cathy

As I understand it, in the nineteenth century Arab music was performed by ensembles called Takhts and learned by an apprentice system in guilds. These groups performed at weddings, festivals, in coffee houses, and at private events for listening connoisseurs called sammi (cool!)

This would have been exclusively traditional Arab instruments such as the nay, oud, dumbek, quanun, buzuq, possibly mizmar and tambourine? and exclusively in maqam structure (no Western style notation or circle of fifths key signatures etc.)

Does anyone know--Were there solo dancers accompanying them in those days? If so what would we call the dance they did, if Raks Sharki developed after that time? I would imagine that solo professional dancers appearing with Takht ensembles would be mostly stationary. I am almost certain that there were singers who performed either with these groups or independently at the same kind of venues.

Also I believe I am correct that Egypt was under British rule from 1882-1922. At some point in the early 1900s (1920s?), I believe Badia Masabni began performing in her nightclub. As I understand it, she used heavily orchestrated music, that is, music including large string sections and other instruments which come from the West. I assume that they played lots of traditional Arab songs.

I have a few questions about the transition here. First, was there an increase of orchestrated music prior to Badia Masabni? Was this existing music she chose to use or did this style of music coevolve with this kind of dance? I assume orchestral musicians learned Western style of notation, Western key signatures, etc. even if they were also guild/apprentice trained in Eastern methods and maqams.

I have similar questions about the development of Arab pop music and the Western influence but will leave that for another time.

Does anyone know about any books (other than the Racy book I mentioned on another thread) about the evolution of Arab music? Ideally that also goes into the relationship with dance?

Thanks, Cathy

Aisha Azar

Dear Cathy,
Have you discussed this with Morocco??
I think we do not really know much beyond info on the takht, what was happening in Arab or any other music that did not leave musical notation before the development of recording devices. I think we can assume that Masasbni herself used music of the takht.
According to Dr. Jihad Racy, in Egypt in the late 19th century, there was a "precomposed ensemble prelude, a number of solo improvistation a muwashshah sung by a small chorus and vocal improvisations" (Music in our
World, Arab music, p. 61, Index of /m345 Arab_Music2d.html).
This does not sound that different from the way that Arab music is arranged today. Racy goes on to describe what instruments go with what part of the music ,etc.
As for the dancing, you can read these sort of vague things that lead us to believe that Beledi and Ghawazi dance is much the same as it has been for centuries, but through the eyes mostly of Europeans, so who knows..???

The music exists without the dance,r though you do get people like Hani Mehenna who occasionally write specifically for dancers such as Meshaal for Nagwa Fouad.

I have an Aramco article somewhere that explains things in easy to understand terms. I will see if I can find it.

I hope this is helpful.

Regards,
A'isha

janaki

Great post Cathy!!! I have always wanted to know about evolution of arab music as well as dance.

Dear A'isha,

You are a "data bank" (sorry I am a computer geek) for all belly dancers. Would love to learn more about it. Pls if you have any info or articles post them.

Digressing from the subject, how and where did you learn so much about bellydance and related subjects. I hope one dayI can be as knowledgeble as you are !!!

Cheers
Janaki

cathy

Dear A'isha,

I am reading another book by A. J. Racy now, which is how I learned about the takhts and sammi. I also had some idea of the private performance and views on the "sinfulness" and "dangerous sensuality" of appreciating music from reading The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz. All this interest was inspired by my own experience of what I can only call ecstasy or bliss, watching the dance. So far I have found little or nothing published on tarab connected to the dance, but have found this book on tarab and music.

I would really love to learn more about maqamat and basic dumbek patterns among other things. I have only had the opportunity to see live traditional ensemble Arab music performed a few times now, twice in what I think is traditional takht style by a group Zikrayat. Luckily both times with a great singer, Gaida. Also I have seen Eddie Kochek's band which was very Americanized with English lyrics and a couple other dumbek/oud duos.

Reading this Racy book combined with our discussion on the "I Don't Know" thread was what prompted these questions in my mind. I am interested in the evolution of Arab music in general but also how, when, and why the Western influence began to affect it plus of course trying to tease out any theories as to how and why Raks Sharki developed seemingly around the same time. Would it have appeared when and how it did, had not Western cultural and musical influences appeared when they did?

I have not had too much chance to ask Morocco about this set of questions. She is extremely busy at the moment about to depart with her group to Cairo for three weeks. If only I could go--sigh.

Thanks, Cathy

Kharmine

I think there is some coverage of the Arabic musical evolution in the book "A Trade Like Any Other" by cultural anthropologist Karin van Nieuwkerk (University of Texas Press) -- I will dig my copy up and post whatever I can find if you can't get the book from your library or bookstore.

I would also recommend anything written by Anne Rassmussen -- she's an associate professor of ethnic musicology at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Va, and directs a Middle Eastern music ensemble. Her profile and a list of her writings can be found here: Directory | Music

You can also try sending your questions to her college email address. I've contacted her that way for an article I wrote about vintage American belly dance music, and she has been very helpful.

The explanation from "A Trade Like Any Other" that I remember is that the nightclubs of Cairo in the 1920s were catering to the European and American tourists who generally had more money than the locals.

So savvy clubs arranged the music and orchestras to play traditional tunes in keys and harmonies more "pleasing" to the non-Arab ear, sometimes substituting Western instruments for traditional ones, such as the clarinet for the shawm. (Eddie Kochak, George Abdo, Mohammad el-Bakkar, Freddy Elias, etc, did the same thing for American audiences starting in the late 1950s.)The Westernized music was also easier for non-Arabic/Turkish/Greek/Armenian dancers to dance to.

In the meantime, this may help - here is a web site with lots of traditional Arabic music you can listen to, with a link to a sister site with educational info: Traditional Arabic Music

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Aisha Azar

Dear Janaki,
While I know far from enough, I have been dancing for 33 years and have a fairly enormous collection of research papers, books, etc, from which I have gleaned info and continue to do so. I also have been taking classes in dance, music, cultural anthropology, Islamic studies, etc, for many years. But.... I feel my best source for real knowledge of the dances and cultures of the Middle East and North Africa have been my friends from those countries. I have the privelege and pleasure of spending most of my social time and a good dael of my work time in the company of Arabs. They are the people who have given me a real education.
I want to thank you for taking the time to acknowledge my contributions here and I want to pass most of the credit on to those who have taken time in their own lives to enrich mine.



Dear CAthy,
We have to keep in mind that no matter what instruments or when they were added, everything was filtered through the ethnocentric cultural filters of the Middle East. The music, in effect, sounded still Middle Eastern or North African, and was still Arab music at its heart and soul, just as it is today, just as when they earlier added Persian, Greek and other influences. Western influences always got, so to speak a bigger nose and blacker, thicker hair and darker skin when added to the Arab musical mix. In other words, Masabni and group were still dancing to Arab music, no matter what the instrumentation. That was part of the intrigue for the wealthy Europeans and what still made the entertainment of the time palatable to the more wealthy Middle Eastern clientel, who were there right along side the Englizi and others. There is a huge difference between Eddie the Sheik and what Arabs were playing, even after the immigrated to the states as can be heard in "Music of the Arab Americans", CD. ( ISBN 11661-1122-2. this music dates from 1916 to the 1950s. Masabni made her appearance in the 1920s.
Regards to you both,
A'isha

cathy

Hi Kharmine,

Thanks for all the info. No need to dig--I have the Nieuwkerk book, just haven't read it yet! What you say makes sense too.

P.S. Did you actually meet Eddie Kochak? He's a character. He says after each dancer "bee-you-tee -full, sweetheart! They LOVE you, they LOVE you! Come over here!" and gets a picture taken with each one.

Thanks, Cathy

Kharmine

I've interviewed and talked to The Sheik several times by phone (he lives in Brooklyn), and yep, he's quite the character. He's about 86 but didn't want me to print his age because he's still "seein' the ladies!" (He's been engaged several times but never married.)

For those who don't know much about him, his web site is here: Eddie "The Sheik" Kochak

His appearance at Rakkash East 2006 is on YouTube. He doesn't play much on the video, but you get an idea of his stage performance.

Starting in the 1960s, he and Hakki Obadia, a Sephardic Jew and musical genius from Baghdad, teamed up to take tunes from the Middle East, Turkey, Armenia, Greece, etc. and arrange them for the more diverse audiences that were just then getting into the music being played in ethnic nightclubs.

They also made a point of working with the American belly dancers to show them how the dance should be done to the music. His albums feature parts specifically referring to music for veil work, floor work, entrances, etc. Eddie still refers to the dancers he's known for years as "the girls." While you can dance to his music in just about any style of belly dance, it's most known for popularizing the American style that came to be called cabaret, nightclub, restaurant or American Oriental.

Eddie and Hakki's music was also very popular among immigrants and abroad in their ancestral countries. Both men also played a good deal of traditional music, and Eddie is credited as a producer and consultant on over 100 recordings of Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Turkish and Israeli music. Eddie is also credited with almost singlehandedly reviving the tradition of dancing the debke in the United States.

Obadia died a few years ago. Eddie is still the Middle East Representative of the Musician's Union Local No. 802 in New York City, in charge of the Arabic, Israeli, Greek, Armenian and Persian sectors.

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cathy

Hi Kharmine,

Thanks for the info. I live in Brooklyn also and have been to Eddie Kochak's event there called Atlantic Antic a couple of times plus I saw him at an event called Platinum Dancers in Manhattan several weeks ago that he kicked off. Quite a few esteemed NYC teachers performed, including Serena whom I saw there for the first and last time. Anyway, Eddie told us, "We put this event together to show you girls how this dance is really supposed to be done...." He did a comedy song in English, something about a camel I think it was.

Cathy

Kharmine

What a treat! I wish I had been there! Yeah, the remark probably reflects his feelings about tribal and a lot of the fusion stuff going on. And, of course, he prefers music that reflects the ethnic roots of belly dance.

He's famous for those comic English-language songs to traditional music-- I've got a few on his earlier albums. He's still teaching percussion, in case you ever thought of learning the tabla or doumbek!

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