Listening to the Connections
There is an interesting gap in the popular scholarship of Eastern Mediterranean music and the Western Art music culture of the European world. From segments of the middle ages, (roughly 1300 AD) to the late 18th century (Napoleon’s attempt to conquer Egypt), there is a space in written record concerning Arabic music theory and practice, much of which is unearthed upon the interviewing of master musicians and poets of the region, but most that is buried through the annals of time. Several historians and early ethnomusicologists have taken pains to reconstruct this gap in the archives, but there is a great deal that remains murky.
Guillaume Villoteau (1759-1839) is often cited as an important figure in the documentation of Arabic music practices in the Eastern Mediterranean, however, much of his work attributes these practices as simply an extension of the Islamic world developed directly from the Greeks. While there is some supporting evidence that during the middle ages, Arabic scholars were largely involved in the preservation of ancient Greek text, with extensive libraries in Baghdad, Alexandria, Aleppo and other important Mediterranean cities, there is important considerations of the broad extent to music innovations of the Ottoman Empire, and proceeding cultural centers. The fact that Islamic religious influences on music intermingled with Christian and Jewish cultures is compelling in the insight that Arabic music was not simply an extension of early Greek theoretical learnings. Raphael Georg Kiesewetter, (an early Austrian musicologist) and Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall (an Austrian Orientalist) teamed together in the mid-19th century and pursued this question of Arabic music evolution. These two researchers helped establish to the Western world the significance of Eastern music as an integral part of the fabric of world music culture. It was Kiesewetter’s nephew, August Wilhelm Ambros, who would continue this research and develop key links to Arabic music cultures and close some of the historical hiatus that separated the Classical civilizations of Greece and Rome from the Latin middle ages. Amongst other discoveries, he did important work connecting the Persian and Turkish archives to the bridge between Asia and the West, along with his research into the many translations of ancient Greek music theory treatise by Arabic scholars.
This record weaves it’s way into the scholarship of Edward Said, whose writings (Culture and Imperialism, 1993), concerning the colonial opera and the cultural invasions of European occupations in the 1800’s suggest that much of the music evolutions from the Arab Renaissance, (also known as Nahda) was simply Western attempts of Imperialism. While French and British occupations during this period in Egypt are understood to be unwelcomed and resisted forms of colonial oppression, there is also significant documentation form Egyptian scholars that viewed certain aspects of Western musical practices as a welcomed integration and fundamentally beneficial advancement to Arabic music theory. The Cairo conference of 1932 often cited as a turning point in the establishment of formalized music education in Egypt looks to practices of notation and scales as principles beneficial to the Arabic music tradition. As these principles are arguably also extensions of Greek music theory, it is hard to reject their applications to Arabic practices. “Inside Arabic Music” by Johnny Farraj and Sami Ab Shumays comments that while these appropriations are part of Arabic music, “The sheet music industry that exists for Western music, is virtually nonexistent in Arabic music”, (p187).
There is a long and intertwining story that connects Eastern and Western music cultures. Many might site The Khedivial (Royal) Opera House in Egypt as the culmination of these civilizations re-introduction to each other, and part of the long road to rebuilding their relationships long forgotten from the old trade days of the Bronze Age. Built in 1869, this center for the arts was established by the Egyptian ruling class and introduced famous Western works by Verdi and Bottesini to the ears of composers and experts in the Arab world, and vice versa. While it is sometimes hard to hear how connected we are through cultural, religious, or political debates, when we do a little bit of digging into our musical pasts, its amazing to find out how much of this journey through human history we share.
Mohamed Abdel Wahab is commonly attributed as the Arabic composer whose contributions incorporated many Western stylings, and his innovative compositions helped Egyptian and Arabic music’s emergence into world prominence. He embraced variety and empowered traditional Arabic music with his own interpretations of Western Art music colorings. I love him because of his contributions to making the double bass an integral part of the Arabic ensemble. Here is his composition, Inta Omri, performed by the amazing voice and orchestra of Umm Kulthum, as it was presented in Paris, 1967. Of the many merging’s of styles, it is notable for its use of the electric guitar in the opening phrases.