Music in Egypt is the latest volume in the Global Music Series, edited by Bonnie Wade and Patricia Campbell. Works in this series can be read as stand-alone topics texts, or used together as a departure from the traditional paradigm for introductory ethnomusicology courses (that is, trying to squeeze all of world’s musics into a single textbook). With the Global Music Series, “Teachers can design their own courses; choosing from a set of case study volumes, they can decide which and how many musics they will cover […] rather than uniformly taking a large region and giving superficial examples from several countries within it, in some case studies authors have focused on a specific culture or a few countries within a larger region” (xiii). These questions of balancing breadth and depth reflect similar concerns within the field of ethnomusicology as a whole. With the Global Music series, Wade and Campbell provide a healthy alternative to existing pedagogical approaches.
As the nineteenth instalment of the series, Scott Marcus’ Music in Egypt provides an excellent overview of Egyptian music. The work can be read on two levels--first as an introductory text on Egyptian music, and second as an ethnomusicologist’s analysis of seemingly unconnected musical practices. Marcus conceived the volume around three themes, which are clearly and repeatedly emphasized throughout: 1) the basis of Egyptian music in melodic and rhythmic modes (maqamat and iqa’at); 2) the cultural acceptance of constant musical change; and 3) the complex relationship between music and Islam in Egypt. Marcus gracefully integrates these themes into the text, using them to tie apparently unrelated examples together into a comprehensible soundscape.
Given the volume’s inclusive title, and the series’ movement away from cultural stereotyping, it is reassuring to have Marcus acknowledge that addressing the music of Egypt in a single volume is an impossible task. He stresses that “Just as there is no one monolithic Arab or Egyptian culture, so there is no uniform sense of identity among Egypt’s population of over seventy million” (175) and “present-day Egyptians, whether living in Egypt or abroad, will thus not necessarily know of all the traditions discussed in this volume” (176). Certain musics are more broadly recognized in the text than others, but the co-existence of so many types of music within a single country should resonate well with American students.
Marcus introduces Egyptian music through seven cultural traditions, the Islamic call to prayer and six musical traditions: 1) madh, a Sufi religious genre; 2) Upper Egyptian mizmar wedding music; 3) turn-of-the-century takht art music; 4) twentieth-century art music as performed by Umm Kulthum; 5) wedding procession (zaffa) music; and 6) modern sha’bi music as performed by Hakim. In addition to the opening chapter on the call to prayer, chapter 6 addresses issues of musical acceptance within Islam. Marcus also includes two somewhat technical chapters on Arabic melodic and rhythmic modes. While students interested primarily in the cultural aspects of the music might find these a bit much, their inclusion is very important for serious students of ethnomusicology or Arabic music, as they provide a very solid introduction to maqam and iqa.
Like all of the Global Music series books, Music in Egypt aims for an undergraduate/non-area specialist audience, though with Marcus’ subtly integrated analysis, this certainly does not mean that scholars of Arabic music will learn nothing new from the book. The text is written in an engaging style with elements that appeal to both the novice reader and the more serious scholar. Just as passages threaten to become overly technical, Marcus transitions back to ethnographic description or inserts an audio example. The accompanying compact disc is very well-integrated into the text; students who do all of the listening exercises will find their experience of Music in Egypt substantially enriched. Some tracks are intended for more passive listening while others call for student participation to better understand rhythmic and melodic theory from the text.
In summary, Marcus’ presentation and analysis casts a refreshing light on introductory scholarship on Arabic music. Rather than reverting immediately to medieval theoretical treatises, analysis of extra-musical modal meanings, and al-Farabi (who blissfully is not even mentioned!), Marcus presents Egypt as “a vibrant and dynamic world” (xv). Nightclub superstars are given equal time with wedding musicians; ring tones coexist with zikr and zaffa. Despite the inherent difficulties of covering an entire country’s musics without resorting to stereotypes, Scott Marcus’ Music in Egypt provides an excellent overview of music in contemporary Egyptian life. It would be a welcome addition to courses on Middle Eastern music, world music, and related topics.
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[Review length: 759 words • Review posted on May 31, 2007]