Islamic Music

Islamic music may refer to religious music, as performed in Islamic public services or private devotions, or more generally to musical traditions of the Muslim world. The heartland of Islam is the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia. Due to Islam being a multi-ethnic religion, the musical expression of its adherents is vastly diverse. Indigenous traditions of various part have influenced the musical styles popular among Muslims today. The word "music" in Arabic, the language of Islam, (msq ) is defined more narrowly than in English or some other languages, and "its concept" was at least originally "reserved for secular art music; separate names and concepts belonged to folk songs and to religious chants".[1]

At least one scholar (Jacob M. Landau) makes the generalization about Islamic music that it "is characterized by a highly subtle organization of melody and rhythm", that "the vocal component predominates over the instrumental", and that the individual musician "is permitted, and indeed encouraged, to improvise".[1]

Islamic Music

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Historically, the question of whether music is permitted in Islamic jurisprudence is disputed.[2] Regardless, Islamic art and music flourished during the Islamic Golden Age.[3][4][5] Islamic music is also credited with influencing European and Western music; for example, French musicologist Baron Rodolphe d'Erlanger in his assessment of the Abbasid Caliphate in Islamic history credits Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi's Kitabu l'musiqi al-kabir ("The Great Book of Music") with this influence.[4]

According to scholar Jacob M. Landau, "a fusion of musical styles" was able to develop between "pre-Islamic Arabian music" and the music of Persians, Byzantines, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Turks, Moors, because of "strong affinities between Arabic music and the music of the nations occupied by the expanding Arabic peoples".[1] The core area were this "new art" of classical Islamic music succeeded stretched "from the Nile valley to Persia". However, many parts of the Muslim world did not adopt the "new art" of classical Islamic music, or adopted it but also kept native music forms which were "alien" to classical Islamic music.[1] In general, the farther from the area between the Nile and Persia one travels, "the less one finds undiluted Islamic music."[1]

All of these regions were connected by trade long before the Islamic conquests of the 7th century, and it is likely that musical styles travelled the same routes as trade goods. However, lacking recordings, we can only speculate as to the pre-Islamic music of these areas. Islam must have had a great influence on music, as it united vast areas under the first caliphs, and facilitated trade between distant lands. Certainly, the Sufis, brotherhoods of Muslim mystics, spread their music far and wide.

The Berber and Arabic speaking countries of Central and Western North Africa, such as Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Tunisia, share some musical traditions with Egypt and the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East. Popular modern styles of music such as Ra and Chaabi originated in Berber countries. In addition, West African influences can be heard in the popular music of Gnawa.

Most Somali music is based on the pentatonic scale. That is, the songs only use five pitches per octave in contrast to a heptatonic (seven note) scale such as the major scale. At first listen, Somali music might be mistaken for the sounds of nearby regions such as Ethiopia, Sudan or Eritrea, but it is ultimately recognizable by its own unique tunes and styles. Somali songs are usually the product of collaboration between lyricists (midho), songwriters (lahan), and singers ('odka or "voice").[7] Instruments prominently featured in Somali music include the kaban (oud).

West African musical genres are more varied, and tend to incorporate both native and Berber influences, rather than those of Arab origin. A long history of court griot music based on historical accounts and praise-singing exists in the region. Wind and string instruments, such as the Kora harp, xalam lute, or Tambin flute (similar to the ney) are generally preferred to percussion, although percussion instruments such as the talking drum and djembe are also widely played among Muslim populations

The music of the Muslim countries of South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Maldives and Pakistan) as well as countries with sizeable Muslim minorities (India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) merged Middle Eastern genres with indigenous classical musical modes, and is generally distinct in style and orchestration, yet due to the strong links encountered between the Middle-East, Central Asia, and South Asia, it is closer to Middle-Eastern styles than those of the periphery of the Islamic world, which tend to be purely indigenous.

Muslim-majority Indonesia has been significantly less influenced by Middle Eastern traditions than South Asia. As a result, many local musical styles predate the coming of Islam, although exceptions include Malay Zapin and Joget, and the Indonesian Gambus (derived from Qanbus), all of which show strong Middle Eastern influence.

There are also local music genres in Muslim-majority regions in Southeast Asia that are influenced by Arabian traditions, such as the tagonian of the Sundanese people and glipang of the people of Probolinggo

Nasheeds are moral, religious recitations recited in various melodies by some Muslims of today without any musical instruments. However, some nasheed groups use percussion instruments, such as the daff. Singing moral songs of this type without instrumentation is considered permissible (halal) by many Muslims.

Another traditional South Asian genre of Sufi music is the Kafi, which is more meditative and involves solo singing as opposed to the ensemble form seen in qawwali. The most widely known exponent of the Kafi is the Pakistani singer Abida Parveen.

Sufi music has developed with the times. A Pakistani Sufi rock band, Junoon, was formed in the 1990s to bring a modern twist to suit the new younger generation. The band achieved wide popularity, in Pakistan as well as in the West.

According to scholar Jacob M. Landau, in Islamic music, "melodies are organized in terms of maqmt (singular maqm), or "modes," characteristic melodic patterns with prescribed scales, preferential notes, typical melodic and rhythmic formulas, variety of intonations, and other conventional devices."[1]

Strictly speaking, the words 'Islamic religious music' present a contradiction in terms. The practice of orthodox Sunni and Shi'a Islam does not involve any activity recognized within Muslim cultures as 'music'. The melodious recitation of the Holy Qur'an and the call to prayer are central to Islam, but generic terms for music have never been applied to them. Instead, specialist designations have been used. However, a wide variety of religious and spiritual genres that use musical instruments exists, usually performed at various public and private assemblies outside the orthodox sphere.

The question of permissibility of music in Islamic jurisprudence is historically disputed,[2] and with the advent of a whole new generation of Muslim musicians who try to blend their work and faith, the issue "has taken on extra significance".[9]

The religious arts of the Muslim world manifest particular cultural characteristics and a sense of unity across cultures. The devotional music of Nigeria and Pakistan, for example, have a recognizable relationship, but are also uniquely Nigerian and Pakistani. Jacques Jomier attributes this phenomenon to the way Islam moves through the world:

I sometimes like listening to Muslim music, but I can't help but feel like it's wrong somehow as a Catholic. Is it heretical/blasphemous to just listen to it? without even knowing what it says? I just find it peaceful.

I was hoping to be on time for a gathering of alumnae and teachers from the women's college, Institut Ilmu al-Qur'an (IIQ), who were commemorating the death of Ibrahim Hosen, the founder and former director of the institution. Part of the memorial gathering, I was told, would be the collective recitation of the entire Qur'an. Khatam al-Qur'an, as performed in this particular setting, entails the recitation of the entire Qur'an by thirty reciters all at once. Although I had heard khatam al-Qur'an before and had recorded it in 1999 at the home of Ibrahim Hosen, the wonderful cacophony of thirty voices, each one reciting one of the thirty parts (juz') of the Qur'an in a fast melodic patter, was something worth witnessing again. I made my way to Ciputat in a taxi from Depok, where I had met with some singers that were part of an Islamic music festival.

I thought it best to reread their documents aloud and suggest alternate phrasings where appropriate. As I clearly pronounced the titles of the students' pieces, I found myself completely overwhelmed by a bundle of emotions. My throat tightened as I swallowed hard and tried to keep my composure. These young women, all of them students at an institution that may appear (to both Westerners and Indonesians) to promote conservatism and conformity veiled in the authority of an androcentric religious cultural system, were in the eye of the stormy questions of the day. These questions, although they may have been nascent when I began visiting this college for qur'anic studies in December of 1995, had none of the implications that that they did on this day in October of 2004. The United States was enveloped by the post-9/11 culture of fear; in Indonesia, three terrorist bombings (in Bali on October 12, 2002; in Jakarta, at the Marriott Hotel, on August 5, 2003; and at the Australian embassy, on September 9, 2004) tarnished the image of Indonesia in the eyes of the Western world, reducing tourism by six million per year and preventing even students and musicians from acquiring visas to the United States. We were all victims of the preemptive American war in Iraq. e24fc04721