Inside Arabic Music: Arabic Maqam Performance and Theory in the 20th Century by Farraj, Johnny

Inside Arabic Music: Arabic Maqam Performance and Theory in the 20th Century (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780190658366)

Vendor: Johnny Farraj
Product type: Books
Format: Paperback
$54.00
$54.00
$54.00
Subtotal: $54.00
Inside Arabic Music: Arabic Maqam Performance and Theory in the 20th Century by Farraj, Johnny

Inside Arabic Music: Arabic Maqam Performance and Theory in the 20th Century

$54.00
Inside Arabic Music: Arabic Maqam Performance and Theory in the 20th Century by Farraj, Johnny

Inside Arabic Music: Arabic Maqam Performance and Theory in the 20th Century

$54.00
Format: Paperback
Description
Description
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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.

Author: Johnny Farraj, Sami Abu Shumays
ISBN-10: 0190658363
ISBN-13: 9780190658366
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 08/15/2019
Pages: 480
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.00w x 1.10d
By Johnny Farraj
By Johnny Farraj
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Johnny Farraj is a Lebanese-born musician and software engineer of Palestinian descent. His main instrument is the riqq; he also plays the 'ud and sings. Farraj is the creator of MaqamWorld, the leading Internet reference on Arabic music theory, and is a frequent Arabic music blogger, teacher and performer, as well as a lifelong listener.

Sami Abu Shumays is a Palestinian-American musician, arts administrator, and independent scholar, who traveled to Cairo and Aleppo to immerse himself in Arabic Music. After returning to the U.S., he began performing and teaching, founded Zikrayat ensemble, and developed the pedagogical website Maqam lessons. He is currently Deputy Director of Flushing Town Hall, an arts presenter in Queens, NY.

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