Making Music in the Arab World: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab.(Vernacular Musics)(Book Review)

Making Music in the Arab World: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab. By A. J. Racy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. (Cambridge Middle East Studies.) [xiv, 248 p. ISBN 0-521-30414-8. $60.] Illustrations, glossary, bibliography, index.

One of the most powerful and compelling aspects of music is its ability to tap into and move human emotions. Yet because of its subjective, elusive, and highly personal nature, music as an emotional experience is difficult to isolate, and therefore analyze. A. J. Racy, a performer, composer, and ethnomusicologist with a strong foundation in historical analysis, has committed a lifetime of work to the ecstatic elements of musical expression in the Arab Near East. In this book, Racy draws on multiple perspectives and experiences to reveal the emotionally evocative and affective dimensions of Arabic music, as they manifest through a complex musical and cultural phenomenon known as tarab.

Roughly translated to mean musical ecstasy, the word tarab is also used as a reference to (1) certain styles of urban, secular music, or "art music," found throughout the Arab Near East; (2) a musical aesthetic associated with the early twentieth century; and, (3) an emotionally ecstatic state that is evoked through musical practices emanating from within these genres. As a musical phenomenon, however, tarab is a much larger subject, with no exact English translation or equivalent. Racy describes the tarab phenomenon as "a multifaceted domain within which the music and its ecstatic influence are conceptually and experientially linked" (p. 7). He explains tarab as "a complex that embraces an aesthetic-experiential core, but also intertwines with a thick network of cultural values, economic relationships, and social hierarchies" (p. 10).

Reflecting on the multidimensional aspects of tarab, Racy skillfully weaves historical research, music theory, the thoughts and experiences of individual performers, and personal experience in such a way that one organically spills into the other, leaving the reader with a visceral sense that these elements are interconnected. All the while, Racy maintains a strong sense of organizational integrity, meticulous research, and clearly presented ideas. The book is organized into five broad categories, or chapters, that are simply titled "Culture," "Performance," "Music," "Saltanah," and "Lyrics." There is a short introduction detailing the multiple dimensions of tarab as a phenomenon, and the nature of music as an ecstatic experience. The concluding chapter, "Tarab in Perspective," looks at "these and related aspects of the tarab" as they "are viewed in their broader social and expressive contexts and reinterpreted against related theories and comparable world models" (p. 191).

Racy begins the first chapter, "Culture," by suggesting that tarab exists as a "specialized cultural domain," which encompasses "artists, repertoires, and music related ideologies, attitudes and behaviors, including ways of listening and reacting to music" (p. 15). In support of this claim, the chapter explores various roles and processes that occur within tarab culture: the role of gender; the role of the student; the role, or expected social etiquette, of both musicians and listeners; and the importance of the sammi' ah, or musically informed, diehard listeners. Racy illustrates the ways in which culturally accepted reactions to the musical experience, such as physical and verbal responses, reveal the emotional and ecstatic components that define the tarab experience.

This chapter also addresses the cultural implications of learning, and the process of becoming a tarab artist. According to Racy, each individual within this process has a unique story, and each generation has new influences that effect musical expression. For instance, unlike artists of the early twentieth century, tarab artists today are often trained in both Eastern and Western music, a phenomenon that Racy refers to as "bi-musicality." For most musicians, however, the process of becoming a tarab artist typically involves five overlapping phases: the appearance of talent, obsession and struggle, discovery and recognition, musical training, and developing a performance career. Each of these phases is explained in depth through historical anecdotes and ethnographic studies.

Using both early and modern performance contexts and venues, Racy aptly addresses the musical processes involved in the tarab performance. In chapter 2 he examines the particulars of musical performances in several contexts: ...