This work was an ethnographic study of the significance of music, as it relates to culture in modern Syria. The study was based on data collected by Shannon in the field, predominantly in the 1990s, which centered around traditional Arabian music, with special focus on the music found in the city of Aleppo. The question was posed, could these traditional musical elements be traced into modern Syrian musical construction, as evidence of a sound that is uniquely or authentically Arab. This became specifically interested in what makes a musical performance authentic, as it relates to the modern audience and Arab musical tradition. This is important because shared experiences, like exposure to culturally authentic art is essential to the creation of a collective identity among Syrian artists and citizenry because it produces a sense of heritage, and shared truth.
I found this study really interesting. One does not typically consider music in the political sense, as it relates to creating a kind of patriotism through shared cultural experience, or as this study phrases it, collective identity. It was also interesting that the author considered that there was an active “negotiation” between heritage, or cultural musical devices and modernization, especially as it relates to the introduction of technology in to the Arab musical sound. The idea of “negotiating” or trying to reach a compromise that holds to the needs of each side, is really a great visualization for the process that is occurring in the text, from an ethnographic perspective. It was well written and entertaining, and contained a unique perspective about the relationship between modern music, and cultural heritage. I would like to know, however, in greater detail, how this can be generalized to the larger field of study.
References:
Jonathan Holt Shannon, Among the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2006), pp. xv-xxvi, 1-21.
