ANTH 372 - Music Cultures of the Middle East

Credits: (3)
This course focuses on the unity and diversity of musical cultures of the Middle East region. During the semester, we investigate Arab, Turkish, and Persian, musical systems in terms of musical instruments, styles, and repertoires, modal and rhythmic structures, and the effects of cultural policy and social history on musical life. We also consider case studies from Central Asia and the Islamicate world - places considered outside of the Middle East but which have much in common with it. Our semester is organized into four thematic units. First, we consider musical function and traditional contexts with special attention to folk genres and epic traditions. Second, we think about music theory/practice in the Classical Era and its intersection with cosmology, philosophy, and the emergent monotheistic religions of region. Third looking comparatively at the development of various urban music cultures, we will consider the musical and cultural impact of forces such as the Turkish Ottoman Empire, European colonial powers, and the Western, globalized, post-colonial world. Fourth, modern and contemporary musical phenomena, for example the recording and film industries, cabaret and popular music, music and migration, global hip hop, and the musical life of Middle Eastern peoples in the Diaspora provide a contemporary perspective on the present state of Middle Eastern music. The intersection of Music and Gender, Music and Spirituality, Music and Nationalism, and Music and Power, and Music and Conflict have been central to the work of ethnomusicologists of the Middle East (including me) and these topics permeate our semester. We also question the position of the researcher/author/artist throughout the semester with an eye and ear toward the (historical) ethnography of musical life. Students should complete the course with a new understanding of the aims and methods of ethnomusicology, the anthropological study of music of the world’s peoples, as well as the inter-relationship between ethnomusicology and the humanities and social sciences. Prior coursework in ethnomusicology, anthropology, or global studies is highly recommended.