The Music of the Arabs

Rating:
Summary: A lousy book that doesn't mention the greats
Review: Dreadful. It doesn't mention the greats like Abdel-Wahab and Farid. The author is extremely biased! How can he not mention a great composer and lute player as Farid?

Rating:
Summary: Bitter Author
Review: I agree with mimiqanun 100%. By the way, I have seen you play in SF and you are awesome.

Unfortunately the author has some strong negative opinions about the post 1900 arabic music genre.

In the book he writes:

"The "Big Arabian Orchestra" of the present, which many Arabs look upon with obvious pride, is fundamentally a hybrid, neither traditionally Arabian nor authentically European in its structure... With a huge racket, it plays together in unison or - if it is an "up-to-date"orchestra in multi-voiced harmony, offering nothing better than a poor imitation of European orchestral style. Often, the orchestra accompanies a male or female singer who croons a pop song into the microphone. Through the mass media, and especially through Egyptian feature films, such singers have managed to achieve immense popularity."

The author is a conservative musicologist that has no respect for anything that's not 100% "pure" arabic music. Although the book does a decent job of explaining the maqams, rhythms, and history, I feel that the author is stubborn, narrow-minded and rude for not showing a shred of respect to the arabic music genre which includes Farid, Abdel Wahab, and others.

The author is also a hypocrit. While he repeatedly blasts any arabic ensemble that uses European instruments (like violin), and, while he condemns any composer that creates melodies with western influence, he spends 2 pages praising Um Kalthoum! oooooops!

Farid El Atrache and Abdel Wahab are not mentioned once in this book. The Instruments Chapter includes a photo of Munir Bachir playing the oud, but no mention of Farid. Was Farid El Atrache not an arab? How can you write a book entitled, "Music of the Arabs" and not mention Farid El Atrache?

The book should be retitled, "The Music of the Pre-1900 Arabs + Munir Bachir and Um Kalthoum."

Rating:
Summary: Bitter Author
Review: I agree with mimiqanun 100%. By the way, I have seen you play in SF and you are awesome.

Unfortunately the author has some strong negative opinions about the post 1900 arabic music genre.

In the book he writes:

"The "Big Arabian Orchestra" of the present, which many Arabs look upon with obvious pride, is fundamentally a hybrid, neither traditionally Arabian nor authentically European in its structure... With a huge racket, it plays together in unison or - if it is an "up-to-date"orchestra in multi-voiced harmony, offering nothing better than a poor imitation of European orchestral style. Often, the orchestra accompanies a male or female singer who croons a pop song into the microphone. Through the mass media, and especially through Egyptian feature films, such singers have managed to achieve immense popularity."

The author is a conservative musicologist that has no respect for anything that's not 100% "pure" arabic music. Although the book does a decent job of explaining the maqams, rhythms, and history, I feel that the author is stubborn, narrow-minded and rude for not showing a shred of respect to the arabic music genre which includes Farid, Abdel Wahab, and others.

The author is also a hypocrit. While he repeatedly blasts any arabic ensemble that uses European instruments (like violin), and, while he condemns any composer that creates melodies with western influence, he spends 2 pages praising Um Kalthoum! oooooops!

Farid El Atrache and Abdel Wahab are not mentioned once in this book. The Instruments Chapter includes a photo of Munir Bachir playing the oud, but no mention of Farid. Was Farid El Atrache not an arab? How can you write a book entitled, "Music of the Arabs" and not mention Farid El Atrache?

The book should be retitled, "The Music of the Pre-1900 Arabs + Munir Bachir and Um Kalthoum."

Rating:
Summary: Excellent introduction
Review: This is by far the best introduction to Arabic music I've read in English. It is restricted in its scope and certainly doesn't cover all Arabic music. If like me you're interested in the rather more limited world of 'traditional music' (my interest is in the 'ud) or simply want to know how Arabic music works rather than gain an overview of artists and styles, this is the first book I'd recommend.

Rating:
Summary: Music of the Arabs -- a short review
Review: Touma's Music of the Arabs does not cover the subject. Although he states early on that he doesn't plan to cover folkloric music, nevertheless his photos seem mainly to focus on that area. He spends a lot of time on Iraqi maqam, which is quite different from mainstream Arabic music and not well known to most Arabs. He barely mentions the greatest artists of modern urban (traditional) Arab music such as Umm Kulthum, Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab, Baligh Hamdi, Farid al-Atrash, Abdel Halim Hafez, and others; people wishing to get an overview of Arab music in the twentieth century will be somewhat misled by this book. Also, the CD that is meant to go with the book similarly focuses on non-mainstream traditional Arabic music. I suspect the man has a bone to pick and is purposely slanting his book away from what most Arabs would think of as typical Arab music. (I have written a extensive and detailed review of this work for "The Near Eastern Music Calendar." Furthermore, I am a musician who has played Arab music professionally for more than 20 years.)