Full Description
Music in Arabia extends and challenges existing narratives of the region's distinctive but understudied music to reveal diverse and dynamic music cultures rooted in centuries-old heritage.
Contributors to Music in Arabia bring a critical eye and ear to the contemporary soundscape, musical life, and expressive culture in the Gulf region. Including work by leading scholars and local authorities, this collection presents fresh perspectives and new research addressing why musical expression is fundamental to the area's diverse, transnational communities. The volume also examines music circulation as a commodity, such as with the production of early recordings, the transnational music industry, the context of the Arab Spring, and the region's popular music markets. As a bonus, readers can access a linked website containing audiovisual examples of the music, dance, and expressive culture introduced throughout the book.
With the work of resident scholars and heritage practitioners in conversation with that of researchers from the United States and Europe, Music in Arabia offers both context and content to clarify how music articulates identity and nation among multiethnic, multiracial, and multinational populations.
Contents
Preface
Note on Transliteration
Note on Accompanying Website
1. Introduction, by Virginia Danielson
2. Aspects of the Musical Traditions in the Arabian Peninsula: Distinctive Features, Institutional Preservation, Patrimonial Negotiation, by Scheherazade Hassan
3. The Oil Economy and the Perpetuation of Musical Heritage in Abu Dhabi, by Virginia Danielson
4. (Re)Patriating the Business of Music in Oman: Examples of the Tangible and Intangible in an Omani Arts Economy, by Anne K. Rasmussen
5. Kuwaiti Pearl Diving Music and The Mayouf Mejally Folkloric Ensemble: Beyond an Authorized Heritage Discourse, by Ghazi Al Mulaifi
6. Which Lute was Played in the Sawt of the Gulf before the 20th Century?, by Jean Lambert
7. The Recordings of 'AbdullaIf al-Kuwaiti: 1927-1947, by Ahmad AlSalhi
8. Līwa: A Tale of Adaptation, Survival, and Sustainability, by Aisha Bilkhair
9. The Art of the Tambūra in Qatar: African Identity Reimagined, by Issa Boulos and Yassine Ayari
10. Beyond Aesthetics: Political Diplomacy and Cultural Policy in the Musics of the Sultanate of Oman, by Majid H. al-Harthy
11. Songstresses of Saudi Arabia, by Kay Hardy Campbell
12. Wedding Music: An Ethnography of Male Songs and Dances at Traditional Weddings in the United Arab Emirates, by Khalid Albudoor and Issa Boulos
13. Gender and Genres of Arab Music in the Collection of Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje (1857-1936), by Anne van Oostrum
14. The Oman Center for Traditional Music: 1983-2016, by Musallam al-Kathiri and Majid H. al-Harthy
15. Baloch Cultural Circuits in the Context of the Musical Ethnography of the Gulf Region, by George Mürer
16. Reimagining Protest, Reform, and the Public Sphere in Bahraini Hip-Hop and Heavy Metal, by David A. McDonald
17. Afterword, by Ruth M. Stone
Glossary
Index
