The Maze of Discovery
In a quest for a deeper understanding of world rhythms, one is naturally led to the cradle of civilization and the music of the Middle East. Once one dives into the subject though your senses are immediately struck by a vast panoply of foreign styles, structures, and exotic sounds; and while interesting and often pleasing, one also encounters nearly incomprehensible oddly patterned rhythmic figures and the almost frightening and caterwauling dissonances. It's understandable that this is so from a Western perspective; this music is implacable to Western ears for a great many reasons, in its differences with Western musical traditions; adding to the confusion is the vast geographic area in which it sprang and developed and is further confounded by the equally vast stretch of time in it's genesis and evolution. To understand the music, one must understand both the geography and history from which it sprang.And that folks, is a very daunting task. One thing I have found though is that the beginning genesis of Middle Eastern music is bound in an expression of spiritual yearning and sacred themes.So while it is quite easy to stumble down the rabbit hole in researching the subject, when one falls deep enough, you encounter the spiritual roots buried deep in the ground.This is going to be my very humble attempt, in a series of posts, to both; help guide others (who may be equally perplexed as I); as well as to seek the input and direction of others, so that we might help guide each other along the maze.In an example of the sacred I submit the following: An excerpt from the film 'Allahu Akbar' by director (digital animation): Usama AlshaibiA Technical Note: The patterns rendered in this film seem to demand high video resources and may stutter at the first viewing, if you encounter this problem, you might pause the clip until the progress bar advances and the film buffers, or view it a second time round.For an explanation of the Film look into comments.Then there are the traditional musical forms used in religious observance, variously called Qawwali and Nasheed ... mostly vocalized (sung) reflections on the Koran ... sometimes direct recitations and sometimes a form of spiritual improve. This an example of the former, a recitation:However one might feel about such spiritual matters, or Islam specifically, I invite you to still listen, if only to understand the form, and appreciate the beauty of this rendering.Caw
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Comments (7)
Ohm, i've had year-old posts get responded to, no such thing as late replies in mog, it's all a web of ongoing conversation. (:
thankfully, i took your advice in turning the volume down. i should mention that my laptop is usually attached to headphones, and it was when i went to watch the video -- i think i can still hear a ringing in my ears. kidding aside, what an infinitely awesome thing! it certainly visualizes what i tried to say about sound and patterns in my limited English vocabulary. of course, our musical spiritual forefathers are eons ahead of me in making the same point.
raincheck on the specific recordings. i get really thorough when replying to that sort of question and unfortunately don't have much time for thoroughness today. by the way, although i've encountered Muslimgauze pre-MOG, it was really Josh Haden through his MOG page who turned me on to Muslimgauze.