Tarab: Music, Ecstasy, Emotion, and Performance - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1477331433 ISBN 13: 9781477331439

Publisher: University of Texas Press, 2025

Synopsis

In Arab culture, at the ineffable point where music meets emotion, lies ṭarab. Often glossed as the ecstasy experienced and expressed when performing or listening to singing, instrumental works, and recitations of poetry, ṭarab is both a practice and an orienting concept central to musical aesthetics and spirituality characteristic of Middle Eastern cultures. Gathering fifteen essays by scholars of music, affect, literature, religion, and education, Ṭarab extends the study of ṭarab historically, geographically, and sociologically. Historical essays explore ṭarab’s role in the medieval Middle East and the Ottoman Empire. Turning to the modern era, authors examine ṭarab and related concepts in Egypt, Albania, and Iraq, and among Turkish Roma and Lebanese Maronite Christians. The contributors also address contemporary practitioners and the intersections of ṭarab and maqam, belly dancing, music streaming, and university music ensembles. Situating this unique cultural concept in a global context, these studies enrich the story of ṭarab and provide new insight into music’s powerful emotional appeal.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Frishkopf is a professor of music at the University of Alberta. He is the coeditor of Resisting the Dehumanization of Refugees; Music, Sound, and Architecture in Islam; and Music and Media in the Arab World.

Scott Marcus is a professor of music (ethnomusicology) at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of Music in Egypt and coeditor of The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 6, The Middle East.

Dwight Reynolds is Distinguished Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of The Musical Heritage of al-Andalus and Medieval Arab Music and Musicians, as well as coeditor of The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 6, The Middle East.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1477331433
• ISBN 13: 9781477331439
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296
• Editor: Frishkopf Michael, Marcus Scott, Reynolds Dwight