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One Thousand and One Dreams |
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One Thousand and One Dreams |
Photo: © Copyright Amara Graps.
In my dreams, I travel along the Silk Road, carrying the notes of the oud, dancing the oldest dance in the world, trading gold for saffron, whirling with the dervishes, and curling my toes deep in carpet stories. Discovering Istanbul in January 2004 helped me to synthesize my 1001 dreams.
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Put yourself in the mood of a musician, now play your mood. Your fingers are implementing a musical system that conveys leading notes, and relationships between the notes.
The Arabic Maqam
In the western world, the mode of music evolved from a variety of modes invented by the Greeks: Aeolian, Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Locrian, and Mixolydian, into the Major (the pattern from Ionian) and Minor (the pattern from Aeolian) scales that western musicians use today. In the equal temperament tuning system, the octave is divided exactly in twelve notes, where the distance between each note is a half step.
In the Arabic world, the musical modes, the "maqam" (plural: maqamat), are more complex and richer due to the large variety of specific Oriental tone scales. There are dozens of Arabic maqamat, including many Persian and Turkish hybrids, many local maqamat are used only in some regions of the Arab world, and unknown in others. The maqam are grouped by melodic development, patterns, and relationships between the notes. These rules describe which notes should be emphasized, how often, and in what order.
The Arabic maqam is built on top of the Arabic scale, generally made up of a 24 note octave. Each maqam may include microtonal variations such that tones, half tones and quarter tones in its underlying scale are not precisely that. E.g. the E in maqam Bayati is tuned slightly lower than the E in maqam Rast. These variations must be learned by listening not by reading, which is why the oral tradition is the correct way to learn Arabic music. (1) The tuning of the maqmat are probably historic, based on string instruments, but especially the oud.
Hear some maqamats
The following are some maqamat (*), that I especially like. These sound samples are in RealPlayer format.From the Maqam Rast
(*) from the educational site: Arabic Maqam World).
- Violin (Maqam Rast on C)
- Oud (Maqam Rast on C)
From the Maqam Rast Yakah, a sample piece:
- Muwashah Mubarqa'ul Jamali
From the Maqam Kurd
- Oud (Maqam Kurd on G)
- Violin (Maqam Kurd on D)
A sample piece
- Doulab Akhadti Soutak Min Rohi
These are *extra* wonderful
- Longa Hijaz Kar Kurd Seboukh
- Samai Hijaz Kar Kurd Tatyos
Musical tradition in the Arab world is very old, dating back to the simple sing-song recitations of tribal bards in pre-Islamic days, usually accompanied by the rababa, a primitive two-string fiddle. As they spread out into the Middle East and North Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries A.D., the Arabs quickly added the rich and complicated scales and tones of Indian, Persian and Byzantine music and developed a unique form that has persisted to this day with only minor changes. (2)
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Fiddler in an Istanbul cafe.
Photo: © Copyright Marco Fulle.
The music of the Arabs gradually influenced the West. Masters such as Bartok and Stravinsky composed works with detectable Eastern or Arabic influences. The Western world inherited not only the structure and tabulation of Arab music but also many of its instruments. (3)
Some Arabic Instruments
The leading musical instrument in the Arab takhet (orchestra) is the oud, known as the "amir al-tarab" or "the prince of enchantment". The sounds of the oud have been compared to aspects of the human temperament itself. (4) It has a half pear-shaped body with stripes on its shell and a right angle keyboard. It has twelve strings (six pairs) and is played with a plectrum, often the sharpened quill of an eagle. This instrument has a long history. Pictures of oud-like instruments have been discovered on stone carvings in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Persians and Indians played it in ancient days. It was the Arabs, however, who perfected the oud, gave it its name, and passed it on to the Western world. (3)Curious about the music of the oud ? Anouar Brahem will satisfy your curiosity and lift you into the clouds. Start with his Astrakan Cafe CD.
The oud reached Europe during the Middle Ages to replace a plucked instrument, the gittern. In Italy, the oud became il luto, in Germany, laute, in France, le luth, and in England, the lute. As music became more complex with the introduction of chord patterns in the thirteen century, alterations in the technique of playing the oud as well as modifications in its construction were applied. These changes brought its sound close to that of the vihula, a form of Spanish guitar. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the oud was very popular in Europe as a solo instrument and as a part of orchestra ensembles. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the lute's rival, the guitar, which was simpler in construction and less cumbersome to hold and to play, finally won the battle for popular favor.
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The Antique Gallery Cafe and Restaurant in Istanbul was my (Silk Road traveler's) delight. When the sun goes down, the hundreds of colored lights go on, and the musicians begin to play. A professional kanun player: Erol Deran, races his fingers over the strings. Photo: © Copyright Marco Fulle.The qanoon, zither, was first developed in the Arab world during the tenth century. It is a flat trapezoidal wooden box, with twenty-four strings in triple fastened at its rectangular side on one end and to pegs on the oblique side on the other. Small levels lying below each course of strings are manipulated by the player to make slight changes in pitch. The strings are plucked with two horn plectra, one on each index finger. The qanoon is believed to have been invented by al-Farabi, the Muslim mathematician, physicist and musician. From Spain it was introduced to Europe. It retained its original name and shape until the fifteenth century. In Europe, it was the psaltery, in Russia, gusli, in the Ukraine, bandura. The Latin name was canon, the Italian, canone, the German, kanon, the Scandinavian, kanala, and the French, micanon.
As early as the twelfth century, a new Islamic instrument, very similar to the qanoon, was introduced to Europe through Byzantium. The santur, as it originated, or the dulcimer, as it was named by medieval Europe, is struck rather than plucked. In Greece it was known as the santuri and in Rumania and Hungary it evolved as the cembalom.
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While exploring the underground Roman Cukur Bostan (Cistern of Aspart), music was fed through speakers, accompanying us. What was that music? The ticket vendors scribbled the name and title for me: Jamshid Adibi: "Santur", on a piece of paper. Off we went, to scour the music shops of Istanbul for Jamshid Adibi. On the fourth shop, we hit gold. If you find this music, you won't put it down for days. It buries itself deep inside of you. Photo: © Copyright Marco Fulle.
One aspect of unity in Arab music is the intimate connection between the music and the Arabic language. This is demonstrated by the emphasis placed upon the vocal idiom and by the often central role played by the poet-singer. Examples are the sha'ir, literally "poet," in Upper Egypt and among the Syrian-Desert Bedouins, and the Qawwal, literally "one who says," in the Lebanese tradition of Zajal, or sung folk-poetry. This link is also exemplified in the common practice of setting to music various literary forms, including the Qasidah and the Muwashshah. (5)
Music and the Arabic Language
Following this thread, then the Koran is written to be sung, and indeed, the The Call to Prayer song is the best-known song in Moslem countries.
References
(1) http://www.maqamworld.com/maqamat.html
(2) http://alsiadi.com/ALMAQAMAT.html
(3) http://www.arableagueonline.org/arableague/english/details_en.jsp?art_id=391&level_id=49
(4) Anouar Brahem Trio Astrakan cafe' liner notes.
(5) http://www.classicalarabicmusic.com/history.htm
Oriental Dance is the fusion of dance styles developed in the Middle East thousands of years ago. The oriental dance can be found in many places separated by great distances. Its diffusion can be attributed, in part, to the migration of gypsies and, in part, to the establishment of harems where women of different provenance came together. Initially the Oriental Dance was performed by women for other women. Later, in its transformations, the dance's purpose became contorted when sex workers relied on its appeal to attract customers. Gradually, in the body, the center of the dance moved upward to the chest and head. Later, when the dancer Isadora Duncan made popular her free, harmonious style, the woman's body became once again a source of inspiration. Then the center of the movements shifted downward into the solar plexus and belly again.
Oriental Dance and the Arabic Language
The Arabic language is the fourth most spoken language (after Mandarin, Spanish, English). It is spoken by 235 million people, in the countries of Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Lebannon, Oman, United Arab Emirats, Kuwait, Gaza Strip, Quatar, and Bahrain. That it is suited to singing is not surprising, given its origins. That it is suited to dancers is another matter entirely. Here, I suggest you to consider that, perhaps the Arabic language is the language of the female body.
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Buying a metallic hip sash at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.
Photo: © Copyright Marco Fulle.Passed through some generations from grandmother to daughter to grandaughter is story of a navel at the center of the world. One begins with the dot, extending it into an axis. From the axis, we move our hips.
Rosina-Fawzia's tutoring from her grandmother, Fawzia, during her early childhood in Baghdad, is told in the following story (*).
The Ancestral Call
"One day grandmother called me. I came and saw a blackboard at her side.""Come, sit next to me. I'd like to teach you an ancient craft. Take this chalk in your hand." She inserted it between my thumb and index finger and went on. "Now draw a dot and concentrate all your energy into this one dot. It is the beginning and the end, the navel of the world."
Her next lesson extends the dot.
The following day, she called me again. "Fawzia, come!" She sat at her usual place with the board next to her. "Now draw the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, the alif, a vertical line; start from the top, keep your hand light and put all your inner strength into the downward movement. Let the line become as long as three dots lying above each other."
Again, I took the chalk between the thumb and forefinger, and I made an alif. She explained that the alif is the first expression of the dot. It is unique among all of the letters of the alphabet and contained in all of them. Trace it with reverence, she told me, for the alif is the dot's longing to show itself. It is through the dot's longing to grow beyond itself that the alif is born. Regardless of their multiple, outer shapes, all letters are the alif in their essence.
How difficult it was for me to draw this simple letter! I drew it so often that in the end I could see alif in everything. Wherever I turned, it would appear. I felt my body straighten into a living alif. My arms, hands, back, legs, and feet all turned into an alif. Life as a matchstick, I was down to essentials, clear and transparent.
Another day came when my grandmother called me. She sat on a bench in the garden, one leg folded under her, the other resting on the ground.
"Anchor your feet to the earth and balance your weight on both legs. Now shift your pelvis to the right and then to the left, as if you were drawing a shell. Every time you reach the furthest outward point, stop, balance back to your middle and then to the other side. Now come, make the same movement with the chalk on the board: Does this shape remind you of something?"
"It's the second letter of the alphabet, grandmother, but the dot underneath it is missing."
"The dot is the beginning," she explained. "The dot begets all the other letters. The dot is below and the alif in between. Together they form the word (father), one of the names of the Divine. When you whirl or when you circle your pelvis, you are drawing the dot, the origins. From this shape all other movements are born - they all stem from this dot, from the navel in your belly."
I was excited to know that I carried inside me a source from which everything was born. Time and again, I watched the inward spiral of my navel with respect. Going around with all this power inside my belly made me feel secure and confident.
(*) Grandmother's Secrets (now called The Art of Belly Dancing) by Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi.
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A dance in a tourist's club in Istanbul. All people are missing the essence of the oldest dance in the world.
Photo: © Copyright Marco Fulle.
"Belly dancing is a dance of isolation, in which the various parts and centers of the body are moved individually, independently from each other, yet end up forming a unity. The polycentric movements of belly dancing develop the body's intelligence and capacity to react, finally resulting in a multidimensional body awareness. Just as individual drops unite in the harmonious flow of a river that time and again draws strength from its source, so belly dancing, as suggested by its popular name, finds is source in the belly. Its rhythm originates from inside, from the elemental sound of the heartbeat that we first heard in the cavern of our mother's belly.... In belly dancing the intensive use of the trunk, pelvis, belly and rib-cage strengthens and vitalizes a woman's sexual force. Not only can this force foster new life, it can also lead to spiritual greatness and to a higher level of consciousness ... Belly dancing gives a woman the possibility to discover, learn about, and understand herself. More than words or thoughts, it reveals her attitudes and feelings toward herself and her sexuality, toward men, children and other women. It gives her the possibility to communicate with the eternal woman in herself, to accept herself, and to learn to love. Through the movements of belly dancing, a woman expresses her courage to love and to live... In essence, belly dancing is an art of loving." (*)
(*) Grandmother's Secrets (now called The Art of Belly Dancing) by Rosina-Fawzia Al-Rawi.
Sufi Picture Words
The Sufis have been practicing a rich way to present ideas for some 1000+ years, using a presentation method which I call 'picture word concepts'. Even though the Sufis are a poor fit in a Moslem mosque, they are a perfect fit in the Arabic language, and this is one of the most important reasons they have for choosing Arabic as one of their primary languages to express their concepts. (*)
The Sufis don't use *one* word to concisely present an idea, they let the Arabic language concisely present an 'impression' via the roots of a word. You start with a particular Arabic word, extract the root, then generate/expand more words from the root. These special words with the roots describe a complex set of ideas which accord with a number of Sufi ideas and practices, and build up, on close examination, a 'word picture'. With the meanings taken together, the word carries a message or composite presentation of certain essentials. It extends the dimensions of meaning, through the word and its derivatives, and acts like an impression.
For example, the Sufi traveler belongs to a 'tariqa'. This word means: course, rule of life, order of dervishes. The nearest approximation to the sense of this word is 'way' in English, the way of doing a thing, the way upon which a person is traveling, the way as an individual. But there's much more meaning to this word for the Sufis. The root is (TaRiQa). Now expand the TRQ root:
TaRQ = sound of a musical instrument
TaTaRRaQ Li = to aim at, to wish, to draw near to
ATRaQ = to remain silent with downcast eyes
TaRRaQ Li = to open the way to
TaRaQ = to come to anyone by night
TuRQaT = way, road; method; habit
TaRIQAt = lofty palm tree
So for the Sufis, the tariqa is the Path in which resides the transmission. It is a rule of living, a thin line within ordinary life, sometimes maintained through the note of music, expressed visually by the palm tree. The tariqa itself opens the Path, and it is connected with meditation, silent thinking, as when a man sits in quiet contemplation in the silence of the darkness. It is both the aim and the method. So do you see how this 'scattering' method creates an whole impression on the disparate elements of the human mind? I think it's lovely.
(*) The Sufis by Idries Shah.
Middle Eastern people have been weaving carpets since the centuries B.C. For nomadic peoples, the portable floor coverings were their most valuable and practical furniture, warming and brightening the family's often-moved homes. The women traditionally wove the carpets for their family's use or for their dowries. The pattern and colour scheme is influenced by local traditions and the availability of certain types of wool and colours of dyes. Patterns were memorized, and women usually worked with no more than 18 inches of the carpet visible. Each artist imbues her work with her own personality and emotions, putting her experiences and events by way of particular motifs and colors into the weave. The individuality of the artist can be "read" from a carpet if your eyes are trained. (1)
Weaving a Story
If you are thinking to buy one of these treasures, find a carpet seller who truly loves his work. Ask him questions how to distinguish the different carpets from each other, the kind of knots, the kind of materials, what the different motifs mean. If he cannot do this, then find another place. This is a life perchase, so take your time. If the seller indulges your interest, you will find yourself spending hours, while he serves you apple tea, and displays his carpet knowledge.
(1) Lonely Planet: Istanbul, by Verity Campbell and Tom Brosnahan, 2002.
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A section of the Kurdish carpet I bought in Istanbul. This carpet touched me in the same emotional sense that the most melanchology music I adore touches me. I am not experienced reading this woman's carpet story, but I know she was thinking about life (the tree of life is present), fertility.
Waiting for the Performance (Turkey/EU)
Photo: © Copyright Amara Graps.
In early October 2004, the European Commission published its assessment of whether Turkey has made significant progress completing the tasks necessary to be a member of the European Union. The answer was yes. In December, the European Union ministers will decide at a summit meeting if they agree.
I think that the EU, by saying yes to Turkey, will help temper the fear and paranoia regarding Islamic cultures that is circulating around the world these months and years. Since, for the most part, they have satifisfied the requirements, only the fear factor remains. Can Turkey's Islamic culture be compatible with liberal democracy? Let's try and see, there is no better way than to give them the benefit of the doubt. The Turkish people whom I've met are eager, hard-working, they wish to prove that they can contribute in productive ways to the European environment. For more on this topic, the September 18 The Economist published a compelling article about why the European Union should say yes. Recommended reading.
The next photos are Istanbul impressions of Marco Fulle and Amara Graps. I discovered when I visited Istanbul, that I loved the colors, the smells, the tastes, the fabrics, the music. Yes, I want to return and explore more of this fascinating country.
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The sundial in the gardens at Topkapi Palace.
Photo: © Copyright Amara Graps.
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The warmth and generosity of the Turkish people - here a guard at one of the rooms at Topkapi Palace gives me his contact information, inviting me to visit him and his family.
Photo: © Copyright Marco Fulle.
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Istanbul's first winter snow left a pristine coating on the mosque and the gardens.
Photo: © Copyright Marco Fulle.
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... leaving a snow job for the park bench cleaner.
Photo: © Copyright Amara Graps.
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Typical Turkish lights are made of standard light bulbs dropped inside of thick colored class, giving a wonderfully warm ambiance to any room. My favorite restaurant (above) had a few hundred of these hanging from the ceiling. You can find any variety of colored light at this shop.
Photo: © Copyright Marco Fulle.
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Last Modified by Amara Graps on 24 October 2004.
© Copyright Amara Graps, 2004.
