near-Eastern music is "concerned entirely with tenderness and love."

There is also a chapter on "love lyrics as tools of ecstasy." I think it's going to be a great read. But warning: it is very scholarly with lots of footnotes. The author is a performer and also a college professor and his wife is a dance ethologist and dance therapist (I don't know what kind of dance.)

Cathy

Kharmine

Sounds interesting! Give us a review when you're done, eh, Cathy?

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What if the hokey pokey is really what it's all about?