THE DIMENSION OF
SOUND
THE MUSIC OF ISLAM'S GOLDEN age is extolled and described at length by
philosophers and writers, but any attempt to reconstruct what it was
actually like encounters immediate difficulties. It was transmitted by
ear, not written down, so we have to rely entirely on the
interpretation of literary sources. Can we not try to bridge the gap by
going to present-day music and using it to clarify these sources?
— the music of the Islamic world has, after all, a strong feeling
for the continuity of tradition. But there are two main drawbacks.
Firstly, music of different regions has tended to acquire strongly
local characteristics, and which variant are we to choose as the
closest to the original? Secondly, contact with other cultures has
radically affected Islamic music throughout its history. Indeed the
sound-documents accumulated since the invention of recording
demonstrate clearly the deep and significant changes that can occur in
less than a century. Certainly the changes in the last few decades
under modern pressures have been particularly striking, but this does
not mean that similar pressures have necessarily been absent during the
previous thirteen centuries of Islamic musical tradition. The musical
styles of present-day Muslim countries should therefore be viewed as
the varied descendants of the early tradition, but none of them as its
exact embodiment.
Islamic music was the fruit of a fortunate encounter between different
musical cultures, producing a 'new music' which contained
characteristics and concepts from all of them, with the Arabian element
acting as a catalyst. This encounter, however, took place only at the
level of 'art' music. The various ethnic and regional styles were left
virtually untouched, and in fact continue to survive to this day, in
the shadow of art music, retaining their distinctive character although
occasionally influencing and being influenced by it.
The 'new music' spread rapidly across an immense territory, from the
Caucasus to the Persian Gulf and from the Oxus River (Amu Darya) to the
Atlantic. Already by the end of the I/7th century it was universally
known and enthusiastically appreciated, and the musicians who performed
it were rewarded with fabulous sums. Music had become part of culture,
and an important part of social life. Famous performers might spring
from a wide variety of origins: some were Arabs, others were freed
slaves of Persian, Turkish, Byzantine or Negro extraction.
Our knowledge has to be based on relatively late sources. One of the
most valuable, for instance, the Kitāb al-Aghānī (('Book of
Songs'), a mine of information on music, musicians and musical life
over several centuries, was written by Abu al-Faraj al-Iṣbahānī, who
lived from 284/897 to 357/967.
From these and other sources it is possible to deduce that the 'new
music' was the result of a successful fusion of elements which were
diverse although they had certain traits in common. Nevertheless, it
seems that the dominant factor which gave the 'new music' its raison
d'être was the Arab contribution, namely the Arabic language
and Arabic poetry. One finds an intimate alliance between text and
music, the music being used to emphasize the meaning of the text. Vocal
inflections and rules of prosody often determine the rhythmic and
melodic structure of the music. We know, moreover, how strong a
sensibility exists to particular intonations—indeed a term
equivalent to 'dialect' or 'pronunciation' is used to indicate the
musical and melodic style of a particular region.
It was deviation from this basic approach that led in the III/9th
century to various controversies, including the schism between the
'Ancients' and 'Moderns' and the question of the possible independence
of instrumental music—an idea that could not have arisen in the
original terms of the 'new music'. By the IV/10th century one can see
the beginning of those separatist movements that would lead to the
rejection of Arabic as a musical lingua franca. Present-day
Islamic music derives from four distinct national sources: the Near
Eastern (the cradle of the whole tradition), the Iranian (extending
eastwards to Central Asia), the Maghribī and the Turkish.
FOLK MUSIC
What we have called art music has so monopolized the interest of
musicologists that the various traditions of folk music have remained
almost totally unexplored. Yet recent research, as well as scattered
information to be found in the literature of the past, proves that folk
music can clarify many points in the development of art music, as well
as being of considerable value in its own right. At different periods
it has fertilized art music and (as in the West) professional musicians
have found inspiration in it.
While art music is tied to the entertainment of aristocratic and urban
society, requiring a certain professionalism in performance and
reference to rules and aesthetic values for its understanding, folk
music is closely associated with the ethnic groups of the region. It
serves as a means of marking every important event in the life of the
individual or the community. Many of its forms are unknown in art
music, e.g. epic songs, dances, processions, passion plays such as
those of Iran and Iraq and ceremonies of exorcism. Others have made the
transition from folk to art (e.g. the music used to accompany the ortaoyunu
and the shadow theater), and have given birth to sophisticated
theatrical forms now in the repertory.
Since both folk and art music have been transmitted orally and have
intermingled through many generations, it is at times difficult to draw
the line between them. Even folk music is not homogeneous; we can
perhaps best imagine it as a continuum.
Folk music springs from a milieu in which poetry is considered
important in social life and is held in profound esteem. Its language
ranges from semi-classical to colloquial and comprises a great number
of subjects; but all are of significance in the life of the community.
ART MUSIC
In contrast to folk music, art music has been repeatedly analyzed,
interpreted and argued over throughout Islamic history. Many of its
preoccupations have been cosmological and ethical, but aesthetic
considerations have never been absent. Musical criticism, for instance,
has tried to define the emotional qualities embodied in the melodies
and modes, which can range, according to these theories, from sensual
pleasure to purely intellectual enjoyment. In the controversy between
'Ancients' and 'Moderns' in the III/9th century, such aesthetic
categories were repeatedly discussed, simplicity and sobriety being
contrasted to Baroque exuberance. Delight in playing for its own sake
was certainly valued. Prince Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdī told his rival, the
illustrious musician Isḥāq al-Mawṣilī: 'You do this professionally, but
we do it for entertainment and harmless fun.' On the other hand,
brilliance and virtuosity—even exhibitionism—were also
highly prized. The beauty of the voice is often mentioned, and voices
and vocal qualities are classified with some subtlety.
Since all music was transmitted orally, composers were not able to
avail themselves of notational devices. It is true that alphabetic
systems are found in some treatises, but these seem to have been used
only for explanation and instruction. The systems invented in Turkey in
the XI/17th century and Western notation introduced in the XIII/19th
century were not widely adopted, and in the areas where they were, they
led to a deterioration in the essential quality of Islamic art music.
Oral transmission gave it a particular character of its own; expertise
was difficult to acquire, needing both inborn talent and long training.
Training was always individual, based on a master-pupil relationship
which began as purely pedagogic but ended as almost paternal. The
finished ideal was the musicus perfectus, a man with an
extraordinary aptitude for music—creative as a composer,
practiced as an instrumentalist and singer, gifted with a phenomenal
memory, able to improvise effortlessly and to write good prose and
verse and finally to be a man of wide general culture.
In art music, as in folk music, the singer is pre-eminent. This is true
even in those regions where instrumental playing is highly developed,
e.g. Persia. Concerts are usually private. The singer, accompanied by
one instrument or a small ensemble, performs for a select gathering of
connoisseurs. This intimacy, with the singer sitting in the midst of
his audience, makes for a perfect rapport between them. All the
performers are in their way soloists, and each displays his own talent.
When several musicians play the same melodic line together, each
slightly varies the tempo and ornamentation. This typical performing
practice, known as heterophony, together with the use of drone and
parallel intervals (octaves, fifths and fourths), constitutes a form of
polyphony, though it is, as it were, grafted on to a type of music that
is essentially non-polyphonic.
TECHNIQUE AND
EXPRESSION: THE MODES
Although both the technique and the style of Islamic music are governed
by strict rules, a large measure of freedom is still left to the
performer for the display of his creative powers and imagination. This
is true not only of improvised pieces but also of fixed compositions.
Indeed, much of the art resides in the manner of singing and playing,
i.e. in the use of ornament and variation.
In Iranian music ornaments are divided into two kinds: 'usual' and
'personal'. Together these encompass appoggiaturas, trills, grupetti,
quick repetition of notes and the subtle tabrīr, vocal
embellishments on a single syllable. A given model can be modified in
both melody and rhythm; new words can be fitted to an already existing
melody, accents can be displaced, tempo changed. Such modifications and
variations constitute the most important aspect of music-making in this
region. 'Originality' does not mean to create ex nihilo, but to
improve on a traditional model. In the art of the Iranian avāz
the freedom allowed in choosing melodic sequences (gūshés),
manipulating them and progressing from one to another makes it
difficult to distinguish between such variations on a fixed composition
and truly improvised pieces.
Because the interest centers on the melodic line, Islamic music employs
a far greater and more subtle range of intervals than is normal in the
West. There are, for instance, several seconds and thirds of different
pitch, including the 'neutral' third fixed by Zalzāl (d.
175/791). There are also intervals of 3/4, 5/4 and 6/4 of a tone. A
number of theories were evolved to systematize these intervals and
these theoretical structures approximate to the 'modes' of classical
music much more closely than to the diatonic keys in use in the West
today. A favorite instrument used to demonstrate them was a
short-necked lute, the ºūd. Thus the first modal theory,
that of aṣbī (fingers), ascribed to Isḥāq al-Mawṣilī
(150-236/767-850), is related to the frets and fingers used in
producing notes on the ºūd. Its four strings were tuned in
fourths, and each one of them had the range of a fourth whose two outer
notes were fixed while the others were variable.
In the course of the XIII/19th century new theories were evolved which
divided the scale into seventeen intervals (i.e. roughly into thirds of
a tone) or twenty-four (i.e. into quarters of a tone). It was the
latter which gained more favor and was eventually adopted almost
everywhere. In theory, therefore, the intervals of Islamic music are
far subtler than Western; but in practice they are subtler still.
Musicians are still very sensitive to the variability of movable
intervals, and the players of fretted instruments often shift the frets
in order to adjust them to the expressive character required.
In addition to constituting the basic scales (like major, minor or
modal in Western music), the modes have other devices and an expressive
function for which there is no Western equivalent. They affect methods
of composition, practices of performance, improvisation and even
certain musical forms. Instead of discussing the modal system in the
abstract, it may be better understood if we look at some of the most
representative of these forms.
The Iranian modal system (avāz) is made up of twelve modes, divided
into seven principal and five secondary (dastgāhs). Each
consists of a variable number of melodic sequences (gūshés)
which succeed each other in a given order. These gūshés are the
basic material at the musician's disposal, and each mode has between
twenty and forty of them traditionally associated with it. This is one
limitation on the performer's freedom. Another is the fact that among
the notes of the fundamental scale there are certain ones that are
preferential: the shāhid or 'witness' note, a central note
frequently repeated; the ist or 'pausing' note; the mutaghayyir,
the 'variable' note; and the furūd-i kamāl, 'concluding' note. In the
course of a piece of this type the shāhid systematically rises. Certain
gūshés can deviate to another fundamental scale; but they have
to return in the end to the first one, concluding with the original
mode. The series of gūshés follows an accepted schema: at first
introductory and slow, then lively and full of virtuosity, then a
series emphasizing the ascent of the shāhid, and usually a lively
conclusion. Within this fairly strict framework, both singers and
instrumentalists are able to display all their art and improvisatory
skill.
The Iraqi maqām includes a whole array of special conventions:
scales, motifs and melodies, types of singing, literary or dialect
texts, nonsense words and characteristic rhythmic instrumental
accompaniment, though the accompaniment is always subordinate to the
vocal line. Occasional modulatory progressions lead from one maqām to
another, but the basic idea is to keep the unity intact.
The nūbah of North Africa is a related form consisting of a
suite of instrumental and vocal pieces composed in one mode, with
emphasis on rhythmic organization and progression. All nūbahs begin
with an instrumental prelude, followed by
other instrumental items leading to a series of accompanied vocal
pieces in different forms and rhythms, and using numerous vocal and
instrumental embellishments including improvisation. A dozen or so
nūbahs are still performed, each with its own specific instrumental
layout; this part is fixed, the vocal open to variations.
The Turkish fāṣil is similarly a suite of instrumental and
vocal pieces in different genres, arranged in a certain order. The
prelude and conclusion are both instrumental; the rest consists of
songs of various kinds interspersed with instrumental improvisations
known as taqsīm.
The taqsīm is an instrumental improvisation, again made up of a series
of sections, characterized this time by a 'central' note and opening
and concluding motifs. The sections are separated and defined by rests
or by recognized concluding motifs functioning as cadences. These
cadences, together with the various central notes, largely determine
the structure of the taqsīim. Each section has its own central note,
which is stressed in various ways. The first few sections are generally
in the lower range, and the player afterwards modulates into the upper
range. At that point the section can become longer and with a wider
range. Modulatory progressions play an important part in the
development of the taqsīm. The complex possibilities available to the
player in progressing from one section to the next are a test of his
ability, his command over the material and the response he is able to
draw from his audience. The rhythm is free, not confined to periodic
accents or to fixed formulae. The taqsīm is a form that follows a set
general plan but offers variation in the details.
Layālī are local improvisations. The name means 'nights', and
derives from the words yā-laylī ('O night'), which provide the
phonetic base; occasionally this is changed to ya ºaynī
('O eye'). Upon these words the singer improvises a florid vocal line,
sometimes using one note per syllable, sometimes many. Structure and
general characteristics resemble the taqsīm. Usually the player
accompanies himself alone on the ºūd, but is sometimes joined by
other instruments for short interludes. Both taqsīm and layālī are
usually inserted in suites, though nowadays they are also performed
separately.
The mawwāl is yet another vocal form, but less dependent on
improvisation and occupying a position between the layālī and the
metrical rhythmic forms. Its text is performed in a free parlando
style.
Rhythm is as important a part of Islamic music as the modal structures,
and a systematic theory of it was evolved as early as the III/9th
century. It was conceived as the way in which melody is divided, sounds
(or beats) being separated by periods of silence (rests) whose duration
could be more or less long.
THE INSTRUMENTS OF
ISLAMIC MUSIC
The instruments described in the literature relating to music are many
and varied. Some are still used, others have become obsolete. One
serious problem in using these written sources is to decide what
instruments are meant by the old terminology. In some cases several
different names are used for one instrument; in others one name is
applied to several different instruments. The term mizmār, for
instance, can mean wind instruments in general, double or single reed
instruments, or even a psalm.
The following list is generally confined to instruments still in use,
though they obviously derive from models going back into the past. Many
more are known from literature and painting, but we cannot be sure how
they sounded.
The idiophones (instruments which produce their own sound)
include metal castanets; tiny cymbals attached to dancers' thumbs and
middle fingers; a larger variety used in military music; wooden spoons;
and finally copper plates or oil containers used as drums.
Membranophones (drums) are the richest and most varied family,
especially in folk music. Frame drums can be circular or rectangular;
some have jingling discs, others strings stretched under the skin. One
type of vase-shaped drum
(darbukkah) was formerly made of earthenware, but is now more
usually of metal. The Iranian zarb, made of wood, is associated
only with art music; it is placed either under the left arm or between
the legs and beaten in the middle and near the edge with both hands.
Cylindrical drums (ṭabl) with two skins are hung at an angle from the
neck of the player and skins at each end beaten with two flexible
sticks. Occasionally one finds ensembles of cylindrical drums of
different dimensions, but mostly they are used with double-reed
instruments or cymbals at processions, dances and open-air ceremonies.
Kettledrums (naqqārāt), hemispherical with a skin stretched over
the top, come in pairs. The larger ones are carried on camels and
played during pilgrimages. Another type is used to accompany one of the
Mawlawī ceremonies. Under the late ºAbbāsids and Fātimids in
Egypt, kettledrums were beaten before the five daily prayers, and small
ones form part of present-day orchestral ensembles.
Aerophones (wind instruments). Oblique flutes (nāy)
without mouthpiece exist in different lengths, usually with five or six
finger-holes on the upper side and one on the under side. They can
cover a range of two and a half octaves; some of the notes can be
modified by blowing harder or softer. Flutes are favorite instruments
of some of the mystical orders, and are used in both folk and art
music. Simpler varieties made of reed or metal are played by shepherds
and at dances.
Double reed instruments (similar to the oboe) (zornā or gayta)
and single reed (similar to the clarinet) are exclusively associated
with popular ceremonies. The former are made of wood and widen at the
bottom into a bell shape. The double reed instrument is enclosed in a
small brass mouthpiece, the reed being entirely held inside the
player's mouth and his lips pressing on a small metal ring; it has
seven or eight finger-holes. These flutes are either accompanied by a
cylindrical drum or played as an ensemble using instruments of
different sizes. One type was included in the military bands of the
Janissaries.
There are a great variety of single reed instruments with two pipes,
some of equal length, others with one pipe longer than the other. In
the latter case the long pipe sounds a more or less continuous drone.
Bagpipes are found in several areas: the Maghrib, Turkey, Egypt and the
Persian Gulf. Horns and trumpets were until the last century in use in
military bands. One type of trumpet called the karna, played in
Iran as part of the imperial ensemble, was six feet long.
Chordophones (strings). Most Islamic string instruments are
plucked, not bowed. Chief among them are the various types of lute. We
have already met the ºūd, the short-necked lute used in working
out musical theory. Its body is pear-shaped and originally it had four
strings and frets. The present-day ºūd is fretless and has five
double strings tuned in fourths, except for the lowest, which is a
second away from the next lowest. If a sixth string is added it is
tuned a second higher than the fifth. Plucking is with an eagle's
feather or a plectrum. In the Maghrib a variant of the ºūd is used
which has four double strings tuned E, A, F, B; this overlapping tuning
limits the range and makes the fingering awkward.
Long-necked lutes are also widespread and appear under a variety of
names. The sitār has four strings tuned C, G (or F), C
(identical with first) and C (an octave lower). It has twenty-five
movable frets, and is plucked with the nail of the index finger. A
variant of the sitār, the tār, has a figure-eight body and is
covered with skin. It has three double strings tuned C, G, C (an octave
lower), twenty-five frets, and is plucked with a plectrum. Other types
used in Iran, Central Asia, Turkey (ṭanbūr), Syria and Lebanon, have
two, three or four strings. The Kirghiz komuz and Kazakh dombra
are long-necked with three strings but no frets. In Turkish folk music
the number of strings can rise to nine. In the Maghrib, on the other
hand, we find a variety with only two, plucked by the fingers.
There are two important types of zither: one (the qānūn)
is plucked, the other (the sanṭūr) struck with two sticks. Both
are essentially trapezoidal boxes. The qānūn has twenty-four triple
strings, under the end of which are placed little movable bridges to
allow the player to modify the tuning of the strings. It is held on the
player's knees and plucked with a plectrum attached to each index
finger. The sanṭūr has seventy-two strings grouped in fours supported
by eighteen movable bridges in two rows of nine dividing the whole into
three registers.
The only bowed instrument is the rabāb, which exists in two
forms. The simpler is either rectangular or round, covered with skin
and strung with a single string. As we have seen, it is played by the
popular poets to accompany their recitations. The other kind of rabāb
is oval or spherical in shape, has two strings tuned a fifth apart and
is associated principally with art music. A more complex type, the kamanjā,
has a wooden body ending in a peg, and three or four strings. All
these, unlike the violin of the West, are played by holding the bow
steady and moving the instrument. In Morocco a violin is often used
instead, but it is played in the same manner. A lyre known as simsimiyya
and strung with five strings is a favorite instrument in the Red Sea
area.
RELIGION AND MUSIC
The question whether music is permissible at all began to be debated in
the first century of Islam and the debate has continued to this day,
filling many thousands of pages. Apart from the theological arguments,
opposition to music on the part of certain early religious authorities
seems to have arisen from the role it had begun to play in society. The
'new music' was associated more and more with a life of pleasure and a
taste for luxury. It acquired connotations of frivolity and sensuality,
reinforced by the participation of women in music-making and by the
dancing (often considered indecent) and the drinking of intoxicating
beverages that went with it. Even the two holy cities of Mecca and
Medina were not immune from these temptations, and indeed they quickly
became veritable centers of entertainment.
There was no clear line of demarcation between sacred and secular
music, and sacred music itself has throughout its long history
oscillated between art and folk music. According to some of the
traditions adduced in the controversy, Muhammad would have approved of
the latter but not of the former, and art music was consequently
completely banished. Nevertheless, the interpenetration of the two
genres has meant that the emphasis has continually fluctuated.
On the theological and philosophical level, the authorities to which
the two sides appeal are the Qur'ān, the ḥadīth, the writings
of religious leaders, the opinions of mystics and legal precedents. The
Qur'ān provides no specific verdict one way or the other, so it was the
ḥadīth which was the main source of ammunition. Literal interpretation
of texts was reinforced by reasoning by analogy. Al-Ghazālī (d.
505/1111) makes brilliant use of this method and the chapter devoted to
music in his Vivification of the Religious Sciences is a
masterpiece.
The mystics held music in the highest esteem, and made it an essential
element in the dhikr ceremonies. Closely related to the
mystical movement was a genre of literature entitled samāº
('listening'), partly description, partly polemical. For the most part
it favored music, but it recognized certain abuses and was occasionally
opposed to dancing and the use of instruments. Writers within the same
tradition would often disagree, and controversies continued over many
generations. Thus, for instance, the treatise of 'Abd al-Ghānī
an-Nābulsī (d. 1144/1731), called Convincing Proofs Concerning the
Permissibility of Listening to Musical Instruments, was attacked by
a later writer, who was in his turn attacked by Muḥammad ad-Dāmūnī (d.
1215/1800).
Such questions were of concern not only to the religious authorities,
spiritual leaders and jurists but to writers in general. The most
important of these who contributed to the discussion are Ibn 'Abd
Rabbihi (246-329/860-940), al-Ibshīhī (d. 850/1446), an-Nuwayrī (d.
732/1332) and Ibn Khaldūn (d. 808/1406).
But what exactly were the uses of music in religious contexts which
gave rise to such passionate disagreements? There were three that were
particularly important: the chanting of the Qur'ān, the call to prayer,
and a few hymns for special occasions and holy days.
The musical setting of the Qur'ān goes back to the second half of the
I/7th century, but it is not related to either Jewish or Christian
musical traditions, and according to literary sources derives from
ancient incantations and chants of pre-Islamic poetry. Its purpose is
to enhance the meaning of the text and convey it in an effective way.
Treatises on the subject codified rules (tajwīd—'embellishment
of the reading'), whose aim was to teach the reader how to present the
sacred text to the faithful in a comprehensible and moving way, while
avoiding any heresy that might result from a misreading. Accentuation,
prolongation and assimilation of certain letters, pauses and correct
pronunciation were all covered, as well as the three possible
speeds—slow and solemn, rapid and intermediate. It is often
stressed that such chanting has nothing to do with art music, and is
actually in theory not counted as music at all. Nevertheless, in
practice it has always absorbed elements from art music. In some
countries it is even performed in different modes. But the basic traits
are always kept, and ornate style and instrumental accompaniment are
avoided.
The call to prayer (adhān) was established by Muhammad between
1/622 and 3/624. The first muezzin, who became the patron saint of
muezzin guilds in Turkey and Africa, was a freed slave called Bilal,
whose martyrdom is a favorite subject of modern plays and films. The
structure of the adhān is determined by the phrasing of the text;
it is composed of twelve musical phrases setting a seven-line text,
with repetitions. But the rhythm is relatively free, and the melody
varies from region to region and is related to folk music. It is simple
in the Maghrib and highly embellished in Near Eastern countries, though
always proceeding according to the principle of 'open' and 'closed'
phrases which as we have seen is a common characteristic in folk
melody. Its general shape is a curve whose high point coincides with
the seventh phrase out of the twelve. The adhān is intoned five times a
day with a powerful and expressive voice. For certain occasions it is
augmented by additional lines. Nowadays the adhān is often transmitted
by microphone and loudspeaker instead of being given vocally from the
top of the minaret.
At certain special festivals other musical forms are performed. On the
nights of Ramaḍān one hears a special tune for this occasion, the fazzāziyyāt,
and on the Anniversary of the Prophet (the mawlid), hymns and
chanted narratives of his birth and life. Turkey has a special poem for
the mawlid composed by Süleymān Chelebi (d. 812/1409), a real
musical piece in four distinct sections, each in a different maqām. In
other countries other genres evolved in connection with periodic
commemoration of venerated saints.
In the mystical brotherhoods, as distinct from the official religious
services, music always had a revered and acknowledged place. The
experience of listening, called samāº, has already been mentioned.
'Samāº cannot produce in the heart what is not already there,'
said Abū Süleymān ad-Dārānī, who died about 205/820. 'Samāº
is like the sun, which shines on everything but affects them
differently according to their degrees: it burns, or illumines, or
dissolves,' said al-Hujwīrī. Sayings like these abound in mystical
writings. It is remarkable that the term 'music' is never used, and its
elements are rarely discussed. It is always a question of 'listening',
which includes attending to dancing as well as music. Voice, gesture
and musical instruments are all aids to the devotee in his spiritual
exercise, which leads him to ecstasy and to supreme union with God.
Hence samāº is a vital and indispensable element in the mystical
search. The founder of the Mawlawī, Jalāl ad-Dīn ar-Rūmī, says: 'The
samāº is the soul's adornment which helps it to discover love, to
feel the shudder of the encounter, to take off the veils and to be in
the presence of God.'
The dhikr ceremonies common to all the orders have also been mentioned.
It is here that the samāº finds its fullest expression. The series
of 'phrases' on the way to supreme existence are marked by a
well-articulated musical organization which attains its highest
achievement in the Mawlawī ceremony ºAyn Sharīf. This
constitutes a real composition of art music, and there exist examples
by known composers such as Mustafā Dede (1019-86/1610-75), Mustafā
'Itrī (1050- 1123/1640-1711) and the Dervish ºAli Sīrajānī (d.
1126/1714). Besides the singers, it uses a large ensemble including
flutes, kettledrums, frame-drums, fiddles (kamanjās) and long-necked
lutes. The same union of art music and mysticism exists also in Iranian
brotherhoods. Many others, however, reject instruments, or content
themselves with percussion. In these cases the result is close to folk
music, though a rudimentary form of polyphony occurs. The devotees
repeat the name of Allah incessantly, shortening it to lah and
then to ah as they go from phase to phase. This forms a kind of
ostinato, upon which are grafted the chant of the soloist or the
responses of the participants.
THEORY AND PRACTICE
By the III/9th century musicians, writers and philosophers began to
speculate on the origins and nature of their music. In the absence of
historical documents they often had to go to legends and vague
traditions (Lamak, for instance, was said to have made the first lute
from the leg of his dead son, whose loss he lamented with it). Concern
about the origin and evolution of music was only one aspect of musical
studies which had voluminous results in the succeeding centuries.
Society was eager for knowledge of all kinds. The study of music became
a necessary part of every cultured man's education, part of the
encyclopaedic learning he was expected to acquire, and in the
intellectual flowering which reached a climax in the IV/10th century
music played a role. But, as the greatest of Arabic theorists,
al-Farābī (d. 339/950), wrote in his Kitāb al-Musīqī al-Kabīr:
'Theory did not appear until practice had already achieved its highest
development.' This was certainly the case by his own time.
Musical theory had been stimulated by the translation of Greek
treatises on the subject into Arabic in the second half of the II/8th
century. Many Greek manuscripts were acquired by the enlightened Caliph
al-Ma'mūn, and were translated by Christians who had mastered both
languages. The first to take advantage of these newly discovered
treasures was al-Kindī, 'the Philosopher of the Arabs'. He wrote
thirteen musical treatises and is considered the first distinguished
representative of the Arab musica speculativa, a category of
writing which presented two major trends—one emphasizing the
ethical and cosmological aspects of music, the other mainly its
mathematical and acoustic side. Al-Kindī's writings belong
predominantly to the first, as does a treatise produced by an order
known as the Brotherhood of Purity—Ikwān as-Safā'. This, which is
of considerable literary quality, tries to initiate the brethren into
the basic doctrines of the order through music. Music, it taught, leads
to 'spiritual knowledge'; it helps to untie the knots in the soul by
making man aware of the beauty and harmony of the universe and the need
to go beyond material existence.
The second trend, which studies music scientifically, as an activity
that is strictly mathematical and almost independent of the human ear,
is mainly represented by the great philosophers and theorists al-Farābī
(257-339/870- 950), Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) (370-429/9801037), Ibn Zayla
(d. 440/1048) and Safī ad-Dīn al-Urmawī (d. 693/1294), who deal with
the theory of sound, intervals and their ratio, harmonies and
dissonances, genres, systems, modes, rhythms and rhythmical modes, as
well as with the theory of composition and the construction of musical
instruments. Both kinds of writing rely heavily on Greek sources, but
do not reproduce them mechanically. The Arab theorists expanded and
improved their models to correspond with the living music of their own
time.
Treatises of this type form one category of the vast quantity of
musical writings. Two other categories which must briefly be noticed
are the literary, encyclopaedic and anecdotal sources, and books on the
theory of the practice of music.
The first comprises chapters, fragments or passages on music to be
found in the literature of adab and in books of medicine,
history, geography, religion and Ṣūfism. Here music is either mentioned
in the course of a narrative or is discussed incidentally—for its
influence on moral conduct, its religious uses, or its role in manners,
education and general knowledge. One of the most outstanding books in
this last class is Kitāb al-Aghānī ('Book of Songs') by Abu al-Faraj
al-Iṣbahānī (284-357/897-967), a fruitful source on music, musical life
and aesthetics. Al-Iṣbahānī collected the songs which were popular in
his own time, adding details about their authors and their background
which seemed of interest to him, and also included a certain amount of
technical information. For instance he goes into the modal theory of aṣbiº
(fingers), which has already been briefly discussed earlier in this
chapter, and prefaces each song with instructions based upon it. He
also gives the main note of the mode, the type of third to be used and
very often the rhythmical mode.
Books on the theory of the practice of music were written mainly for
educational purposes, to provide a comprehensive groundwork in actual
music-making for both amateur and professional; though the theoretical
aspects are not entirely neglected. Ahmad al-Kātib's Perfection of
Musical Knowledge, for instance, ranges over a wide field of
subjects with observations and advice, from problems of phonetics,
breathing and pronunciation to the arranging of musical concerts,
audience-reactions, plagiarism, classification of voices and treatment
of the voice, while on a more theoretical level he explains current
terminology and problems relating to modality. To some extent the
tajwīd al-Qur'ān ('embellishment of the reading') should be included in
this category, since it deals with actual performance and aims to
educate the reader.
THE SIX PERIODS OF
ISLAMIC MUSIC
During the first period of Islam, and particularly during the reigns of
the last two Orthodox caliphs, ºUthmān and ºAlī, Medina
became the center of intense musical activity. Despite frequent
campaigns against music by the religious authorities, professional
musicians were welcomed in the houses of the rich and noble, and
encouraged by lavish rewards. These musicians were mainly freed slaves
of Persian origin, such as Tuways (d. 92/710) and Khāthir (d. 64/683),
who is said to have taught Arabic music to Nashīt, the Persian slave
who became a famous musician. The vogue for Persian songs during this
period may also have been helped by the influx of Persian prisoners to
work as masons at Medina. Among the female musicians of Arab origin
'Azza al-Maylā (d. 86/705) occupies the first place. Her house was a
real cultural salon, frequented by the literary and musician
élite. Some of the rhythmical modes began to crystallize during
this period; its most characteristic type of song is called the
al-ghinā' al-mutqan.
Under the Umayyads the center of musical interest shifts to the new
capital, Damascus. Some of the caliphs had a real passion for music;
consequently musical activity increased, musicians multiplied and their
social status rose. The practice of music also spread among amateurs,
and was widely taught by the virtuosi. Ibn Misjaḥ (d.c. 169/785) played
a leading role in the blossoming of the 'new music'. It was said that
he had learned Persian and Byzantine music, rejected what was alien to
the spirit of 'Arabian song' and retained the propitious elements,
namely 'the most advantageous of the modes'. He was one of the 'four
great singers', the other three being Ibn Muḥrīz, the son of a Persian
freed-man (d.c. 97/715), Ibn Surayj, the son of a Turkish slave
(13-108/634-726), and al-Gharīḍ (d. c. 106/ 724), who belonged to a
family of Berber slaves. Two more notable artists were Maºbad, the
son of a black, and Jamīla (d.c. 102/720), a famous female singer.
With the ºAbbāsid dynasty the capital moved to Baghdad. Here,
during the next two centuries, Islamic music attained its highest
point. This was its golden age. Musicians continued to enjoy favor at
the caliphs' court and to play an important part in the country's
cultural life. The study of music was now obligatory for every educated
man, and equally the musician was expected to be widely cultured. Music
itself became highly sophisticated and began to be the subject of
learned controversies between thinkers with different artistic
conceptions. 'Ancients' and 'Moderns' held public debates. On one side
stood Ibrahim al-Mawṣilī (d. 188/804) and his son Isḥāq
(150-236/767-850), on the other Ibn Jāmiº and Prince Ibrāhīm ibn
al-Mahdī (163-225/779-839). It was within this milieu that the first
musical literature grew up. The melodic and rhythmic modes were
definitively codified. Theories were evolved, practice described. At
the same time the instruments themselves were perfected and standards
of performance rose even higher. Ancient musical forms became more
refined and some new ones came into being.
The music of Islamic Spain is to some extent a separate story. Its
founder was Ziryāb, a pupil of Isḥāq al-Mawṣilī. As a rival to his
master he was obliged to leave Baghdad, and arrived in Spain in
206/821, where ºAbd ar-Rahmān II took him into service. A great
artist and a man of wide culture and prodigious memory, he added a
fifth string to the ºūd and introduced new methods of musical
education. Many members of his family followed in his footsteps and
became famous musicians. In the later years of Muslim Spain music
continued to play a prominent part in spite of the worsening political
situation. Cross-fertilization between the indigenous Visigothic
culture, that of the Berbers and the sophisticated Umayyad traditions
led to a particular style and special musical forms such as the muwashshaḥ
and the zajal, which were to survive in the Maghrib as well as
farther east. Perhaps the most characteristic achievement of the
Andalusian tradition was the nūbah, a suite form which took root in
various parts of North Africa after the fall of Granada in 898/1492.
The fifth period of Islamic music is immensely long—from the
V/11th century to the XIII/19th. Politically this is marked by the
decline of the caliphate, ending in the Mongol invasion of 657/1258 and
the splitting up of the Islamic world into independent states. Musical
life, however, continued almost without interruption. Although less
fertile and less original than in previous periods, it in some ways
benefited from decentralization. At the various smaller courts, music
was often encouraged by rulers eager for prestige, and was able to
assimilate new contributions leading to great diversity. Interestingly,
it was often the mystical brotherhoods, mainly in Turkey and Iran, who
did most for the development of art music, not only by promoting music
for their own needs, but also by creating the conditions for a wider
musical culture in general.
The contemporary period is marked by two trends—on the one hand
the rediscovery and renewal of Islamic traditions, on the other contact
with the West. Western music was introduced first in Turkey before
1242/1826, later in Egypt and Iran. Musicians from Europe were invited
to instruct local players for such things as military bands. It was the
start of a long process which is still continuing, bringing with it
Western musical notation, Western instruments and teaching methods and
Western forms such as opera and operetta. At the same time much of the
Islamic tradition survived intact; folk music was hardly affected, and
even in contexts open to Western influence music retained its typically
monodic character. Scholars and musicians began investigating the roots
of their own musical history, and in 1351/1932 an important conference,
the 'Congres de Musique Arabe', was held in Cairo. Here specialists
from both Europe and Near Eastern countries tried to define the most
important aspects of Islamic music and to ensure that it survived and
continued to develop. Since then the process of change has become even
more marked in almost every way—in the type of sound produced, in
musical language, in teaching and in performing conventions. The
concept of Islamic music nevertheless remains viable, to undergo
further transformations in the future.
Amnon Shiloah
From The World of Islam: Faith, People, Culture
Chapter Six: The Dimension of Sound
©1976 Thames and Hudson,
reprinted by permission of the publishers