Making Music in the Arab World

Number of pages: 320 pages

The book Music Making examines the period from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Given its focus on the subject of “tarab,” it aims to develop a qualitative understanding of traditional Arabic music, complementing other more general works on the music of the Arab world or the Near East. As a performer of Arabic music on “tarab” instruments, such as the buzuq, oud, and nay, and immersed in the emotional sense of music, the author Al-Rassi speaks in a balanced way about the individual opinions and experiences of many makers of tarab and its listeners, which made him encounter some complexities. His research also faced the challenges of bringing the phenomenon of musical “ecstasy” closer to mind, because it is essentially a living practice and experience, and is rarely discussed in linguistic terms, and is similar to the mystical state that is beyond description, and therefore is usually expressed using metaphors.