The Arab Glossary

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the silk road

Back 1

an ancient network of trade routes spanning from Japan to Morocco in North Africa and Southern Europe

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Orientalism

Back 2

a term coined by the scholar Edward Said that identifies the exploration, imagination, and "production" in media such as writing, art, and music of the middle east and Far Eact by European scholars, politicians, and artists

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takht

Back 3

sn ensemble of 3-8 instrumentalists, sometimes including a singer, who perfor traditional Arabic music

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ud

Back 4

a short necked, pear shaped fretless lute, 11 strings in double courses

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buzuq

Back 5

a long-necked lute with 24 movable frest and two sets of strings in triple courses

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nay

Back 6

a reef flute that is blown obliquely at an angle

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riqq

Back 7

the Arab tambourine

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qanun

Back 8

a zither with 75 strings in triple courses with a series of small tuning levers that allow the strongs to be retuned in the course of performance

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unison

Back 9

singing or playing the same melodic line

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tremolo

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strumming

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grace note pickups

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approaching a note by playing the note above or below it very quickly

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octave leaps

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jumping up and down an octave

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trills

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oscillating between two notes that are right next to each other

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turns

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ornament that includes a note above and below the main note

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heterophony

Back 15

when two or more voices elaborate the same melody in different ways at rougly the same time

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timbre

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the color and quality of a tone

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vamp

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rhythmic or melodic ostinato played underneath something

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ostinato

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pattern that repeats over and over

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taqsim

Back 19

an improvisation based in a musical mode or maqam

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maqam

Back 20

musical mode, or dastgah

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tonic

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the "do", the first note in the scale

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jins

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a group of four or five notes in a row of a scale or maqam

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qaflah

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phrase at the end of a "paragraph of improvised music"

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diaspora

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dispersion of a people that was formerly concentrated in one place

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Qur'an

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holy scriptures of Islam

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Torah

Back 26

the collective body of Jewish teaching

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Semitic

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a group of languages: Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic, Maltese, Amharic

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Syncretic

Back 28

the combination of different systems of belief and/or practice

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azan

Back 29

Islamic call to prayer, 5x a day

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muezzin

Back 30

the man who performs the call to prayer

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ghuna

Back 31

nasality, desired quality in Quranic recitation and Arab singing

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quttab

Back 32

the traditional religious school in Egypt

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qari or muqri

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reciter, often a professional specialist, of the Qur'an

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strophic

Back 34

describing songs with verses of poetry in predictablity, often rhyming patterns or "strophes"

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Rai

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a genre of North African pop music, also popular in France

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daff, bendir, and riqq

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frame drums, female dominant

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umma

Back 37

community of Muslims across the world

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tajwid

Back 38

the system of rules of chanting the Qur'an

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khalifs

Back 39

the successors of the Prophet Muhammad.

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hadith

Back 40

the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad used as guidance

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Fado

Back 41

an urban song genre of Portugal

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Flamenco

Back 42

an urban song genre of Spain

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Maghreb

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the part of the Arab world that is to the west (Morocco, Tunesia, Algeria), sunset

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Mashriq

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Eastern part of North Africa, Arab world, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq

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vocables

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syllables

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Intifadah

Back 46

Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation

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Sha'ir

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poet-singer of ancient Arabia. Still found in folk music cultures, specifically Bedouin. Accompanies himself with the rebab.

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Qaina

Back 48

female musicians, usually slaves or "kept" women

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Bayt al-Hikmah

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the house of learning/knowledge where the translation of Greek treatises were written

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cuneiform

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a writing system of the ancient Near East, wedge shaped impressions in clay

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Congres de la Musique Arab

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a conference in 1932 help in Cairo, Egypt that assembled the theorists from both worlds

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Reconquista

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The progressive "re-conquest" in the early 1500s of southern Europe (also known as the Spanish Inquisition). Gradual exile of muslims, jews, and the widespread diffusion of Andalusian people in three directions: southward through N.Africa, westward to the Americas, and eastward throughout the Mediterranean area and the eastern Arab world

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decima

Back 53

a tradition of Spanish improvied poetry that developed in Andalucia and migrated to the Spanish settlements in North America

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muwashshah and zajal

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types of sung poetry that developed in Arab Andalucia that durvive in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

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rabab

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bowed fiddle held upright, prototype for the viol family. Played by sha'ir.

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moros and cristianos

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a staple dish, consisting of rice and beans Cuban style.

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zaffah

Back 57

the procession of the bride and groom that includes musicians, dancers, instrumentalists, and all the invited guests

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zagareet

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a high-pitched trilling cry

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mijwiz

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a single reed clarinet typical of the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Palestinian terri

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Bedouin

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nomadic groups that inhabit the desert regions throughout the Arab world

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Tarab

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feeling of enlightenment between the audience and the performers