Music of Syria
Regarding the music of Syria, there are certain musical traditions and practices that have been present in Syria longer than others. There have been musical influences introduced into Syria through multiple eras of conquest and influences from surrounding cultures in modern-day Syria. Lying near Egypt and Israel, and connected to southern Europe by the Mediterranean, Syria became host to many distinct cultural musics through trade and route. The music present in Syria is related greatly to poetry, influenced greatly by the Bedouin nomadic tribes, the maqam system in Arabic classical music, as well as influenced greatly by the geopolitical movement and conflict in the Middle East. Syrian music generally has a singer who is accompanied by three or four instruments. The texture is usually thin but can become denser depending on the use of each instrument. Music is tightly linked to poetry in Syria.
The classical music of Syria is part of the greater Arabic music world. The main components are a maqam and an iqa. A maqam is a set of scales made of up of three or four notes. A maqam will have two or three of these scales put together which is then played over the iqa. Both the maqam and iqa can be advanced or simple to play. Both the maqam and iqa are to be thought of as a structure that the musicians would then ornament with the playing. Syria and the Middle East have a long history of conquest and conflict that have led to a diaspora, and modern diaspora has led to refugee camps. Music has become a means of consolation and preservation of culture in the refugee camps.
Characteristics of Syrian music
Syria borders the Mediterranean sea and is located in the Levant. This area has been culturally influenced by many conquests and geopolitical activity. The multiple influences and sweeping conquests have created many of the cultures to share particular practices or traditions. Music of the Middle East has a predominantly monophonic nature. This is more clearly understood as the music not having multiple melodies or harmonies playing. There can be a rich texture created if multiple instruments playing the same melody with slight variations or rhythmic ornamentations. Ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl describes this as more common style of music texture known as another style of texture which he calls parallel polyphony which consists of a singer improvising a melody and an instrument following behind with the that same melody. Many of the tones played are played as an interpretation of the music from the player, rather than the music notation or song. This gives the player the freedom to bend or mold the notes causing an improvisational effect on the structure of the music. This results in a personal interpretation of the players feelings towards the song. This causes an effect that connects the performer with the audience which can create a feeling of ecstasy in the listener. Compared to western music, this may be similar to a solo produced by a player during a song or a rendition of a song that keeps the same form but is changed slightly creating an effect that is predictable enough to the listener while revealing new variations of the song. This style of song in Syrian music creates a feeling of excitement for how the musician will play the upcoming sections.Music and poetry
A significant part of Syrian music is sung in prose that participates in the distinctness of the Middle Eastern sound. There is an intersection of elements in Syrian music that give it a distinct sound as well as being a driving force in many of the music traditions found in Syria. These elements are:- the music being played predominantly as a monophonic texture;
- the music is near-inseparable to poetry;
- although the music follows particular maqam'at, there is melodic improvisation that is to be expected;
- last, the music is highly ornamented with quartertone's and microtones that provide the player with the necessary tones to accurately account for every possible emotion that may be drawn from the music.
A particularly influential group in Syrian music and specifically values, ideologies, folklore, and the poetic customs of the Levant are the Bedouin tribes.
Bedouin influence on Syrian music
Bedouin is a name given to the nomadic tribes that lived in the Levant which have played an important role in shaping the music present in the countries of the Levant. The Bedouin influence can be seen in the ideologies, customs, and musical genres. One such impact of Bedouin culture is in the music genres of rural Syria and Lebanon. Within the encounters of the Bedouin and surroundings regions, there was cultural exchange throughout the many years of these practices. The music genres reflecting the ideologies are as follows.- Ideologies that were adopted from the Bedouin culture into the musical genres were hospitality, chivalry, bravery, and militancy. These types of ideologies were sung in a song form or genre called shruqi.
- Ideologies like love, heartache, and sentiment, were sung in a genre called ataba.
- Nadb is funeral music that honours the departed and war chants are sung when applicable.
Historic Bedouin cultural music, if sung, was always accompanied with the rababah. Bedouin music is near-inseparable from poetry as is much of the music traditions in the Middle East. Many of the songs are kept in an oral tradition due to the nomadic nature of the Bedouin tribes, however, some songs and stories were written down by al-Atrash who transcribed his work while imprisoned by the Ottoman Empire. al-Atrash wrote his work in the Shruqi genre which is used to tell of heroine tales of rebellion to an enemy or of captive poets who have been humiliated by the enemy. This written work had a great effect on southern Syrians bringing Shruqi and other Bedouin ideologies and practices to urban areas. Due to the geopolitical climate of the Middle East, urbanization has caused many of the nomadic cultures and rural regions to cluster or move altogether. This has brought more modernized musical instruments and oral poetry together which collaborate and are currently played throughout regions of the Middle East.
Instruments
- Folk music of Syria is, for the most part, based on the oud, which is a stringed instrument considered to be the ancestor of the European lute.
- The ney.
- Hand-held percussion instruments, such as the darbouka, daf or riq.
- Other typical instruments are the qanun and kamanjah.
- In semi-Nomadic regions, Bedouin music is based on the Mizmar, mijwiz and rababah is popular.
Syrian classical Arabic music
Institutions
Syria's capital, Damascus, and the northern metropolis of Aleppo have long been one of the Arab world's centers of classical Arab music. In 1947 The Institute for Eastern Music was established, and in 1961 an institute teaching music was opened under the direction of Solhi al-Wadi. In 1963 a local branch of the Institute for Eastern Music was opened in Aleppo that included faculties for Western as well as for Arab music. In 1990, the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus was established as a conservatory for both Western and for Arabic music.Muwashshah
A typical Syrian classical genre is the Muwashshah that goes back to around the 9th or 10th century. Performed by a lead singer or a choir, it consists of a classical form of Arabic poetry set to music. It usually consists of a multi-lined strophic verse poem written in classical Arabic, mostly consisting of five stanzas, which alternates with a refrain with a running rhyme. The muwashshah is usually opened with one or two lines matching the second part of the poem in rhyme and meter. The Al-Thurath ensemble specializes in this genre.The city of Aleppo in Northern Syria is considered to be the centre of muwashshah.
Maqam
The classical music notation style of Syria is shared throughout the Arab world. This is known as maqam music which has first studies dating back to the 9nth century. Maqam'at were first theorized by al-Kindi between 801-873 and al-Farabi 870-950 where the music became more standardized. In the Arab world, as well as Turkey and Iran, there are a multitude of religions and cultures that have been present for centuries. Although there has been influence from empires and colonial forces bringing different musical traditions, countries like Syria and Lebanon have remained with the maqam tradition. Music in the Middle East differs to Eurocentric music in that it is usually played monophonically, that is, as a single melody. The monophic style allows most songs to be sung or played with the expectation that the melodic line will have improvisation or musical ornamentation. Arabic music is made up of small scales called jins/ajnas which are melodic motifs that have three or four pitches attributed to them. A maqam is a musical notation mode which is made of these three or four note jins/ajnas/scales. These tri,three-note, tetra, and four-note, scales are combined with usually two, sometimes three, jins/ajans to create the maqam.To understand the notation in maqamat musical style, it is easily understood when compared to the western notational style. The western notation is divided into twelve separate intervals creating a musical octave. The notation used in maqamat systems is divided into twenty-four intervals creating a distinction of the whole-tone, halftone and quarter-tone. Further into this division is the use of microtones which divide the quarter-tone making an even more subtle tone to express emotion through ornamentation. A maqam will use of the tones, half tones and quarter-tones in its construct.