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The present volume consists of translated anecdotes, on musicological and socio-cultural topics, from al-Iṣbahānī’s Kitāb al-Aghānī al-Kabīr (The Grand Book of Songs) with annotations and commentaries. It deals with musical rhythmic and melodic modes, technical terms and treatises; music instruments; composition techniques and processes; education and oral/written transmissions; vocal and instrumental performances and their aesthetics; solo and ensemble music; change and its inevitability; musical and textual improvisations; ṭarab and the acute emotions of joy or grief; medieval dances; social status. Though extracts from The Grand Book of Songs have been translated in European languages since 1816, this work presents a much larger and more comprehensive scope that will benefit musicologists, medievalist and Middle Eastern scholars as well as the general reader.
Price: $205.00
Pages: 466
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Islamic History and Civilization
Publication Date:
24 January 2019
ISBN: 9789004383623
Format: Hardcover
“Unquestionably, this is a volume covering a vast area: literature, history, biography, social comment, and of course information about music and its development. Sawa’s volume is a splendid work for the completion of which a combination of patience and erudition was obviously among its prerequisites, - the result being one of those tomes indispensable for students of Music, Ethnomusicology, and Sociology of Art.”
- Stavros Nikolaidis in:Journal of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 29 (2020).
“Wesentliches geleistet und ein wertvolles Referenzwerk geschaffen, welches dazu beiträgt, das kitāb al-aġānī auch für nicht arabistische Disziplinen zu erschließen und leichter zugänglich zu machen.“
- Anna Diltsch in Institut für Orientalistik Wien , (2022).
- Stavros Nikolaidis in:Journal of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 29 (2020).
“Wesentliches geleistet und ein wertvolles Referenzwerk geschaffen, welches dazu beiträgt, das kitāb al-aġānī auch für nicht arabistische Disziplinen zu erschließen und leichter zugänglich zu machen.“
- Anna Diltsch in Institut für Orientalistik Wien , (2022).
George Dimitri Sawa is an independent scholar with a PhD in Music and Middle East Studies, from the University of Toronto. He taught Middle Eastern Music History: medieval, modern and sacred music,
at the University of Toronto (1987-1995) and York University (1982-1986, 1994, 2006-2007).
at the University of Toronto (1987-1995) and York University (1982-1986, 1994, 2006-2007).