Last week, we reviewed the efforts of the 1932 International Conference for Arabic music to come up with a method for the study of our musical Heritage.
Recently, the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage came up with a plan to document this heritage.
To start with, we have the period of the old theoreticians, whose manuscripts still survive. It includes the works of Arab scientists like el kindi, el Farabi, Ibn Sina and Al Armawi.
The second period is that of oral heritage (music and songs) that existed before the era of score writing and sound recording, i.e. before the middle of the 19th Century.
Then comes the “Pioneers” period, from the middle of the 19th century to about 1932 (the date of the conference). These Pioneers include musicians like Mohamed Osman, Salama Hegazi, Dawood Hosni and Sayyed Darweesh. This period witnessed the beginning of sound recording as well as the writing of Arabic musical notes.
Fourthly, there is the “Masters” period, with composers who used modern orchestral instruments and techniques. They’ve left behind them a wonderful musical heritage that we now call the Arabic classics.
Belonging to this group are the likes of Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Riyad el- Sonbati, Mohamed el- Kassabgi, Zakariya Ahmed, Farid el-Atrash, Mohamed el-Mougy, Kamal el-Tawil, Mahmoud el-Sherif, Ahmed Sidki, Mohamed Fawzi and Baligh Hamdi.
This wave, which lasted from the 1930s to the 1970s, was supported by legendry singers like Om Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Abdel Wahab and el-Atrash.
With the decline of the Masters’ period, we are now living in the modern or contemporary period, sometimes called the ‘youth music period’. These days, there are far more musicians, singers and writers, while the rhythm of the songs has become faster and the duration shorter. We are now in the era of musical globalization, making it more difficult to identify the different local styles.
Nor should we forget another very important type of music-sacred music- that has existed throughout and still exists with its unique flavor. This category of music and songs includes religious poems, zikr, tawashih, madih, Hymns, etc. It also incorporates the azan (call to prayer) and recitation of the Holy Qur’an.
Finally, we have folkloric music and songs. Folkloric works songs with no specific composer or lyricist; they are a synthesis of oral heritage from one generation to the next. This type of music varies geographically and chronologically.
