Issue No. 611
Culture
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7 - 13 November 2002 Issue No. 611 Culture |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Plain Talk
The Cairo Opera House is hosting the Festival of Arabic Music alongside which a conference is being held focussing on the contemporary state of this art in the Arab world. This annual event brings together musicians from various corners of the Arab world and provides an all too rare opportunity for classical and contemporary Arabic music to be performed side by side.
While rummaging through my collection of books and publications I recently unearthed a thick volume entitled Studies Presented to the 2nd Conference of Arabic Music, Convened in Morocco in 1969. The volume contains 10 thoroughly researched papers on subjects varying from the teaching of music to musical composition. Interestingly enough there are no names attached to the research papers submitted from Egypt. Such selfless effort!
I cannot hope to give even a bird's eye view of these precious and scholarly papers. But one in particular stands out for discussion, dealing with the controversial topic of Islam's position towards music. It is a topic that has resurfaced in recent years during which some Western opponents of Islam, as well as Muslim extremist fanatics, have propagated the myth that Islam condemns singing, music and art in general.
In the fascinating paper "Music History and Folk Arts" the anonymous researcher traces the history and development of music and singing in the Arab world and follows their links with folk art in general. Arab popular songs have exercised a lasting influence on Spanish music since the days of Arab rule in Spain. The same paper also argues that popular Arabic music had a great influence on troubadours and French musicians. New musical instruments were also introduced to Europe through Arab musicians.
Another issue which drew my attention concerns what was written about music and singing during the time of the Prophet Mohamed. Apparently songs were extremely common in early Muslim society. Singing was an essential part of celebrations, feasts and weddings. The prophet himself is reported to have told his friend and close companion Abu Bakr Al- Siddiq, who heard singing coming from the prophet's home, that "all people have their feasts and this is our feast." When a certain woman was getting married the prophet said to his entourage: "Send her someone who can sing for her." He even went as far as to suggest what song to chant.
Arab tradition is rich in children's songs, work songs and, of course, songs of love. It is known that the prophet joined in the singing when the workers were building the Mosque of Medina.
There were, too, special songs chanted by women who went out with the armies during battles, played on special drums, and intended to encourage the fighters. Obviously, the idea that Islam prohibits music and singing is a myth. It has no support in historical or doctrinal evidence.
Many Arab thinkers and philosophers have written books and treatises on musicology, including Avicenna, Sherazi and Ibn Ishaq.
In his book on music Dr Henry Farmer traces the Arab contribution to this art. He stresses the valuable role the Arabs played in the development of world music. Their books, he writes, especially those by Avicenna and Al- Farabi, improved upon Greek musicology and introduced important new principles. He also shows that Arab musicologists were among the first to study "voice" and the different timbres.
Yet another modern musicologist, Dr Douglas Moore, argued in a lecture he gave at Columbia University that the Arabs were actually ahead of Europeans in discovering harmony. In fact Europeans, he went on to say, learnt music at the hands of Arab masters.
So, as the Arab Music festival winds up during the first days of the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims can sit back and enjoy the music and singing without any qualms, assured that what they're doing is perfectly halal (permissible).
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