Arabic Music During the Silk Road Era and Its Influences

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Further Arabic influence extends to North Africa where regional Arabic music is now divided under different genres.[15] Case in study: Algerian Rai music which is a blend of western popular music style and North African Arabic lyrics. It shows relations with the Qiyan tradition where the female singers, known in Algeria as Cheikhas, perform for men and sing about lewd themes like the Qiyan.[16] Another likeness involves the traditional style of Rai music which features a separate type of female singers that perform only for women at distinguished occasions such as weddings and religious ceremonies which parallels tradition during the Jahiliyah female within a tribe setting.[17] This modern tradition demonstrates how the old traditions are incorporated in a modern music setting and thus conceptually preserved and transmitted onto the next generation.

In summary, the Jahiliyah period was essential to the establishment of Arabic culture. Their economic situation spurred nomadic migration increasing intercultural interaction and integration. This paved the way for the Muslim conquests resulting in the expansion and exportation of religion and music throughout the old world during the first millennium AD. These elements affected the creation of Arabic music customs which were transmitted to other societies during the Silk Road Era and incorporated into music the modern centuries. This flow of influence conveys how ancient music customs are successfully applied to modern music developments as long as modern relevancy is found in the root culture.

Comparable to a river carrying debris, the metaphorical stream that is the Silk Road would not have carried Arab culture matter without a flow generator. The mechanisms are economic gains from inter-regional commerce and human nature’s desire for novelty. Just as water knows no bounds, nor does it seem the influence of Arabic music as a musical aspect or custom in almost any prominent society can be traced back to it.

My research and findings corroborate the class information on the spread of interculturalism along the Silk Road as this reflects the population found in Cordova and Baghdad. The precursors to the Silk Road discussed in the class are similar to Arabia’s socio-economic state during the Jahiliyah. However, my findings seem to suggest a stronger outward flow of culture from the Middle East area westward to the coastal regions of the Atlantic Ocean instead of an even flow in both directions. Lastly, Arabian culture played a major role in Western Asia’s intercultural music influence where much of the flow of Persian culture towards the east actually stems originally from Arabia instead of beginning in Persia.

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Al-Deen, Hana N. "Evolution of Rai Music." Journal of Black Studies 35, no. 5 (2005): 597-611. Accessed November 12, 2014. http://www.jstor.org.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/.

Daniel, Francisco Salvador, and Henry George Farmer. The Music and Musical Instruments of the Arab: With Introduction on How to Appreciate Arab Music, by Francesco [sic] Salvador-Daniel. Edited with Notes, Memoir, Bibliography and 30 Examples and Illustrations, by Henry George Farmer. London: William Reeves, 1976. 272.

Farmer, Henry George. "Clues for the Arabian Influence on European Musical Theory." Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, Part 1 (1925): 61-80.

Farmer, Henry George. A History of Arabian Music to the XIIIth Century, 264. London: Luzac, 1929.

Golsorokhi, Iraj. "Iran Chamber Society: Music of Iran: Development & Changes in the Meaning of the Word "Music"" Iran Chamber Society: Music of Iran: Development & Changes in the Meaning of the Word "Music" Accessed November 12, 2014. http://www.iranchamber.com/music/articles/development_changes_meaning_music.php.

Touma, Habib. The Music of the Arabs, 238. New Expanded ed. Portland, Or.: Amadeus Press, 1996.

Multi-Media Publishing.com. "Arabic Music Overview." Arabic Music Overview. Accessed November 12, 2014. http://www.traditionalarabicmusic.com/arabic_music_overview.html.

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