Tarab: Music, Ecstasy, Emotion, and Performance

by Michael Frishkopf (Editor), Scott Marcus (Editor), Dwight Reynolds (Editor)

Overview

In Arab culture, at the ineffable point where music meets emotion, lies ṭarab. Often glossed as the ecstasy experienced and expressed when performing or listening to singing, instrumental works, and recitations of poetry, ṭarab is both a practice and an orienting concept central to musical aesthetics and spirituality characteristic of Middle Eastern cultures.

Gathering fifteen essays by scholars of music, affect, literature, religion, and education, Ṭarab extends the study of ṭarab historically, geographically, and sociologically. Historical essays explore ṭarab’s role in the medieval Middle East and the Ottoman Empire. Turning to the modern era, authors examine ṭarab and related concepts in Egypt, Albania, and Iraq, and among Turkish Roma and Lebanese Maronite Christians. The contributors also address contemporary practitioners and the intersections of ṭarab and maqām, belly dancing, music streaming, and university music ensembles. Situating this unique cultural concept in a global context, these studies enrich the story of ṭarab and provide new insight into music’s powerful emotional appeal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781477331439
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	07/22/2025
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Michael Frishkopf is a professor of music at the University of Alberta. He is the coeditor of Resisting the Dehumanization of Refugees; Music, Sound, and Architecture in Islam; and Music and Media in the Arab World.

Scott Marcus is a professor of music (ethnomusicology) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Music in Egypt and coeditor of The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 6, The Middle East.

Dwight Reynolds is Distinguished Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of The Musical Heritage of al-Andalus and Medieval Arab Music and Musicians, as well as coeditor of The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 6, The Middle East.

Table of Contents

• A Note on Transliteration
• List of Illustrations
• An Introduction to Ṭarab: Music, Ecstasy, Emotion, and Performance (Michael Frishkopf, Scott Marcus, and Dwight F. Reynolds)
• 1. Ṭarab in Extremis in Medieval Arabic Sources (Dwight F. Reynolds)
• 2. The Other Ṭarab (George Dmitri Sawa)
• 3. Judeo-Sufi Musical Intersections (Edwin Seroussi)
• 4. A Tale of Two Ṭarabs: Intercultural Music in the Late Ottoman Empire (John O’Connell)
• 5. Sayyid Darwish and Ṭarab (Virginia Danielson)
• 6. From Ṭarab to Turāth: Fifty Years of Arab Music Heritage in Egypt (Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco)
• 7. Ṭarab in the Grooves: Reconsidering a Transitional Moment in the Arab American Arts Economy (Anne K. Rasmussen)
• 8. The Two Tenors: The Ṭarab Artistry of Wadih El Safi and Sabah Fakhri (Sami W. Asmar)
• 9. The Sufi Source of Ṭarab (Michael Frishkopf)
• 10. From Lament to Prayer: Music and Emotional Shifts in the Funeral Ritual of the Maronite Christians in Lebanon (Guilnard Moufarrej)
• 11. Heroism, Desire, Ecstasy: Qamili i Vogël, Kosova Albanian Urban Song, and the Cultivation of Elation (Jane C. Sugarman)
• 12. Sweaty Transcendence and Affect: The Labor of Musical Ecstasy (Sonia Tamar Seeman)
• 13. Teaching Ṭarab: Embodied Interpersonal Learning in University Ensembles (Anne Elise Thomas)
• 14. Songs of the Ṭarab Repertoire: Sites for Understandings Beyond Affect (Scott Marcus)
• 15. Curating Tarab on Music Streaming Services: The Cultural Politics of Localization on Spotify, Anghami, and Deezer (Darci Sprengel)
• Contributors
• Index

What People are Saying About This

Christopher James Witulski

This collection is a tremendous contribution, one that will broaden the scope and understanding of ṭarab as both a practice and a repertoire. Interdisciplinary and accessible, Ṭarab is an excellent example of what a collaborative volume can and should be. The diverse voices bring complementary expertise to create a work that challenges the reader to broaden their concept of what ṭarab is, what it means, and what it does—all while honoring the people who feel its passion.

Editorial Reviews

The field of ethnomusicology is changing, and this volume shows us how by engaging with historical, comparative, music psychological, popular music, and sound studies in addition to  other fields. The editors and authors sum up this entire field of study well, but also show that same field in motion. This volume is nothing short of a landmark moment in ethnomusicology.

Martin Stokes