A monster’s vocality and capacity for communication have been complicated themes since the earliest adaptations of the novel. The evolution of the monster’s speech, along with the dynamics of its silence, reveals how essential vocality is to forming a sympathetic portrayal of the character. Each new version highlights this relationship, demonstrating that even in adaptations where the monster’s voice is largely absent, vocality remains crucial to shaping audience empathy.
This dynamic mirrors what performance theorist Marvin Carlson describes as “ghosting”, a phenomenon where theater productions are infused with multiple layers of history. This creates interpretations linked to the audience’s memories of the written text, the performers, props, and even the performance space. In the case of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, these layers are even more complex and elusive, reflecting its extensive and varied influence over the two centuries since the novel’s publication.
Within this context, the monster is frequently depicted as dim-witted and inarticulate, if not entirely silent. Restoring the creature’s voice–along with the eloquence and insight it can convey–highlights an often-overlooked aspect of Shelley’s novel, particularly in relation to the pop culture narrative surrounding the “Frankenstein complex”, which influences how we interpret all Frankenstein texts, from film adaptations to staged dramas and the original novel. In this sense, the silencing of the monster significantly affects our capacity to empathize with them and shapes our understanding of their connection to our own humanity.
This according to “Listening to the monster: Eliding and restoring the creature’s voice in adaptations of Frankenstein” by Jude Wright (Journal of adaptation in film & performance 8/3 [2015] 249–266; RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2015-90335).
The scene below from the 1931 film Frankenstein (directed by James Whale), illustrates how vocality can shape character empathy.
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DEUMM Online digitizes, enhances, and extends the Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti (DEUMM), the most important modern music dictionary in the Italian language. Comprising a broad range of entries (persons, topics, dances, genres, geographical locations, institutions, instruments, and works), DEUMM Online uses advanced and intuitive search and translation functionalities. This venerable music encyclopedia, which has set the standards in modern Italian music lexicography, is, in its new online format, once again an indispensable node in a comprehensive, international, networked research experience.
For those unable to join the Rome event in person, the event will be live streamed on YouTube by Fondazione Roma Tre Teatro Palladium, accessible directly from the following QR code:
The program (below) will include Daniele Trucco’s DEUMM-inspired music, greetings from Luca Aversano (President, ADUIM), Marcoemilio Camera (President, IAML Italia), and Tina Frühauf (Executive Director, RILM), as well as presentations by Zdravko Blažeković (Executive Editor, RILM), Stefano Campagnolo (Director, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma), Alex Braga (composer), and DEUMM Online’s general editors Antonio Baldassarre and Daniela Castaldo. Pianist Giuseppe Magagnino will also perform works by Ellington, Beethoven, The Beatles, and more.
And mark your calendars: DEUMM Online will be featured again at the following events:
19 November 2024: Turin, hosted by Istituto per i Beni Musicali di Piemonte at the Teatro Regio
21 November 2024: Milan, hosted by the Archivio Storico Ricordi in the Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
The library of the Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) in Paris is home to an extensive collection of writings on music from the Arab world, a region stretching from the Atlas Mountains to the Indian Ocean. This series of blog posts highlights selections from this collection, along with abstracts written by RILM staff members contained in RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, the comprehensive bibliography of writings about music and music-related subjects. From February to November 2024, the Institut du Monde Arabe is hosting the exhibition “Baghdad: A Journey Back to Madinat al-Salam, with Assassin’s Creed Mirage”, showcasing life and achievements in the cosmopolitan city during the golden age of the Abbasid Caliphate. The library is also hosting an on-site exhibition of some of its book holdings covering the history of Abbasid Baghdad.
This craft [singing] is the last craft attained in civilization because it constitutes a luxury and has no occupational role except entertainment and leisure. It is also the first to disappear when a civilization disintegrates and declines.
و هذه الصناعة آخر ما يحصل في العمران من الصنائع لأنها كمالية في غير وظيفة من الوظائف إلا وظيفة الفراغ و الفرح. و هو أيضاً أول ما ينقطع من العمران عند اختلاله و تراجعه.
From Ibn H̱aldūn’s Muqaddimaẗ, chapter 32: On the craft of singing (Fī ṣināʻat al-gināʼ)
Writing in the 14th century, the historian Abū Zayd `Abd al-Raḥman Ibn H̱aldūn (1332–1406) observed musical life as a phenomenon associated with a phase of civilizational development and a sign of civilizational prosperity. Ibn H̱aldūn also observed the evolution of the art of singing in the Islamic caliphates and considered it to have reached perfection during the 8th and 9th centuries in Baghdad, the golden age of the Abbasid Caliphate.
When the second Abbasid caliph, Abū Ğaʻfar al-Mansūr (reign 754–775), envisioned a new city to serve as the capital of the caliphate, he also led the creation of a center of economic prosperity, political power, and intellectual activity that attracted peoples from East and West. Scholars, seekers of knowledge, craftsmen, poets, and musicians flocked to its renowned schools and intellectual and literary circles. Intellectual patronage reached its zenith under Bayt al-ḥikmaẗ(The House of Wisdom), which was established by the caliphate al-Maʾmūn (reign 813–833) in the early 9th century as a center of translation and scientific inquiry. Writings in Greek, Sanskrit, Middle Persian (Pahlavi), Syriac, and others in all fields of knowledge were translated into Arabic.
With political patronage and social acceptance, musicians thrived and scholarly writings on music flourished. Musīqá (music), ġināʼ (singing or the craft of singing), and samāʻ (attentive spiritual listening) became subjects of philosophical discourse and theoretical speculation, topics in adab writings, and contentious issues among jurists, mystics, and religious scholars who discussed at length their permissibility from the perspective of Islamic law.
In the 9th century, a distinctive genre of writing emerged, influenced by Greek theories on music and other scholarly domains that had been translated into Arabic. These writings on music delved into the philosophies of music and music theory. The authors, often philosophers and polymaths, also drew on their practical experiences as instrumentalists, singers, or poets.
The earliest attempt to comment on Greek music theory in Arabic was undertaken by Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī (801?–866?), who served at the Abbasid court under the caliph al-Muʿtaṣim (reign 833–842). Influenced by the writings of Aristotle and his commentators, al-Kindī authored many epistles and introduced the first known, though brief, notation of music written in Arabic. Similarly, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Fārābī (870?–950?) was commissioned by the vizier of the caliph al-Qāhir bi-Allāh (reign 932–934) to write his seminal work Kitāb al-mūsīqá al-kabīr (The grand book on music). Known as the “Second Teacher”, after Aristotle, al-Fārābī investigated Greek writings on music, adopting some elements and expanding on others. As an ʻūd player, he was able to supplement his writing with commentary on the musical practice of his era. To this day, his book remains one of the most comprehensive works on music theory in Arabic.
Above: A statue of al-Fārābī in central Baghdad, depicted holding a book in his left hand and resting his right hand on the neck of an ʻūd. Photo taken by the author in 2022.
By the 13th century, Ṣafī al-Dīn `Abd al-Mu’min ibn Yūsuf ibn Fāẖir al-Urmawī (1216?–94) continued this tradition of systematization in music theory. He wrote about the modal system that was used then and which was further expanded upon in subsequent centuries. Al-Urmawī also enjoyed the patronage of political courts. He served at the court of the last Abbasid caliph, al-Mustaʻṣim (reign 1242–58) and at the court of the Mongol ruler and invader of Baghdad, Hülegü (1217?–65), who was impressed by the musician’s performance.
The album Music of the Abbasid era: The legacy of Ṣafiy a-d-Dīn al-Urmawī (Paris: Maison des Cultures du Monde, 2005) features a musical interpretation of notations attributed to the 13th-century musician and music theorist.]
By the 13th century, Ṣafī al-Dīn `Abd al-Mu’min ibn Yūsuf ibn Fāẖir al-Urmawī (1216?–94) continued this tradition of systematization in music theory. He wrote about the modal system that was used then and which was further expanded upon in subsequent centuries. Al-Urmawī also enjoyed the patronage of political courts. He served at the court of the last Abbasid caliph, al-Mustaʻṣim (reign 1242–58) and at the court of the Mongol ruler and invader of Baghdad, Hülegü (1217?–65), who was impressed by the musician’s performance.
Above: An illustration of a conversation in medieval Baghdad as depicted by scholar of Medieval Arabic literature, Emily Selove, in her book Popeye and Curly: 120 days in Medieval Baghdad (Moorhead, M.I.: Theran Press, 2021). IMA library reference.
Other depictions and commentaries on musical life are found in writings in poetical, historical, bureaucratic, geographical, and jurisprudence literature, offering valuable insights into the state of music making and status of musicians. Jurists and religious scholars, for example, articulated concerns regarding the classification of sounds into music and non-music, emphasizing the effect of music on behavior and public morality. They debated the effects of listening on the self and its influence on individuals’ relationship to God. Mystics, on the other hand, explored the spiritual preparedness for listening to music and the role of samāʻ in transmitting spiritual knowledge.
Despite the loss of many manuscripts from the period, those that have survived continue to draw scholarly interest and provoke questions regarding the continuity of musical practice and knowledge. The enduring fascination with al-Iṣfahānī’s The book of songs continues to inspire extracts and abridged thematic books on various topics. Musicologists and orientalists have also edited and provided commentaries on medieval Arabic writings to explore the potential influences of these theoretical works on European music theory. These writings not only reflected the intellectual and cultural life of the era but also laid the foundations for musical practices and knowledge that have guided a long lineage of music research and performance in the Islamicate world and beyond.
Written and compiled by Farah Zahra, Associate Editor, RILM
Annotated bibliography
al-ʽAllāf, ʽAbd al-Karīm. قيان بغداد في العصر العباسي والعثماني والأخير (Women singers in Baghdad in the Abbasid and Ottoman periods and beyond) (Baġdād: Dār al-Bayān, 1969). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1969-17952; IMA catalogue reference]
Musical life in the golden period of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–847) was marked by the activities of women slave singers who hailed from different backgrounds and ethnicities and underwent rigorous musical training. The biographies of and anecdotes about 43 women slave singers (qiyān) from that period highlight their role in the court and public life. The fall of Baghdad following the Mongol invasion in 1258 led to a decline in the musical life in the city, a downturn that persisted until the late 19th century, during which women singers became more active, especially in taverns and nightclubs. The first half of the 20th century witnessed a vibrant activity by women singers. Sixty-one women singers from that later period are profiled.
al-Bakrī, ʽᾹdil and Sālim Ḥusayn. قياسات النغم عند الفارابي من خلال كتاب الموسيقى الكبير (Intervals as understood by al-Fārābī in Kitāb al-mūsīqá al-kabīr [The grand book of music]) (Baġdād: Wizāraẗ al-Iʽlām, 1975). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1975-28792; IMA catalogue reference].
The chapter Iḥṣā’ al-naġam al- ṭabīʻiyyaẗ fī ālaẗ al-ʻūd from the book Kitāb al-mūsīqá al-kabīr (The grand book of music) presents al-Fārābī’s approach to intervals as applied to the ʻūd.
al-Fārābī, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. La musique Arabe. Tome premier: Al-Fārābī–Grand traité de la musique: Kitābu l-musīqī al-kabīr–Livres I et II, trans. by Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1930). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1930-2273; IMA catalogue reference].
Presents a French translation of and commentary on al-Fārābī’s book Kitāb al-mūsīqá al-kabīr (The grand book of music).
al-Fārābī, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. كتاب الموسيقي الكبير (Kitāb al-mūsīqá al-kabīr [The grand book of music]), ed. by Ġaṭṭās ʻAbd al-Malik H̱ašabaẗ and Maḥmūd Aḥmad al-Ḥifnī (al-Qāhiraẗ: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʻArabī, n.d.). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1967-32301; IMA catalogue reference].
According to al-Fārābī, music is best approached through two branches: the science of theoretical music and the science of practical music. Drawing on Aristotelian logic, issues related to the philosophy of music, such as the first principles of music theory and musical experience, the origin of music and instruments, and the effects of music on the self, among others, are discussed. Aspects of music theory and practice, such as types of intervals, scale systems, elements of rhythm, description and construction of musical instruments, composition, and the types and effects of melodies are analyzed.
al-Fārābī, Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad and Abū ʻAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʻAbd Allāh Ibn Sīnā. La musique Arabe. Tome deuxième: Al-Fārābī–Livre III du kitābu l-musīqī al-kabīr; Avicenne: Kitābu š-šifāʾ(mathématiques, chap. XII), trans. by Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1935). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1935-2863; IMA catalogue reference]
Presents a French translation of and commentary on al-Fārābī’s book Kitāb al-mūsīqá al-kabīr (The grand book of music) and Ibn Sīnā’s book Kitāb al-šifāʾ (The book of healing).
Farmer, Henry George. تاريخ الموسيقى العربية حتى القرن الثالث عشر الميلادي (A history of Arabian music to the 13th century), trans. by Ğurğis Fatḥ Allāh (Bayrūt: Manšūrāt Dār Maktabaẗ al-Ḥayāẗ, 1980). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1980-21512; IMA catalogue reference]
Musical life in pre-Islamic Arabia (1st–6th century), the early Islamic period (632–661), the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), the golden age of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–847), and the periods of decline (847–945) and fall (945–1258) provided a window into the social and cultural contexts of those periods. Political events and the opinion of Islamic jurisprudence scholars on music making and listening shaped the musical life and writings on music of each period. The biographies of famous musicians, singers, instrumentalists, theorists, scientists, and literary scholars are included.
al-Ḥifnī, Maḥmūd Aḥmad. الموسيقى العربية وأعلامها من الجاهلية إلى الأندلس (Arabic music and its masters from pre-Islamic Arabia to al-Andalus) (al-Qāhiraẗ: Maṭbaʻaẗ Aḥmad ʻAlī Muḥaymar, 1951).[RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1951-7427; IMA catalogue reference]
Music making flourished under the civilizational conditions brought by Islam and through the cross-cultural influence of peoples across the Muslim world in the Middle Ages. The biographies and stories about master musicians from the early Islamic period (610–661), the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258), and al-Andalus (711–1492) reflect aspects of the cultural and musical life of the periods.
Ibn H̱urdāḏubaẗ, ʽUbayd Allāh ibn ʽAbd Allāh. مختار من كتاب اللهو والملاهي (Selections from the book Kitāb al-lahū wa-al-malāhī [The book on entertainment and instruments]), ed. by Aġnāṭiyūs ʽAbduh H̱alīfaẗ (2nd ed., rev. and enl.; Bayrūt: Dār al-Mašriq, 1969). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1969-18160; IMA catalogue reference]
The permissibility of singing, music making, and the effect of music and singing on the self was a subject of debate and controversy among Muslim religious scholars. Short biographies and stories about select singers, musicians, and women slave singers (qiyān and ğawārī) from the early Islamic era (632–661), the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), the early period of the Abbasid Caliphate (750–847) reflect aspects of the musical and cultural life of the periods. Analysis of singing, samāʻ, poetic meters, and rhythmic cycles reveals their rules and aesthetics.
Ibn al-Qaysarānī, Muḥammad ibn Ṭāhir. كتاب السماع (The book of samāʻ), ed. by Abū al-Wafā al-Marāġī (al-Qāhiraẗ: Lağnaẗ Iḥyāʼ al-Turāṯ al-Islāmī, 1994). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1994-35747; IMA catalogue reference]
Prophet Muḥammad’s sayings, stories from the lives of prophets and their companions, and statements by religious scholars provide evidence for the permissibility of singing, listening to music, and samāʻ, thus refuting the arguments of those who opposed permissibility. These opinions are categorized based on different types of samāʻ, including singing, and listening to string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments.
Ibn al-Munaǧǧim, Yaḥyá ibn ʻAlī. رسالة يحيى بن المنجم في الموسيقى (The epistle on music of Yaḥyá ibn ʻAlī ibn al-Munaǧǧim), ed. by Zakariyyā Yūsuf (al-Qāhiraẗ: Dār al-Qalam, 1964). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1964-11109; IMA catalogue reference]
The theory on tones, their types, and intervals as discussed by court musician and music theorist Isḥāq al-Mawṣilī (767–850) provides materials for comparison with ancient Greek philosophers’ theories on the same topics. Al-Mawṣilī’s view on the application of frets on the ʻūd and scales is also a rich addition to music theory. Arabic singing and the construction of melodies reflect the aesthetics and the musical culture of that period.
Iḫwān al-Ṣafā’. رسائل إخوان الصفاء وخلان الوفاء: القسم الرياضي (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity. I: Mathematics) (Bayrūt: Dār Ṣādir, n.d.). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2008-53176; IMA catalogue reference]
Includes the Risālaẗ fī al-mūsīqá (Epistle on music), the fifth epistle of 14 from the first volume on mathematics by Iẖwān al-Ṣafāʼ.
al-Iṣbahānī, Abū al-Faraǧ ʻAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn. أغاني الأغاني: مختصر أغاني الأصفهاني (The songs of songs: An abridged version of Abū al-Faraǧ al-Iṣbahānī’s Kitab al-aġānī [The book of songs]), ed. by Yūsuf ʿAwn and ʿAbd Allāh Al-ʿAlāylī (Dimašq: Dār Ṭalās, n.d., 3 vols.). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2008-53176; IMA catalogue reference]
Presents an abridged version of al-Iṣbahānī’s Kitāb al-aġānī (The book of songs).
al-Iṣbahānī, Abū al-Faraǧ ʻAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn. كتاب الأغاني (The book of songs), ed. by ʻAbd al-Sattār Aḥmad Farrāğ (4th ed.; Bayrūt: Dār al-Ṯaqāfaẗ, 1978, 25 vols.). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1978-23410; IMA catalogue reference]
The transcription and compilation of songs of the courts of the Abbasid caliphs up to Aḥmad al-Muʻtaḍid bi-Allāh (857–902), the courts of the Umayyad caliphs (661–750), and songs from the early Islamic period (610–661), and pre-Islamic Arabia are a way to document the literary, cultural, and political life of those periods. The songs’ texts are accompanied by information about poets, singers, and composers, and analysis and critical commentary of poetic meter, rhythmic cycles, and performance styles. Popular stories and chronicles about caliphs, viziers, rulers, and various people, along with narrations of lineage and tribes supplement the context of the songs. Biographies and chronicles of musicians, poets, singers, and slave women singers served as a rich reference for the entertainment, musical, and literary life during the first three centuries of the medieval Muslim world.
al-Kindī, Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq. رسالة الكندي في خبر صناعة التأليف (The epistle of al-Kindī Risālaẗ fī ẖabar ṣināʽaẗ al-taʼlīf [The epistle on the craft of composition]), ed. by Yūsuf Šawqī (al-Qāhiraẗ: Dār al-Kutub al-Miṣriyyaẗ, 1996). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1996-42433; IMA catalogue reference]
Intervals, tuning, scales, octaves, tetrachords, types of tonal structures and construction of modes, modulation and transition, and the relationship between rhythmic cycles, poetic meter, and music are analyzed.
al-Kindī, Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn Isḥāq. مؤلفات الكندي الموسيقية (The musical writings of al-Kindī), ed. by Zakariyyā Yūsuf (Baġdād: Maṭbaʽaẗ Šafīq, 1962). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1962-9228; IMA catalogue reference]
Introduces editions of five epistles on music written by al-Kindī: Risālaẗ fī ẖabar ṣināʻat al-taʼlīf, Kitāb al-muṣawwitāt al-watariyyaẗ min ḏāt al-watar al-waḥīd ʻilá ḏāt al-ʻašarat awtār, Risālaẗ fī ağzāʼ ẖabariyyaẗ fī al-mūsīqá, Muẖtaṣar al-mūsīqá fī taʼlīf al-naġam wa-sunʻaẗ al-ʻūd, and al-Risālaẗ al-kubraẗ fī al-taʼlīf.
al-Nağmī, Kamāl. يوميات المغنين والجواري: حكايات من الأغاني (Chronicles of singers and women slave singers: Stories from Kitāb al-aġānī [The book of songs] of Abū al-Farağ al-Isbahānī) (al-Qāhiraẗ: Dār al-Hilāl, 1986). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1986-30654; IMA catalogue reference]
A selection of 27 stories from Kitāb al-aġānī (The book of songs) about the lives of women and men musicians and singers.
Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī. رسالة نصير الدين الطوسي في علم الموسيقى (The epistle of Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī on music theory), ed. by Zakariyyā Yūsuf (al-Qāhiraẗ: Dār al-Qalam, 1962). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1964-11108; IMA catalogue reference]
Music should be studied as two branches: the science of composition (taʼlīf) and the science of rhythm (īqāʻ). Intervals and their types, and what makes plausible intervals and tones, are important topics in music theory.
Nielson, Lisa. Music and musicians in the medieval Islamicate world: A social history (London: I.B. Tauris, 2021). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-96979; IMA catalogue reference]
During the early medieval Islamicate period (800–1400), discourses concerned with music and musicians were wide-ranging and contentious, and were expressed in works on music theory and philosophy as well as literature and poetry. In spite of attempts by influential scholars and political leaders to limit or control musical expression, music and sound permeated all layers of the social structure. A social history of music, musicianship, and the role of musicians in the early Islamicate era is presented. Focusing primarily on Damascus, Baghdad, and Jerusalem, it draws on a wide variety of textual sources–including chronicles, literary sources, memoirs, and musical treatises–written for and about musicians and their professional and private environments. The status of slavery, gender, social class, and religion intersected with music in courtly life and reflected the dynamics of medieval Islamicate courts. [Adapted from the book synopsis]
Saʿīd, H̱ayr Allāh. مغنيات بغداد في عصر الرشيد وأولاده من “كتاب الأغاني” و غيره (Women singers in Baghdad during the reign of the caliph Hārūn al-Rašīd and his sons as depicted in Kitāb al-aġānī [The book of songs] and other books) (Dimašq: Wizāraẗ al-Ṯaqāfaẗ wa-al-Iršād al-Qawmī, 1991). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1991-37910; IMA catalogue reference]
Musical life in the first period of the Abbasid Caliphate was vibrant. During this period, singing and music making became a profession. Under the rule of Hārūn al-Rašīd and his sons (8th–9th century), some women slaves, known as the qiyān, were acquired, trained, and encouraged to be professional singers at the palace. The music scene of the qiyān musical activity was not limited to the Abbasid court as they also performed at taverns and homes of elite circles in Baghdad. Stories about the qiyān narrated by various scholars reflect the social norms in Abbasid Baghdad and attest to the qiyān’s mastery of poetry, wit, and talent. The biographies of five qiyān are included.
Saʿīd, H̱ayr Allāh. “مجتمع بغداد الغنائي في العصر العباسي” (Musical life in Abbasid Baghdad), al-Mawqif al-adabī 264 (Nīsān 1993) 59–67. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1993-31671; IMA catalog reference]
Musical life in Abbasid Baghdad flourished both in the political court and the city. Singers and musicians lived under the patronage of caliphs and were organized into ranks. Notable musicians of that era included Isḥāq al-Mawsilī, Ibrahīm al-Mawsilī, Manṣūr Zalzal al-Ḍārib, and Ibn Ǧāmiʻ. This period also saw the development of elaborate performance styles and etiquette. The residents of Baghdad also engaged in music and singing on various occasions, with performances occurring in taverns and in domestic and public spaces throughout the city.
Shehadi, Fadlou. Philosophies of music in medieval Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1995). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1995-9473; IMA catalogue reference]
The philosophies of music and music theory in the medieval Muslim world were formulated in works by al-Kindī, al-Fārābī, Iẖwān al-Ṣafāʼ, Ibn Sīnā, al-Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ibn `Alī al-Kātib, and Ibn ʻArabī. In the same period, various perspectives on the permissibility of music making, listening, and samāʻ were advanced by Muslim religious scholars such as Ibn Taymiyyaẗ, al-Ġazālī, Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih, and Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Ġazālī.
Šihāb, Ġādaẗ Anwar. موسوعة الموسيقى والغناء في العصر العباسي مع أشهر الموسقيين والمؤلفين والمغنين والمغنيات (Encyclopedia of music, singing, composers, musicians and men and women singers in the Abbasid period) (Bayrūt: al-Dār al-ʽArabiyyaẗ li-l-Mawsūʽāt, 2012). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2012-50363; IMA catalogue reference]
During the rule of the Abbasids in Baghdad, music making was significantly influenced by the Abbasid caliphs’ positive attitudes towards music. Their encouragement and financial support for musicians and singers led to the specialization of musical arts and the emergence of a musician class within the Abbasid palace and society. The popular music and singing genres of the time were performed in various contexts, from the palace to private homes and taverns. Slave markets played a pivotal role as sources of women slave singers, who underwent rigorous training to master singing or instrument playing. These women gained empowerment as a social class, influencing the social and political life of the caliphate. The period was also marked by the evolution of musical instruments, with significant refinements in the making and performance of wind, percussion, and string instruments. Biographies and chronicles of women and men musicians and singers highlight their contributions and the social life of the time. The genres of poetry and their forms were closely linked to rhythmic cycles, with Persian poetry notably influencing Arabic poetry. Muslim scholars and jurists contributed to the discourse on the permissibility of singing and music within samāʻ. The practice of samāʻ by the Sufis played a crucial role in the spiritual life of the community, leaving a lasting impact on the consolidation of Sufi samāʻ forms that influenced centuries of practice across the Muslim world.
Sawa, George Dimitri. Music performance practice in the early ʿAbbāsid era 132–320 AH/750–932 AD (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1989). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1989-35195; IMA catalogue reference]
Two medieval writers with access to extant repertoire and practices, and to written and oral information on music literature and theory, critically and thoroughly covered the subject of music making and music theory in the medieval Middle East. Al-Fārābī (872?–950?), a performer and theorist, systematized musical practices according to Greek models in Kitāb al-mūsīqá al-kabīr (The grand book of music), and the recently discovered Kitāb iḥşā’ al-īqāʿāt (The book for the basic comprehension of rhythms). The historian, poet, and storyteller al-Iṣbahānī (897–967) compiled anecdotes on musical practices in Kitāb al-aġānī (The book of songs). Analysis of specific performances reveals the physical, verbal, and social behaviour of both musicians and audience; the textual and modal relationship between songs; and the textual, musical, and extra-musical criteria for performance excellence. (synopsis by the author)
al-Urmawī, Ṣafī al-Dīn ʻAbd al-Muʼmin ibn Yūsuf ibn Fāẖir. La musique Arabe. Tome troisième: Ṣafiyu-d-Dīn al-Urmawī–I. Aš-šarafiyyah ou épître à šarafu-d-dīn. II. Kitāb al-adwār ou livre des cycles musicaux, ed. by Christian Poché and trans. by Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1938). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1938-2680; IMA catalogue reference]
Presents a French translation of and commentary on Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Urmawī’s epistle on music al-Risālaẗ al-šarafiyyaẗ fī al-nisab al-taʼlīfiyyaẗ (The epistle on musical proportions) and his book Kitāb al-adwār (The book of cycles).
al-Urmawī, Ṣafī al-Dīn ʻAbd al-Mu’min ibn Yūsuf ibn Fāẖir. كتاب الأدوار في الموسيقى (Kitāb al-adwār fī al-mūsīqá {The book of cycles]), ed. by Ġaṭṭās ʻAbd al-Malik H̱ašabaẗ (al-Qāhiraẗ: al-Hayʼaẗ al-Maṣriyyaẗ al-ʽĀmmaẗ li-l-Kitāb, 1986). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1986-30625; IMA catalogue reference]
Topics of music theory analyzed include: the explanation of tones and their types, the division of frets, the relationship of intervals, the causes of dissonance and consonant combinations, the relationships between cycles, the arrangement of two strings, accompaniment and performance of modes on the ‘ūd, the most common modes, the similarities between notes, transposed cycles, scordatura, rhythmic cycles, and the effects of the modes.
Yūsuf, Zakariyyā. “موسيقى الكندي: ملحق لكتاب “مؤلفات الكندي الموسيقية (Music of al-Kindī: An annotation to the book Muʼallafāt al-Kindī al-mūsīqiyyaẗ [al-Kindī’s writings on music]) (Baġdād: Maṭbaʽaẗ Šafīq, 1962). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1962-9227; IMA catalogue reference]
Al-Kindī’s nine epistles in music approached music from five perspectives: sonic and structural, temporal and rhythmic, psychological, medical, and astronomical. It is an appendix to the book Muʼallafāt al-Kindī al-mūsīqiyyaẗ (al-Kindī’s writings on music) on al-Kindī’s theoretical writings, abstracted as RILM 1962-9315.
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Throughout her life, ethnomusicologist Helen Myers dedicated herself to exploring the connections between local East Indian music genres in Trinidad and their counterparts in northern India. Her research produced invaluable documentation of traditional songs and shed light on the rich musical heritage of these communities. In the 1970s, Myers focused on the music of elderly women of Indian descent in Felicity, central Trinidad, leaving a lasting impact on the descendants of those she interviewed. Her commitment to the Indo-Trinidadian community endured over the decades, culminating in a notable tour of India in 2005 with local chutney singers. Her work continues to be fondly remembered by those she engaged with and the broader community she studied. Myers once described herself on social media as a “Democrat, grandmother of 6 and mother of 3 sons, author of 5 books, and lover of reading. 7 cats.”
Helen Myers, the renowned American ethnomusicologist, passed away at the age of 78 on 24 June 2024.
– written and compiled by Mu Qian, Editor, RILM
As a tribute to Myers, a selection of her research from RILM Abstracts of Music Literature is presented below.
Myers, Helen, ed. Ethnomusicology. I: An introduction (United Kingdom: Macmillan, 1992). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1992-38948]
Abstract: This guide to ethnomusicology provides a comprehensive overview of the discipline, encompassing its history, scope, theory, and methodology. The guide is structured in two parts: one focusing on developments before World War II and the other on advancements since the war. It includes up-to-date reports and covers key areas such as ethnography, transcription, musical style analysis, and organology. Helen Myers contributed significantly to this work, authoring three chapters on ethnomusicology, fieldwork, and field technology. Other contributors include John Blacking, Bruno Nettl, Anthony Seeger, Mark Slobin, and Stephen Blum.
Myers, Helen, ed. Ethnomusicology. II: Historical and regional studies (United Kingdom: Macmillan, 1993). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1992-38948]
Abstract: This sister volume to the previous guide focuses on historical and regional studies within ethnomusicology. It features an introduction and includes seven chapters written by Helen Myers, covering a diverse range of topics, including British American music, Native American music, African American music, Latin American music, British American folk music, European American and Asian American music, and music of the West Indies. The volume provides an in-depth exploration of musical traditions and influences across these regions, representing an expanded field of ethnomusicological research. Other contributors include Max Peter Baumann, Theodore Levin, and David W. Hughes.
Myers, Helen. Music of Hindu Trinidad: Songs from the India diaspora (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1998-51243]
Abstract: In the early 19th century, Indian residents who were sent into slavery or indentured servitude in the West Indies brought their native songs with them to the sugar plantations of Trinidad. Through these songs and dances, they managed to preserve their Hindu culture and socioreligious identity. Today, these traditional songs continue to be performed at festivals and weddings, even though many of the participants no longer understand the literal meanings of the lyrics. The ongoing transformation of these songs becomes evident when researchers try to locate the original versions in India, where they sometimes no longer exist.
Myers, Helen and Umesh Chandra Pandey. Storytime in India: Wedding songs, Victorian tales, and the ethnographic experience (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2019). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2019-32038]
Abstract: This exploration into the narratives that emerge from ethnographic fieldwork focuses on how the authors’ research into Bhojpuri wedding songs intertweaves with their personal stories, collaborative work, and shared experience of reading Anthony Trollope’s The Eustace diamonds. As the narrative weaves through these interconnected stories, readers gain insight into the Bhojpuri wedding tradition through songs performed by Gangajali, along with access to the original song recordings and their translations. Interspersed with these musical explorations, Pandey reads and interprets The Eustace Diamonds, engaging with themes of colonialism and its pervasive influence on India and ethnographic research. The study combines everyday experiences with the highs and lows of fieldwork, blending the stylistic features of Victorian novels with the narrative structure of traditional Indian village tales, where stories unfold within stories. It challenges how ethnography is presented and what we learn in the field. Ultimately, the authors argue that scholarly writing is itself a form of storytelling and art, like the traditions it seeks to document.
Myers, Helen. “Indian, East Indian, and West Indian music in Felicity, Trinidad”, Ethnomusicology and modern music history, ed. by Stephen Blum, Philip Bohlman, and Daniel M. Neuman (Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 1991) 231–241. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1991-3053]
Abstract: The East Indian community in Felicity, Trinidad, has actively sought to reconnect with Indian musical traditions of their homeland, deliberately choosing to maintain their cultural heritage rather than borrowing from local styles. Their goal has been to revitalize Indian musical traditions in response to Western influences. The evolution of such musical practices in the community is traced from 1845 to 1991.
Myers, Helen. “The remembered rhythms of Trinidad: Bhojpuri chutney 2005 and its antecedents”, Remembered rhythms: Essays on diaspora and the music of India, ed. by Shubha Chaudhuri and Anthony Seeger (Kolkata: Seagull Books, 2010) 197–237. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2010-23417]
Abstract: Many Trinidadians of Indian descent maintain a nostalgic connection to their distant homeland. Chutney, a lively musical genre that originated in the West Indies with roots in South Asian culture, gained popularity in the 1980s by blending musical elements of various Trinidadian communities in innovative ways. Despite English being the primary language of the younger East Indian Trinidadians, chutney songs are predominantly performed in Hindi or Bhojpuri. The musical history of chutney in Trinidad highlights several key issues. Firstly, musical change was intentional and deliberate, with villagers actively discussing their musical choices. Secondly, different repertoires within a musical tradition evolve in distinct ways. In this context, the pace of change can be swift, especially with the emergence of new forms. Furthermore, terminology for describing music changed and became a topic of local debate. Some traditions, like certain wedding songs, did disappear entirely. Finally, living traditions are continually being reformed and reformulated.
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Emerging from a New York neighborhood in the early 20th century, the Harlem Renaissance was a period of vibrant intellectual and artistic development in the African American community. Considered a turning point in Black history, the Harlem Renaissance offered African American writers and artists the chance to express their cultures and experiences during a time when they continued to face racism and discrimination. The end of the U.S. Civil War in 1865 brought many African Americans in the South newfound freedoms and hopes for inclusion economically, politically, and socially within society. Unfortunately, these hopes were dashed by white supremacy and the rise of Jim Crow Laws that legalized racial segregation on state and local levels. Such laws existed for nearly the next 100 years, making African Americans second class citizens while denying them the right to vote, hold jobs, and become educated.
Many Southern Black people were denied ownership of land and were exploited in a system of sharecropping, a form of farming where families rented small plots of land from a landowner in exchange for a portion of the crops they had grown. Hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan also terrorized Black communities through murder and intimidation, discouraging Black communities from exercising their newly won rights. Conversely, Northern cities offered industrial jobs in fast growing economies to people of all races. Many African Americans left the South in search of such opportunities, leading to what was termed the “Great Migration” in the 20th century.
The Cotton Club in New York City
The Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan during this period drew more the 175,000 African Americans and quickly became one of the largest concentrations of Black people in the United States. African Americans of all social backgrounds congregated in Harlem based on their shared experiences of racial oppression, slavery, emancipation, and future aspirations as a free people. Harlem also served as a cultural node where artists and writers lived and creatively shared their ideas of modernity, folk culture, and religion. In this sense, the Harlem Renaissance represented a rebirth not only for intellectuals and artists but for all Black people, providing a cultural space to reshape the existing predominant narratives on Blackness.
In this context, it is nearly impossible to explore the Harlem Renaissance without considering its music. Despite being known as a genuinely American art form today, jazz emerged from small urban bars, clubs, and halls to the national stage during the Harlem Renaissance, announcing the arrival of renowned musicians such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Bessie Smith. These early jazz artists reconfigured African American folk musical elements into expressions that were more distilled and elegant, and ready for mass consumption.
Duke Ellington and his orchestra
Like other Harlem Renaissance writers and visual artists, musicians such as Josephine Baker (pictured at the beginning of this piece) were in continuous conversation with audiences beyond Harlem and the United States. In Europe, Baker became an icon of the early jazz age as many European audiences had never seen such a visually striking Black chanteuse who could sing fluently in French and perform such suggestive dance moves. In this context, the Harlem Renaissance sounded in the rhythms of jazz and swing a radically new and modern Black subject that was central to the development of international modern art. It also made Harlem (and venues like the Cotton Club) the place to be modern in the early 20th century.
The selected texts below taken from RILM Abstracts of Music Literature reflect the diverse expressions of the Harlem Renaissance and its lasting impact on music, theater, visual art, poetry, and other fields in the arts. The bibliography foregrounds the significant contributions of jazz women, including Florence Mills and Melba Liston, as well as themes of voice, community values, modernism, migration, and the paradoxical qualities of Blackness.
–Written and compiled by Russ Skelchy, Editor, RILM
__________________________________________
Newton, Elizabeth. “Ethnic irony in Melvin B. Tolson’s Dark symphony”, Journal of the Society for American Music 15/2 (May 2021) 224–245. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-2157]
Abstract: Historicizes musical symbolism in Melvin B. Tolson’s poem Dark symphony. In a time when Black writers and musicians alike were encouraged to aspire to European standards of greatness, Tolson’s Afro-Modernist poem establishes an ambivalent critical stance toward the genre in its title. In pursuit of a richer understanding of the poet’s attitude, the poem is situated within histories of Black music, racial uplift, and white supremacy, exploring its relation to other media from the Harlem Renaissance. The changing language across the poem’s sections is analyzed and informed by Houston A. Baker Jr.’s study of mastery and deformation, the poet’s tone is theorized. While prior critics have read the poem’s lofty conclusion as sincerely aspirational toward assimilation, here the ambiguity, or irony, that Tolson develops is emphasized: he embraces the symphony’s capacity as a symbol to encompass multiple meanings, using the genre metaphorically as a mark of achievement, even as he implicates such usage as a practice rooted in conservative thought. The symphony, celebrated as a symbol of pluralistic democracy and liberal progress, meanwhile functions to reinforce racialized difference and inequality–a duality that becomes apparent when this poem is read alongside Tolson’s concurrent poems, notes, and criticism. Such analysis demonstrates that Dark symphony functions as a site for heightened consciousness of racialized musical language, giving shape to Tolson’s ideas as a critic, educator, and advocate for public health.
Doktor, Stephanie. “Finding Florence Mills: The voice of the Harlem Jazz Queen in the compositions of William Grant Still and Edmund Thornton Jenkins.” Journal of the Society for American Music 14/4 (November 2020) 451–479. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2020-12258]
Abstract: After her performances in Shuffle along (1921) on Broadway and in Dover Street to Dixie (1923) in London, Florence Mills became one of the most famous jazz and vaudeville singers. Known as the “Harlem Jazz Queen”, Mills was revered by Black Americans for her international breakthrough and because she used her commercial success as a platform to speak out against racial inequality. Extensive descriptions of her performance style and voice exist in writing, but there are no recordings of her singing. The sound of Mills’s voice is considered in two compositions written for her: William Grant Still’s Levee land (1925) and Edmund Thornton Jenkins’s Afram (1924). It is shown that Still and Jenkins imagined a much more musically complicated and politically powerful voice than that found in the racialized and gendered stereotypes permeating both her vaudeville and Broadway repertoire and the language of her reception. While scholars have written about how Mills’ outspokenness regarding issues of race and omission of sexually explicit roles made her central to 1920s Black political and artistic life, the sonic properties of her voice positioned her as a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance.
Banfield, William C. “Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1935: Artistry, aesthetics, politics, and popular culture”, Ethnomusicologizing: Essays on music in the new paradigms by William C. Banfield (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015) 223–232. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2015-11893]
Abstract: The Harlem Renaissance, also known as the New Negro Arts Movement (1920-1935), was a period in U.S. cultural history where preserving the life and culture of community was simultaneously an investment into cultural relevancy at all levels through music, literature, arts, dance, education, and business, and social-cultural engagement. People from New York’s Harlem community–extending across the national, artistic, entrepreneurial, and educational lines–were asking: What do we value now, and why? What and how are the best ways forward to create, project, and live in those values? What are we investing in, and what do we believe in for our future? In addition, for the first time in U.S. history, artists and thinkers worked to address needs, projections, and outcomes. The interests in these questions and arts movement as critical historical cultural markers, the artists and artistry from this period, and with that, the processes that led to the creation of progressive U.S. culture. A secondary theme is the impact those art questions and results have had on commercial political and cultural currency and relevancy on at least two other musical arts periods: the civil rights/social protest/soul period (1960-1975) and hip-hop, X, and millennium generation music (1980-2010s).
Lassiter, Fran L. “From toasts to raps: New approaches for teaching the Harlem Renaissance”, Pedagogy: Critical approaches to teaching literature, language, composition, and culture 15/2 (2015) 374–377. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2015-85442]
Abstract: Outlines the use of contemporary hip hop lyrics to access the literature of the Harlem Renaissance. A strategy is outlined for tracing the progression and evolution of African American political and social resistance in literature and music, introducing students to forgotten or overlooked texts of the Harlem Renaissance by exploring the connection between sociopolitical protest and artistic expression.
Colbert, Soyica Diggs. “Harlem Renaissance theater and performance”, A companion to the Harlem Renaissance, ed. by Cherene Sherrard-Johnson (Malden: Blackwell, 2015) 285–300. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2015-84653]
Abstract: Explores how theater and performance of the Harlem Renaissance depicts paradoxes at the heart of modern Black cultural production. Theater and performance emerge in response to competing generational, artistic, aesthetic, and market demands and desires. Blackness appears here as a paradoxical category in the themes, characterizations, and formal attributes of the work. Social practices such as lynching and the separation of public space due to Jim Crow defined Blackness as an easily decipherable physical category. At the same time cultural practices including passing, the cakewalk, and signifying demonstrated the slipperiness of Blackness. Harlem Renaissance theater and performance changes the optics of Blackness from a biological category able to be regulated in the social sphere to a contingent category that emerges in distinctive forms of embodiment.
Melba Liston
Price, Emmett G., III. “Melba Liston: Renaissance woman”, Black music research journal 34/1 (2014) 159–168. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2014-5983]
We might better understand Melba Liston’s (pictured above) achievements, importance, and influence, as well as her artistic and political motivations by viewing her and her work through the lens of the Harlem Renaissance. The movement’s terms and cultural politics provide insight into Liston’s personal experiences and professional realities. Melba Liston is revealed here as a renaissance woman as defined by an expanded reading of the intellectual zeitgeist of the New Negro, gleaning historiographical insight about Liston (and other jazz women) through the experiences of better-, but still under-documented Renaissance women writers.
Reid, Grant Harper. Rhythm for sale (North Charleston: CreateSpace Books, 2013). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2013-37077]
Abstract: Ventures into the beating heart of the Harlem Renaissance through the life of the author’s grandfather Leonard Harper. Born the son of a poor singer in Birmingham, Alabama, Harper performed on the street for pennies as a child. He became a talented performer, and after his father died, he studied soft-shoe to provide for his family. Young Harper traveled with vaudeville shows until he found his way to New York, where he went solo at 16. By his early 20s, he found himself at the center of the Harlem Renaissance, and he worked with such legends as Duke Ellington, Florence Mills, Fats Waller, and Louis Armstrong. An account of the era’s racial tensions is provided, with white producers often swindling Harper and his fellow African American theater professionals out of the rights to their works. However, Harper was resourceful enough to successfully stage dozens of shows. His barrier-breaking achievements are chronicled, including his 1929 debut of Hot chocolates, an African American production that received great acclaim on Broadway. Though the book is full of praise for Harper, it also recounts his extramarital affairs and some of the more colorful stories of gangsters and burlesque dancers in the Harlem nightclub scene. Through this biographical profile, a revealing profile is drawn of early 20th century Black American music, dance, culture, and the racial politics surrounding all of it.
Young, Kevin. “It don’t mean a thing: The blues mask of modernism”, The poetics of American song lyrics, ed. by Charlotte Pence (Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2012) 43–74. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2012-13801]
Abstract: The rise of modernism coincided with the emergence and reach of the blues. The influence of blues music on modernism is explored here, focusing on the importance, intricacies, and intimacies of the Harlem or “New Negro” Renaissance. It is argued that the achievement of African American writers, sculptors, and artists should be considered one of the high points of modernism. The recent disregard heaped upon the notion of Africa as a popular theme in the Harlem Renaissance is also discussed, along with how this attitude denies the power of place in the Black imagination.
Jones, Meta DuEwa. The muse is music: Jazz poetry from the Harlem Renaissance to spoken word (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2011). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2011-6634]
An interdisciplinary study that traces jazz’s influence on African American poetry from the Harlem Renaissance to contemporary spoken word poetry. Examining established poets such as Langston Hughes, Ntozake Shange, and Nathaniel Mackey as well as a generation of up-and-coming contemporary writers and performers, it highlights the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality within the jazz tradition and its representation in poetry. The prosodic analysis to emphasize the musicality of African American poetic performance examines the gendered meanings evident in collaborative performances and in the criticism, images, and sounds circulating within jazz cultures. Some of the poets who participated in contemporary venues for Black writing such as the Dark Room Collective and the Cave Canem Foundation, including Harryette Mullen, Elizabeth Alexander, and Carl Phillips are also key in this discussion. The Black Arts Movement, the poetry-jazz fusion of the late 1950s, and slam and spoken word performance milieus such as Def Poetry Jam, exemplify how jazz and hip hop influenced performance artists. The attention to cadence, rhythm, and structure fills a gap in literary scholarship by attending to issues of gender in jazz and poetry. The analysis includes exploring the formal innovation and queer performance of Langston Hughes’s recorded collaboration with jazz musicians, delineating the relationship between punctuation and performance in the post-soul John Coltrane poem, and closely examining jazz improvisation and hip hop stylization. This elaborate articulation of the connections between jazz, poetry and spoken word, and gender offers valuable criticism of specific texts and performances and a convincing argument about the shape of jazz and African American poetic performance in the contemporary era.
Patterson, Jody. “It don’t mean a thing…: Jazz, modernism, and murals in New Deal New York”, Music and modernism, c. 1849-1950, ed. by Charlotte De Mille (Newcastle upon Tyme: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011) 229–254. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2011-2812]
Abstract: Examines the ways in which jazz was taken up by the U.S. painters Aaron Douglas (1899–1979) and Stuart Davis (1892–1964), who both sought to achieve a rapprochement between modernist aesthetics and leftist politics within the context of the New Deal arts projects. Douglas painted a four-panel cycle of murals, collectively entitled Aspects of Negro life (1939), under the auspices of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP; 1933–34), which were commissioned for the Assembly Hall of the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library (now the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture). Douglas’s use of abbreviated forms and his repetition of schematized motifs within each composition not only demonstrate his understanding of the lessons of cubist composition but represent a self-conscious effort to engage the compositional strategies of jazz. Davis, one of the political left’s most vociferous and visible artist-activists, connected his paintings to swing, a musical form that was decidedly modern and which attracted a mass audience. Through the unexpected placement of accents on beats where they would not conventionally occur, swing musicians deliberately interrupt the regular flow of rhythm. This approach to abstraction is amply demonstrated in Davis’s 1939 mural for the New York Municipal Broadcasting Company’s Radio Station WNYC and the mural Swing landscape (1938), also executed under the auspices of the Federal Art Project, for the Williamsburg Housing Project in Brooklyn.
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New for 2024! RILM Music Encyclopedias has just added four new titles to its continuously growing collection of historic and current reference works. Embrace a global scope in your research with new, multilingual, full-text content for a new year. Here is a list of the new resources.
Felipe Pedrell, gen. ed. Diccionario técnico de la música (1st ed.; Barcelona: Isidro Torres Oriol, 1894) xix, 529 p. In Spanish.
Felipe Pedrell, gen. ed. Diccionario biográfico y bibliográfico de músicos y escritores de música españoles, portugueses e hispano-americanos antiguos y modernos: Acopio de datos y documentos para servir a la historia del arte musical en nuestra nación (1st ed.; Barcelona: Tipografía de Víctor Berdós y Feliú, 1897) 2 vols., xix, 715 p., 88 p. In Spanish.
Nancy Groce. Musical Instrument Makers of New York: A Directory of the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Urban Craftsmen (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1991) xxi, 200 p. In English.
Warren Bebbington, ed. A Dictionary of Australian Music (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998) xiv, 361 p. In English.
Start your search in RILM Music Encyclopedias.
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In Macunaíma, o herói sem nenhum caráter (Macunaíma, the hero without character) by the Brazilian musicologist, ethnomusicologist, poet, and cultural activist Mário de Andrade (1893–1945), the title character leaves his home deep in the jungle for a mystical quest to São Paulo to retrieve the muiraquitã, an amulet said to embody all of the history and traditions of his culture. Macunaíma succeeds in his mission, but in the process he undergoes a series of dramatic transformations; finally, he is changed into a constellation. He leaves for the firmament with a cryptic remark: He was not brought into the world to be a stone.
The story can be read as a metaphor for the cultural developments that Andrade helped to shape: He advocated bringing the jungle to the city to create the modernist aesthetic of brasilidade that informed the growth of the Brazilian creative arts and the parallel development of musicology and ethnomusicology there. Like Macunaíma, Brazilian modernism did not come into the world to be a stone, with all its implications of rigidity, contour, and well-defined boundaries—rather, brasilidade relishes improvisation, exploration, and fluid boundaries that can be perpetually transformed.
Read on in “Macunaíma out of the woods: The intersection of musicology and ethnomusicology in Brazil” by James Melo, an essay included in the RILM series Music’s intellectual history.
Initiated by Isidore Isou (born Jean-Isidore Goldstein), a young refugee from Romania, lettrism was a multidisciplinary creative movement that began in Paris in 1946 but soon expanded by attracting numerous creative people. Lettrist work was inspired by calligraphy, initially for books but also for visual art. In the age of print, it was quite innovative, although it may not have fared as well in preprint times. One recurring device is letters that resemble verses, even though they are devoid of words. Prominent writers and artists based in France such as Jean-Louis Brau, Gil J. Wolman, Maurice Lemaître, Roberto Altmann, Roland Sabatier, and Jean-Paul Curtay were among those associated with the group at various times.
The movement was named Lettrism because historically it was first and foremost interested in rethinking poetry, which at the time was judged to be exhausted when conveyed simply through words and concepts. Poetic lettrism clearly and systematically for the first time (taking inspiration from Dada) proposed a new conception of poetry entirely reduced to letters and eliminating all semantics. Not unlike other self-conscious agglomerations, lettrism was particularly skilled at producing manifestos which can be read with varying degrees of sense. By discounting semantic and syntactical coherence for language art, some lettrist works are considered the precursors of concrete poetry. Among the alumni are Guy Debord (1931–94), who is commonly credited with initiating the Situationist International (1958–72), which, according to some, represents art’s most profound, courageous, and successful involvement in radical politics. While Situationist writings have been translated into English, lettrist texts largely have been left out.
Find out more about lettrism in A dictionary of the avant-gardes. Find it in RILM Music Encyclopedias (RME).
The first image above was created by Roberto Altmann, and the second by Maurice Lemaître–both were artists associated with the lettrist movement.
Below is a video of Orson Welles interviewing Isidore Isou about lettrism and sound poetry in 1955. Be sure to turn up your volume when watching it.
The library of the Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) in Paris is home to an extensive collection of writings on music from the Arab world, a region stretching from the Atlas Mountains to the Indian Ocean. This series of blog posts highlights selections of this collection, along with abstracts written by RILM staff members contained in RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, the comprehensive bibliography of writings about music. Since the onset of the Arab Spring in the early 2010s, the Institut du Monde Arabe has hosted exhibitions and concerts featuring musicians and artists who are at the heart of the cultural production in the region.
Illustration by artist Amado Alfadni featuring the young female protestor Alaa Salah, nicknamed the “Kandaka” of the Sudanese revolution of 2018-2019 for her role in mobilizing protesters through revolutionary chants. Kandaka refers to the name of ancient Nubian queens and the design is a remake of the old perfume label “Bint El Sudan” (the daughter of Sudan). Illustration used with permission.
“It takes a revolution/To find a solution” - From the song “Revolution” by the Palestinian hip-hop band DAM.
Revolutions and popular movements are characterized by a distinct soundscape defined by chants, songs, and the rhythmic movements of collective bodies. The act of protesting in the Arab world is often encapsulated in the idiom kasir ğidār al-ṣamt (to break the barrier of silence); in contrast, the authorities’ act of oppression is referred to as an act of silencing.
Since the turn of the 20th century, the peoples of the Arab world have composed, disseminated, and rendered songs and chants against all forms of domestic, foreign, secular, and religious oppression. Musicians, vocalists, urban poets, and rappers all moved people to act in spaces, public and virtual. In music literature, these songs and chants are referred to by different names: al-aġānī al-ṯawrīyaẗ (revolutionary songs), aġānī al-iḥtiğāğ (protest songs), al-aġānī al-multazimaẗ (socially committed songs), and al- aġānī al-waṭanīyaẗ (patriotic songs). With the rise of communist and leftist movements in the Arab world during the 1960s and 1970s, aesthetic judgment was defined by the level of social and political consciousness of music and songs.
The history of independence and protest movements in the Arab world is interlinked with a crackdown on civil liberties and freedom of expression, and is marked by the movement of peoples across regional borders and beyond. Writers on music have commented on the phenomena of protest songs in their home countries as well as the circulation of songs across borders and cross-cultural influences among Arab diasporas in exile, acknowledging the continuous connections between communities at home and elsewhere.
Given the cosmopolitan contexts in which musicians and poets work and perform, the musical and poetic production of non-Arabic-speaking peoples of the region is noteworthy: The Algerian Kabyle vocalist Lounès Matoub (1956–98) singing in Kabyle, youths living abroad rap in European languages, and Moroccan urban poets known as Jil Lklam (Generation of Words) mix the languages and dialects of Amazigh and Arabic, fusing them with expressions in French, English, and Spanish.
The music that carries protest and political themes is as diverse as the dialects and languages present in the Arab world. The patriotic and nationalist songs of the first half of the 20th century draw from the rich repertoire of al-qaṣīdaẗ al-ʽamūdīyaẗ (vertical poetry), fusing with local melodies and European-style orchestration and arrangement. Other songs rely on local dialects and musical sensibilities to appeal to the broader masses. Among the anti-colonial and independence songs, the Tunisian “Tūnis al-yūm brāt mi al-tankīdaẗ” stands out, sung here by legendary Tunisian vocalist Saliha (1914–58).
Tunisian musician Ṣalīḥaẗ performs “Tūnis al-yūm birāt mi al-tankīdaẗ”
The songs of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s that offer social and political commentary rely on local folk styles and instruments, as can be observed in the revolutionary songs of the Sabreen group (Palestine) and the revolutionary anthems of the Firqaẗ al-Ṭarīq (Iraq). The songs of Nass el Ghiwane (Morocco) feature elements of rwais, and the rebel songs of Groupe El-Ouali (Mauritania) use the subversive lyrics of Sheikh Imam (1918–95) from Egypt. In the last decades, rock, reggae, rap, hip hop, and other popular genres have served as a source of inspiration for bands such as Mashrou’ Leila (Lebanon), DAM (Palestine), and Cairokee (Egypt), with its aspirational lyrics and rock instrumentation that respond to the 2011 Egyptian revolution. “Ya El Medane” is one song that expressed the aspirations of the youth during the Egyptian revolution.
Cairokee’s “Ya El Medane”
Protest songs in the Arab world are forms of expression that break boundaries, defy expectations, and challenge reality. They hail from the Atlas Mountains to Tangier and Algiers, and find a receptive audience in the banlieues of Paris; chants are heard in Tahrir Square and move protesters in Sana’a, Beirut, and Tunis.
The writings featured in this annotated bibliography present and carefully analyze songs accompanying key political and social events. These include nationalist protest movements that unfolded in the Arab world in the last century, from anti-colonial movements and national movements in the first half of the century to chants that accompanied the revolutions of 2011 and beyond.
– Written and compiled by Farah Zahra, Assistant Editor, RILM
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Select Bibliography
Caubet, Dominique and Amine Hamma. Jil Lklam: Poètes urbains (Casablanca: Éditions du Sirocco; Mohammedia: Senso Unico Éditions, 2016). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2016-56443; IMA catalogue reference]
The Moroccan music scene that emerged in the mid-1990s has become a crucial part of the overall cultural scene of the country. Rappers, slammers, reggae musicians, creators of metal music and non-music genres such graffiti and break dance have all initiated an urban movement that mixes genres and contributes to a multicultural Morocco. The evolution of discourse emerging from the underground scene to the public sphere is explored, with attention to the lyrics of songs expressing a young generation that is concerned with taboo subjects, cool music, and tough texts. Eloquent, humorous, sensitive, angry, and poetic, this creative and rebellious generation expresses, in multilingual tongues—vernacular, Amazigh, mixed with French, English, and Spanish—its love for its homeland along with its desire for dignity, freedom, and a future. A new generation of artists is revealing, in addition to its eloquence and its extraordinary talent for writing and composition, an unquenching determination to be heard. The generation adapted the American counterculture’s ethos of do-it-yourself and solidarity while using new technology and social media to share its music. Including interviews with experts on the new music scene, a selection of song texts shared in their original language and translated to French, and rich iconography, the book represents a platform for the new generations of artists to be heard and seen, a generation that is the true echo of the youth.
Dridi, Daïkha and Omar Zelig. “La petite musique du voyage au bout de la nuit: Quand la musique se revolte, entre ‘bizness’ et poesie”, La pensée de midi 4 (mai 2001) 65–71. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2001-49702; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: A description and an interpretation of the music scenes in 2001, after ten years of political violence that Algeria witnessed. The aftermath of violence and political stances in music genres and scenes, old and new, is discussed. Local genres such as raï, Kabyle militant, and chaabi triste sorrowful chaabi capture a general spirit of hopelessness, but also of hope. Case studies and performances such as the hip-hop group Intik and the group Ragga-Gnawi are explored, and the performance and the following banning of Baaziz’s “Algérie mon amour” is interpreted against the backdrop of political upheavals in Algeria. Algerian hip hop is a rhythmic, musical, and lyrical rupture from everything that preceded it.
El Mazned, Brahim. “Les rwayss, ou la musique amazighe comme résistance”, Le monde arabe existe-t-il (encore)?, ed. by Chirine El Messiri. Araborama 1 (Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe; Seuil, 2020) 190–193. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2020-71413; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Approaches Amazigh (Berber) music as an expression of cultural, social, and political resistance. Rwayss is a genre that originates in the Sous region, the center of Amazigh culture, and incorporates singing, dance, and a religious ceremony. The setting where rwayss is traditionally performed is described, and new scenes of rwayss in urban spaces in Morocco and in Europe, especially in France and Belgium, are analyzed. Resistance to musical assimilation and the importance of continuity in rwayss and its connection to the past are considered the main expression of resistance that the tradition holds.
El Zein, Rayya. “Resisting ‘resistance’: On political feeling in Arabic rap concerts”, Arab subcultures: Transformations in theory and practice, ed. by Layal Ftouni and Tarik Sabry. Library of modern Middle East studies (London; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2016) 83–112. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2016-56445; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Explores the ways in which young Arab rap artists navigate the contradictions in the urban and public spheres in everyday life. The discourse of resistance permeating scholarship on rap and hip hop in the Arab world is critiqued and perceived as an expression of neoliberal power. Within the context of the rap scenes in Beirut and Ramallah, political feeling is expressed through objection, confrontation, repetition—a set of processes that hinges on collective action and solidarity rather than individual agency. Interactions, as such, should not be labeled as political but should be approached as subversive in their own terms. Conclusions are based on ethnographic studies conducted in Beirut and Ramallah, where interviews and conversations were conducted and exchanges between artists and audiences were observed.
Houssais, Coline. “En chansons: Florilège musical révolutionnaire”, Il était une fois…: Les révolutions arabes, ed. by Chirine El Messiri. Araborama (Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe; Seuil, 2021) 239–248. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2021-101344; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Provides a selection of songs that marked the history of revolutionary and nationalist songs. Most of them were initially poems later set to music. All the case studies feature a short background on the poet, the performer, and the historical context. Brief background information is then followed by the lyrics in Arabic and a French translation. Among the case studies featured are Min djibalina (From our mountains) by Mohamed Laid Al Khalifa from Algeria, Irdatou al-hayat (The will to live) by Abou el Kacem Chebbi from Tunisia, “Ana Afriqi ana Soudani” by Alsir Gadour from Sudan, Ounadikoum (I call upon you) by the poet Tewfik Ziad from Palestine, and other cases from Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, and Syria.
Institut du Monde Arabe. Hip Hop: Du Bronx aux rues Arabes [Exposition, Paris, Institut Du Monde Arabe, 28 Avril–26 Juillet 2015], ed. by Aurélie Clémente-Ruiz (Gent: Snoeck; Paris: Institut du Monde Arabe, 2015). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2015-89747; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Issued as part of the exhibition Hip Hop, du Bronx aux Rues Arabes organized by the Institut du Monde Arabe in 2015. The book is divided into three sections: the birth of a movement, a new aesthetic, and rap and society. The editors approach hip hop not simply as a genre but as an aesthetic, a lifestyle in perpetual evolution and a continuous transformation. In the preface, the director of the Institut du Monde Arabe remarks on the recourse of young Arab generations to hip hop as a way to express frustration with current realities and to vocalize their aspirations. Articles by multiple authors covering various topics and aspects of hip hop history and its adaptation by contemporary Arab artists are included.
Massad, Joseph. “Liberating songs: Palestine put to music”, Palestine, Israel, and the politics of popular culture, ed. by Rebecca L. Stein and Ted Swedenburg (Durham; London: Duke University Press, 2005) 175–201. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2005-31981; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Analyzes the role of patriotic, nationalist, and revolutionary songs in the struggle for Palestinian liberation, approaching songs as a register for the changing dynamics of the Palestinian struggle and the various populations and demographics involved in it at different stages of the country’s history. Themes of the songs include the fight for liberation, the dream for Arab unity and solidarity, and the struggle for refugees’ rights. Songs are categorized in three historical phases. The first phase is marked by the growing support for pan-Arabism, the rise of Palestinian guerrillas, and the underground scene in the late 1960s and 1970s. The second phase comprises songs produced by non-Palestinians following the great defeat of 1967. The third phase covers songs that accompanied the first intifada (1987–93). Overall, resistance songs were subject to many transformations throughout the second half of the second century and beyond. Musicians and artists moved away from state-sponsored productions to underground scenes in Palestine and among its displaced population. Nowadays, Palestinian resistance and patriotic songs have reached a wide reception and have become a founding aspect of Arab and Palestinian popular culture.
Mérimée, Pierre and Jacques Denis. Intifada rap. Trans. by Tara Dominguez and Sarah Bouasse(Paris: LO/A Edition, 2014). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2014-95113; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Presents photographs featuring Palestinian rappers, spoken word artists, and musicians, as well as photos of the broader urban spaces in which the alternative and broader Palestinian music scene flourishes. The photographer followed musicians in their everyday lives and captured aspects of their activity. The photographs are occasionally accompanied by brief written commentary and by quotes or lyrics by Palestinian poets and artists and Israeli activists. Hip hop artists featured include Saz (Sameh Zakout), Boikutt (Jad Abbas), Shaana Streett, Mahmoud Jrere of DAM, and members of MWR, WE7, and G-Town. Other non-hip-hop artists featured are Amal Murkus and Said Mourad (founder of Sabreen Band).
République Arabe Sahraouie Democratique. Groupe El- Ouali chants et danses sahraouis: Une culture de résistance (Nouakchott: Ministère de L’information de la République Arabe Sahraouie Démocratique, 1983). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1983-26413; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Surveys the works, repertoire, and style of the Mauritanian music and dance company Groupe El-Ouali, and situates them within the broader landscape of cultural resistance in Mauritania in the 1970s and the liberation movement led by the Front Polisario. Groupe El-Ouali was formed by amateur musicians and militants and performed live concerts and disseminated their music on cassettes. The book covers dance styles such as the war dance Dance de ausred, which was performed during the resistance movement led by the Front Polisario against the Spanish occupation of the Sahara, and La touiza, a women’s dance. The book also includes lyrics of selected songs by Groupe El-Ouali translated into French. The songs express themes of revolution and independence, as well as relationships to the land, national identity, and the values of the nationalist movement.
Shalaby, Nadia A. “A multimodal analysis of selected Cairokee songs of the Egyptian revolution and their representation of women”, Women, culture, and the January 2011 Egyptian Revolution, ed. by Dalia Said Mostafa (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 2017) 59–81. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2017-90149; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Analyzes the music videos Ṣawt al-ḥurrīyaẗ (Voice of freedom), Yā al-mīdān (O Tahrir Square), and Iṯbat makānak (Stand your ground) by the Egyptian band Cairokee. The three music videos were released during the year following the breakout of the Egyptian revolution on 25 January 2011, and each reflects the popular mood accompanying the phases of the revolution. The creation and reception of meaning through these music videos is a product of lyrics, music, and other semiotic resources such as visual cues, photographs, camera angles, framing, range of shots, and gaze. The visual design of each music video is discussed to show how multimodal discourse is formed through the employment of various visual, verbal, and musical modes. Finally, the presence and the agency of women in the three music videos are analyzed following the same analytical model.
Skilbeck, Rod. “Mixing pop and politics: The pole of raï in Algerian political discourse”, The Arab-African and Islamic worlds: Interdisciplinary studies, ed. by Kevin R. Lacey and Ralph M. Coury (Bern: Peter Lang, 2000) 289–302. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2000-83623; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Documents the rise of popularity of raï and of kabyle musics among young Algerians at home and among the country’s diasporas, covering the origins and early development of raï in the early 20th century and documenting its popularity in the 1970s and 1980s. Raï is a hybrid genre that merges Arabic and Bedouin poetry and incorporates local and Western instrumentation. Raï song texts can be categorized in terms of clean raï, which narrates stories of love, and dirty rai, which deals with forbidden sexual desires, alcoholism, and alienation. At the start of the Algerian civil war in 1991 raï became one of its battlefields, and while raï itself was not political, it became political insofar as it represents marginalized social classes through expressions of themes that are deemed taboo or unethical by society or political authorities. During the civil war raï artists were banned, and some were murdered by religious guerrilla groups. One important case study presented is the raï song El harba way? (To flee but where to?) by Cheb Khaled, which became the anthem of protesters during the political crisis of 1988.
Al-Sayyid, ʽUmar. Kalām al-ġīwān (Rabat: Ittiḥād Kuttāb al-Maġrib, 2002). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 2002-50214; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: A comprehensive collection of song lyrics by the Moroccan group Nās al-Ġīwān, compiled by one of its members. The preface includes key information about the group and presents a critical take on various commentators’ views on the phenomenon of Nās al-Ġīwān, their musical career, and their popularity in Morocco. Formed in the 1960s, the group accompanied and contributed to the cultural, artistic, and political movement that was unfolding in Morocco. The 1960s and 1970s were marked by a growing popular protest movement that Nās al-Ġīwāne marked with their lyrical and musical contribution. However, one should not reduce the group’s artistic production to a political message. Nās al-Ġīwān merged musical and lyrical elements belonging to four cultures—African, Arab, Amazigh, and Saharan—providing a case study of how to properly reclaim musical and cultural heritage and identity. The concept of a Nās al-Ġīwān dictionary of terms is introduced.
Šalābī, Fawzīyaẗ. Qirāʼāt munāwiʼaẗ (Tripoli: al-Dār al-ʽArabīyaẗ li-al-Kitāb, 1984). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, 1984-28079; IMA catalogue reference]
Abstract: Approaches political songs from the 1960s through the 1980s as expressions of contemporary Arab consciousness. The difference between the Arab intellectual elites fueling the conscious cultural movement and the Arab masses who follow with little critical take is explored. Political songs that do not give lip service to intellectual elites, but rather engage and express the real suffering of the people, are highlighted, distinguishing between progressive songs (al-aġānī al-taqaddumīyaẗ) of politically and socially engaged people and political songs (al-aġānī al-siyāsīyaẗ) of authoritarian states and the Arab right. Case studies from Morocco (Nās al-Ġīwān), Tunisia (Aṣḥāb al-Kalimaẗ), Iraq (Firqaẗ al-Ṭarīq), and Egypt (al-Šayẖ Imām) are included.
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New York. — January 17, 2023 — Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) has entered a three-year collaboration with the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (IMA, Arab World Institute) that aims to increase public engagement, advance global cultural understanding, and connect diverse communities by highlighting and sharing the Institute library’s holdings on music from the Arab world. RILM, which documents and disseminates music research worldwide, supports this initiative by drawing on its comprehensive digital resources to create blog posts about a selection of Arabic music literature. Each post is enhanced with an expertly curated bibliography.
The bibliographic references stem from one of the richest and most exhaustive resources of global music research,RILM Abstracts of Music Literature™, which contains 1.5 million bibliographic records from relevant writings on music published from the early 19th century to the present in over 170 countries and in more than 140 languages.
Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM), New York: RILM is committed to the comprehensive and accurate representation of music scholarship in all countries and languages, and across all disciplinary and cultural boundaries. It publishes a suite of digital resources aimed at facilitating and disseminating music research. Its flagship publication is RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, the international bibliography of writings on music covering publications from the early 19th century to the present, now available in an enhanced version that includes the full text content of over 260 music journals. RILM Abstracts is available on the EBSCOhost platform along with RILM Music Encyclopedias, a full-text repository of a wide-ranging and growing list of music reference works, and the Index to Printed Music, a finding aid for searching specific musical works contained in printed collections, sets, and series. Distributed worldwide on RILM’s own platform are the continually updated music encyclopedia MGG Online, RILM Music Encyclopedias, and the Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti (coming in mid-2023). RILM is a joint project of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres (IAML); International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM); the International Musicological Society (IMS); and the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM). www.rilm.org
Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris: The Institut du Monde Arabe was founded to create strong and durable cultural ties while cultivating constructive dialogue between the Arab world, France, and Europe. This cross-discipline space is the central place for the development of cultural projects, in collaboration with institutions, creators and thinkers from the Arab world. The Institut du Monde Arabe is fully anchored in the present. It aims to reflect the Arab world’s current dynamics. It intends to make a distinctive contribution to the institutional cultural landscape. No other organization in the world offers such a wide range of events in connection with the Arab world. Debates, colloquia, seminars, conferences, dance shows, concerts, films, books, meetings, language and culture courses, and large exhibitions all contribute to raising awareness of this unique and vibrant world. https://www.imarabe.org
For more information, please contact:
Michael Lupo Marketing & Media Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale 365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3108 • New York, NY 10016-4309 mlupo@rilm.org • Phone 1 212 817 1992 • www.rilm.org
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