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Information about Middle Eastern Music

The music of the Middle Eastern and North Africa spans across a vast region, from Morocco to Iran, and it's influences can be felt even further afield. Middle Eastern music influenced (and has been influenced by) the to music of Greece and India music, as well as Central Asia, Spain, the Caucasus and the Balkans, as in chalga. The various nations of the region include the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa, the Persian tradition of Iran, the music of Turkey, various Jewish traditions from Israel, the Kurdish music, Berbers of North Africa, and the Coptic Christians in Egypt all maintain their own traditions.

Throughout the region, religion has been a common factor in uniting peoples of different languages, cultures and nations. The predominance of Islam allowed a great deal of Arabic influence to spread through the region rapidly from the 7th century onward. The Arabic scale is strongly melodic, based around various maqam or modes (also known as makam in Turkish music). This is similar to the dastgah of Persian music. While this originates with classical music, the modal system has filtered down into folk, liturgical and even popular music. Unlike much western music, Arabic music includes quarter tones halfway between notes, often through the use of stringed instruments (like the oud) or the human voice. Further distinguishing characteristics of Middle Eastern and North African music include very complex rhythmic structures, generally tense vocal tone, and a homophonic texture.

Regions & Styles

Arabic Classical Music
Algerian Rai
Arabic Pop
Christian Liturgical (Coptic, Maronite, etc)
Egyptian Chaabi & Al-Geel
Berber Music
Israeli Music
Kurdish Music
Nubian Music
Persian Classical Music
Persian Folk Music
Raks Sharqi
Sufi Music
Turkish Classical Music
Turkish Folk Music

See also

External links

Folk music
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- Folk dance - Folk clubs - Instruments - Protest song
- Singer-songwriter - Lists of traditions - World music
Pop Music
By style: Baroque pop - Bubblegum pop - Country pop - Futurepop - Pop rock - Pop punk - Pop rap - Power pop - Synthpop/Electropop
Indie pop - Teen pop - Traditional pop - Pop metal - Sunshine pop

By region: American pop - C-pop (Cantopop, Mandopop) - Taiwanese pop - HK English pop
Europop (Austropop, Nederpop) - Indi-pop (Bhangra, Filmi)
J-pop - K-pop - SFR Yugoslavia pop
Other topics
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Arabic pop music
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Female artists: Amal Hijazi • Amani Swissi • Angham • Asalah • Asmahan • Aziza Jalal • Carole Samaha • Cyrine Abdelnour • Dalida • Dana Halabi • Dania • Darine • Darine Hadchiti • Diana Haddad • Dina Hayek • Elissa • Fairouz • Fayza Ahmed • Fulla (singer) • Haifa Wehbe • Ishtar • Julia Boutros • Latifa • Marwa • Maria • Maya Nasri • Myriam Fares • May Kassab • Najwa Karam • Nancy Ajram • Natacha Atlas • Nawal Al Zoghbi • Nelly Makdessy • Ruby • Ruwaida al-Mahrooqi • Sabah • Samira Said • Shadia • Shatha Hassoun • Sherine • Umm Kulthum• Thekra • Warda Al-Jazairia Male artists: Abdel Halim Hafez • Amr Diab • Assi Al Hillani • Fadel Shaker • Faudel • Hani Shaker • Hisham Abbas • Khaled • Kathem Al Saher • Cheb Mami • Melhem Zein • Mohammed Abdel Wahab • Mohamed Fouad • Moustafa Amar • Rachid Taha • Ragheb Alama Related articles: Arabic pop • Arabic music • Middle East • Arabesque music • Ra • Chalga • Turbo-folk • Manele


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Middle Eastern music
The musical legacy of Greece is as diverse as its history. Cypriot music has certain similarities to traditional Greek music, and their modern popular music scenes remain well-integrated.
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Indian music may refer to:
  • Music of India or other music of South Asia, the Indian subcontinent, also South Asian music in the United States, Indo-Caribbean music

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Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. Though various definitions of its exact composition exist, no one definition is universally accepted. Despite this uncertainty in defining borders, it does have some important overall characteristics.
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Motto
"Plus Ultra"   (Latin)
"Further Beyond"
Anthem
"Marcha Real" 1
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Caucasus or Caucasia is a region in Eurasia bordered on the north by Russia, on the southwest by Turkey, on the west by the Black Sea, on the east by the Caspian Sea, and on the south by Iran. The Caucasus includes the Caucasus Mountains and surrounding lowlands.
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Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe a region of southeastern Europe. The region has a combined area of 550,000 km² and an approximate population of 55 million people.
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Chalga (Чалга) is a form of Bulgarian music drawing from Balkan folk traditions and incorporating a blend of Arabic, Turkish, Greek, and Roma (Gypsy) influences, as well as motifs from Balkan traditional music, flamenco and klezmer music.
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al-‘Arabiyyah in written Arabic (Kufic script):  
Pronunciation: /alˌʕa.raˈbij.ja/
Spoken in: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman,
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Anthem
Sorūd-e Mellī-e Īrān Â²


Capital
(and largest city) Tehran

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Motto
Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda Sulh
Peace at Home, Peace in the World
Anthem
İstiklâl Marşı
The Anthem of Independence
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Anthem
Hatikvah
The Hope


Capital
(and largest city) Jerusalem

Official languages Hebrew, Arabic
Demonym Israeli
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Kurdish may refer to:
  • The Kurdish people
  • The Kurdish language
  • The land of the Kurds Kurdistan
  • The History of the Kurds
  • Kurdish New Year Nawroz
  • Kurdish literature
  • Kurdish music
  • The Kurdish Yazidi religion
  • Kurdish Rugs
  • Kurdish cuisine

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Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled to prevent sock puppets of currently blocked or banned users from editing it.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page,
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Copt (Coptic: ou.Remenkīmi en.Ekhristianos, literally: Egyptian Christian) is a native Egyptian Christian. Today, more than 95% of the Copts belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
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Maqam (Arabic: مقام) (pl. maqamat or maqams) is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word maqam in Arabic means place, location or rank.
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Dastgāh (Persian:دستگاه) is a musical mode in the traditional Persian art music which consists of twelve principal musical modes or dastgāhs
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A quarter tone is an interval about half as wide (aurally, or logarithmically) as a semitone, which is half a whole tone.

In equal temperament the quarter tone is 50 cents, or a frequency ratio of 21/24 or 1.0293.
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oud (Arabic: عود ʿūd; Kaban; Persian: بربط barbat; Turkish: ud or ut;[1] Greek:
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homophony (IPA [ho'mɒfəni], from Greek "homófonos", where ομοιο = the same, and φωνή = a sound, tone) is a texture in which two or more parts move together in harmony, the
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Arabesque or Arabesk is a genre termed so by Turkish musicologists for a type of sound to come out of Turkey in the 1950s and 1960s. It has counterparts in a Greek form of pop music known as Laïkó and Arabic pop music.
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Arabic music (Arabic,الموسيقى العربية) includes several genres and styles of music ranging from Arab classical to Arabic pop music and from secular to sacred music.
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Egyptian music has been an integral part of Egyptian culture since ancient times. The ancient Egyptians credited the god Thoth with the invention of music, which Osiris in turn used as part of his effort to civilize the world.
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lute. The word lute is an English word which came from the Spanish laud, the laud which originally came from the Arabic word and instrument al-ud (meaning the branch of wood).
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The music of Turkey includes diverse elements ranging from Central Asian folk music and music from Ottoman Empire dominions such as Persian music, Balkan music and ancient Byzantine music, as well as more modern European and American popular music influences.
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Jewish and Israeli Music
(main article)
Religious music:'''
Historical • Contemporary
Piyyut • Nigun • Pizmonim
Zemirot • Baqashot
Secular music:
Israeli • Israeli Folk
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music of Iran has thousands of years of history dating back to the Neolithic age, as seen in the archeological evidence of Elam, one of the earliest world civilizations, which was located in southwestern Iran.
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Syria's capital and largest city, Damascus, has long been one of the Arab world's centers for cultural and artistic innovation, especially in the field of classical Arab music. Syria has also produced several pan-Arab stars, often in exile, including George Wasoof and Nur Mahana.
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Armenia is situated close to the Caucasus Mountains, and its music is a mix of indigenous folk music, perhaps best-represented by Djivan Gasparyan's well-known duduk music, as well as light pop, and extensive Christian music, due to Armenia's status as the oldest Christian nation in the
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Assyrian music is divided into three main sections or periods. The Ancient Period consists of that of Ur, Babylon and Nineveh). The remaining periods are the Middle or Tribal Folkloric period and the Modern Period.
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