North Africa + Middle East

Quir’ah/Tilawah

chanting of Qur’an verses, one of the most revered form of islamic religious music

adhan

call to prayer, familiar sound in islamic countries

mu’adhdhin

the singers of the adhan

dervishes

mystics who seek closeness to god through prayer, music, and dance

‘ud

a variety of plucked chordophones

tanbur

the long necked variety of chordophones

qanun

chordophone zither

nay

flute

santur

chordophone zither as a trapezoid shaped wooden box

tar

long neck waisted lute

kamancheh

european violin

darabukkah/dumbek

goblet shaped drum

tarab

transcendent, passionate emotional experience resulting from the combination of highly expressive music and poetry

echoi

modes or scales used in byzantine chant

maqam

melodic modes with its own scale

quarter tones

pitches between the notes like halfway between the half

jins

construct scales from smaller segments

layali

vocal form which use melismas on the syllables “ya layl, ya ‘any”(“oh night, oh eyes”) with one or more instrumentalists following the singers improvisations

taqsim

non-pulsatile ( no clear sense of beat) improvisation

modulation

temporary shift to a related maqam

takht

small group of musicians

firqa

large group of musicians with large section of violin family

Umm Kulthum

famous egyptian singer for star of the east

sha’bi

working-class and often socially conscious music

raï

similar style of music popular with youth from algeria

al-jil

mainstream pop music

dastgah

collection of notes, composing/improvisation

maye

characteristic heptatonic scale upon which the dastgah is based

gusheh

short related melodies (put together forms dastgah)

shofar

ram horn trumpet

cantillation

a standard method of chanting biblical texts

cantor

singer that performs cantillation in public services

hazzanut

ashkenazi sung prayer form

shteygers

modes of ashkenazi cantoral traditions

klezmer

refers to the music in US and is popular today ( played at weddings, events)