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Arabic Classical Music in the Limelight at Al Ain Classics

ABU DHABI - As it is a tradition now with the ongoing Al Ain Classics, the festival presents a Mozart opera sung in Arabic every year. But this spring, the programme includes several classical Arabic music concerts. The new trend also heralds the start of the first classical Gulf music festival next year.

For the first time in the nine-year history of Al Ain Classics there are two artistic directors, one in charge of the ‘western’ classical music and one responsible for the Arabic concerts.

Arabic classical music, however, is different from its Western counterpart. Abdulla Al Amri, the Arab artistic director of Al Ain Classics and director of Arts at the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, explains, “There are several different forms of classical Arabic music and it varies from one region to another.
For example, the Makam or the Tawashi comes from Iraq, Syria, Egypt and even North Africa. There is also the Andalus style, which has attracted a lot of poets who wrote for this particular type of music.” Meaning ‘place’ or ‘rank’, the Makam is one of the main modes in Arabic music, being mostly melodic, without rhythm.

Andalus, on the other hand, was born out of the sounds made by new instruments such as guitar or rabab, as Moorish Spain was an important centre for manufacturing musical instruments. The famous Ghazal, the Arabic love song, is often sung in Andalus style.

‘Instruments, along with lifestyle, are the major differences between the styles of Arabian Peninsula and those of Levant, Egypt and Maghreb. Developed from pre-Islamic to early Islamic era, classical Arabic music was richer in Iraq, Syria or North Africa simply because there were a lot more instruments available there. Damascus, Cairo and Baghdad were very important commercial and cultural centres in those days, so music became like science here - one by one, it got all grades’, said Al Amri. While in those regions music was inspired by Islamic culture, in the Emirates - and the Gulf - music was much more connected with customs and traditions. People here sung when they went fishing or hunting, marching to war or celebrating a wedding. Another major difference between the Gulf and the rest of the Middle Eastern classical music is the word.

‘Shella, which means ‘voice’, was the main form of music in the Emirates. Not having all the musical instruments available in neighbouring regions, Bedouins here used shella. It was, in fact, a form of incantation or poetry singing,’ said Al Amri.

Unlike western classical music, poetry plays a major role in all forms of Arabic classical music, so much so that it the poem dictates the music and not vice versa.

‘The music industry in the Emirates really developed in the last 20 years and even today, when music is much influenced by other Arabic styles, Emarati music kept its distinctive flavour because of the shella,’ added Al Amri.

While Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Algeria are still leaders in the Arab music industry, the UAE still has a large gap to fill. According to Al Amri, serious thoughts are now given to release a new heritage label of classic Emarati music recordings commercially.

silvia@khaleejtimes.com