Description
Book SynopsisMusic in Arabiaextends 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 convers
Trade ReviewMusic in Arabia is a well put together book, offering an intergenerational, multivocal arrangement of short essays that put up many signposts for future research. . . . This anthology breaks new ground in content and form, and the music traditions discussed coexist and co-resist reformatting or the compression needed to fit neatly together. It is an important contribution.
-- Amy Horowitz * Journal of Folklore Research *
Music in Arabia is a welcome addition to the growing corpus of studies of culture and heritage in the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf region. . . . In conjunction with emerging scholarship on culture in and around the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf, this valuable work should also open up new avenues of critical scholarship on the Indian Ocean region—a zone of circulation and contact par excellence—akin to recent advances in Mediterranean studies.
-- Jonathan H. Shannon * Journal of Anthropological Research *
Table of ContentsPreface
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
