Music in Egypt: Experiencing Music, Expressing CultureIncludes CD

by Scott L. Marcus

Overview

Music in Egypt is one of several case-study volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the core book in the Global Music Series. Thinking Musically incorporates music from many diverse cultures and establishes the framework for exploring the practice of music around the world. It sets the stage for an array of case-study volumes, each of which focuses on a single area of the world. Each case study uses the contemporary musical situation as a point of departure, covering historical information and traditions as they relate to the present. Visit www.oup.com/us/globalmusic for a list of case studies in the Global Music Series. The website also includes instructional materials to accompany each study.
Music in Egypt provides an overview of the country's rich and dynamic contemporary musical landscape. It offers an in-depth look at specific Egyptian musical traditions, paying special attention to performers and the variety of contexts in which performances occur. The book acknowledges the pervasive presence of Islam by focusing on two Muslim performance genres and by considering the age-old issue of the compatibility of music and Islam. It accomplishes the latter by incorporating the voices of many of the performers featured on the accompanying CD. The volume features a variety of musics that reflect and help to create a number of distinct regional, national, and community identities co-existing in Egypt today.
Drawing on more than twenty years of extensive fieldwork, Scott L. Marcus offers detailed ethnographic documentation of seven performance traditions found in Egypt today: the call to prayer; madh, a genre of Sufi religious music; southern Egyptian mizmar folk music; early twentieth-century takht-based art music; music by the acclaimed singer Umm Kulthum, which dominated the mid-twentieth century; wedding procession music; and music by the current superstar pop singer Hakim. The book is packaged with an 80-minute audio CD containing excellent examples of each tradition. All of the examples are based in a single melodic mode—maqam rast—to best engage students with the musical form, structure, and practice of the traditions. Separate educational tracks on the CD introduce maqam rast and the variety of rhythms found in the CD examples. In addition, the CD features a special solo improvisation (taqasim) in maqam rast by UCLA professor Ali Jihad Racy, to help students better understand this particular melodic mode.
Enhanced by eyewitness accounts of performances, interviews with performers, listening examples, and song lyrics that enable students to interact with the text, Music in Egypt provides a unique and hands-on introduction to the country's diverse and captivating music.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195146455
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	11/17/2006
Series:	Global Music Series
Edition description:	With CD
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	8.22(w) x 5.52(h) x 0.46(d)

About the Author

University of California, Santa Barbara

Table of Contents

, Foreword, Preface, CD Track List1. The Call to Prayer: A Communal EndeavorThe Enduring Tradition, Giving the Call to Prayer, A Community of Callers, Responses to the Call: An Interactive PhenomenonChange, Mass-Mediated Broadcasts of the Call to PrayerAn Uneasy JuxtapositionThe Melodic Aspect of the Call to Prayer2. The Eastern Arab Medodic Modes: The MaqamatMelodic TextureArab Melodic Theory, The Scale System: Pitches and IntervalsiMaqam Rast/i in Modern Arab Music Theory, Tetrachords, TranspositioniMaqam Rast/i in Performance, Intonation, Accidentals, Melodic Leaps, Use of Multiple Upper TetrachordsiA Characteristic Progression through a/i Maqam's iDefining Features/iCD Track 33: A iTaqasim/i by Ali Jihad RacyA Region for Beginning the Performance of a iMaqam/iA Characteristic Manner of Progressing through the Rest of the iMaqam/iA Special Shape for the Islamic Call to Prayer, Modulation3. iMadh/i: A Genre of Sufi Religious MusicThe Instruments in a iMadh/i EnsembleA Coffeehouse ContextA Sufi iZikr/i ContextiPublic/i ZikrsMovement and Chanting at iZikr/i RitualsiA Weekly/i Zikr iat the Mosque of Sidi 'Ali/iMusic in a iMadh/i CycleMadh Mawwal iTexts/i, Instrumental Passages, Features Shared among Many Eastern Arab Music Traditions4. The Eastern Arab Rhythmic ModesSkeletal Structures: iMaqsum, Masmudi Saghir,/i and iSa'idi/i, Ornamenting the Rhythms in PerformanceiA Variety of/i Takk iSounds/iOther RhythmsWahda iand/i ZaffaMalfuf iand/i Sa'udiMasmudiSama'i, Additional Region-Specific or Culture-Specific RhythmsChanges Over Time5. Upper Egyptian Folk Music for Weddings and Festivals: iMizmar/i EnsemblesiA Mizmar/i Ensemble at an Upper Egyptian Wedding, The Ensemble, "Tipping", The RepertoireSolo Instrumental ImprovisationThe Songs i"Kan 'Andi Ghazal"/i and i"Sama'ti Yom Rannit Khulkhal", Male Stick Dancing at WeddingsiSa'idi Mizmar/i at Saint's-Day Festivals, Male Stick Dancing at Saint's-Day FestivalsiSa'idi Mizmar / Tabl Baladi/i in Government Folk-Music Ensembles"Gypsies"? A Shared Middle Eastern TraditioniSa'idi Mizmar/i Music: Unique, Yet Partaking of a Shared Musical Tradition6. Islam and Music: Is Music iHaram?/iThe Highest Authorities: The iQur'an/i and the iHadith/i, Different Contexts/Different Rulers, Sufis: Developing the "Art of Listening"The iSama'/i Polemic in Present-Day Cairo, Voices of Performers on the Accompanying CD, Other Voices in Present-Day Cairo, Maintaining a Separation between the Human and the Divine7. Art Music of the Late-Nineteenth/Early-Twentieth Centuries: iTakht/i EnsemblesFrom iTakht/i to iFirqa/i EnsemblesiThe/i Takht iEnsemble/iiThe Creation of a New Large Ensemble: The/i FirqaiThe/i Takht iRepertoire:/i iThe/i Wasla iSuite Form/iReviving the PastCreating a iTakht/i Recording: CD Tracks 9-19The Items in Tracks 9-19iThe Improvisatory Genres:/i Taqasim, Layali, iand/i Mawwal, LayaliTwo iMawals/iiThe Instrumental/i Dulab iand/i Sama'i iGenres/i, Two Precomposed Song GenresThe iTaqtuqa "il-Bahr Nayim"A iMuwashshah/iiThe/i Wasla ias a Composite Sociocultural Entity/iiThe/i Tarab iAesthetic/i8. Art Music of the Mid-Twentieth Century: Umm Kulthum and the Long-Song TraditionA New Superstar Emerges, The Development of New Mass MediaThe New iUghniya/i (Long Song) Genre, Umm Kulthum's New Directions, Umm Kulthum's EnsembleiOther Famous/i Ughniya iSingers/iPerformances Videoed and Then on TelevisionUmm Kulthum's Last YearsThe Umm Kulthum Song, i"Aruh Li Min,"/i on CD Tracks 20-22, The Hall, The StageiThe Instrumental Introduction/i (Muqaddima), Umm Kulthum Begins to Sing: The Vocal RefrainThe Poetic TextMaqam Rast9. iZaffa/i (Wedding Procession) MusicA iZaffa/i Band's Performance at a Five-Star HotelThe Creation of the New iDumyati Zaffa/i EnsembleiThe/i Sharqiyya MizmariThree Categories of/i Zaffa iEnsemble Members/iiThe Unique/i Sharqiyya Mizmar iStyle of Playing/iiZaffa/i SongsMaqam Rast iand a Variety of Rhythms/iBeyond iZaffa/i PerformancesiA/i Sharqiyya Mizmar iPlayer's Life Story/i10. Present-Day Pop Music: Hakim and the iSha'bi/i and iShababi/i GenresA Wedding Performance, A Typical Performance ScheduleThe BandThe iSha'bi/i and iShababi/i Pop-Music GenresHakim's Rise to Fame, The Early Years, Muhammad 'Ali Street, a Historic Center for MusiciansiShameful, but Not/i Haram, Stardomi"Modern/i Sha'bi", An International Vision, ControversyCreating a iSha'bi/i SongiAdding a/i Sha'bi iFeel to the Three Traditional Components/i, The Arranger, a New Fourth Componenti"il-Kalam Da Kabir"/i (CD Track 26), Continuity and Change, Afterword, Glossary, References, Index