(Arab. Al-Mamlaka Al-Urduniya Al-Hashemiya).
Constitutional monarchy in West Asia. Located in the centre of the eastern Arab world, Jordan has an area of 91,860 km2 and a population (est. 2000) of approximately 6·33 million, of which some 96% are Sunni Muslim. Through population movements and common geographical features, Jordan has close cultural and musical links with the neighbouring Arab cultures of Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Jordanian music is primarily vocal. Instruments are used to accompany singing or sometimes to reproduce songs instrumentally (although through acculturation instrumental music has recently gained some importance). Folk or folk-related genres predominate. Before the 1948 war with Israel, Jordan's small towns were mostly populated by agriculturalists; artisans and shopkeepers were not numerous. Following the unification of the West Bank and East Jerusalem under Jordanian rule after the 1949 Jordan-Israel armistice, Palestinian folk and art traditions became a part of the kingdom’s traditions (see Palestinian music). Jordanian Islamic chants reflect a trace of Ottoman influence from Mevlevi and other Sufi orders. A small Christian population (mainly adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church) has its own religious music. Secular music-making has developed in various ways according to influences from folk music, Arab art music, classical Western music and Western dance and popular music.
ABDEL-HAMID HAMAM
The Jordan region has been inhabited since ancient times. Excavations at ‘Ayn Ghazal, near Amman, provide evidence of ancient collective communities, some of which developed to become cities. Among these was Rabbat ‘Amon (‘the house of ‘Amon’, from which Amman derives its name), a strong fortress at the time of Joshua (c1250 bce). A Jewish tribe named Banū Jād intermarried with the Ammonites and worshipped their gods (Ba‘al, Ashtarot, Kamosh and Malkom). Girls of the Banū Jād used to dance around altars and ritual stones (nusb) and sing sensual lyrics to the accompaniment of frame drums and the shawn (a double-reed instrument).
The wall paintings of Negev (c2000 bce) provide the earliest recorded evidence of music and dance in Jordan. They represent four dancing figures and musicians playing the drum and kithara (kinnara). Their dance resembles the dabka still traditionally performed today (see §2(ii) below) and could have been a dance of fertility. Stamping the ground and hand-clapping seem to have been signs of joy for the Ammonites; they are reported to have done this when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem in 597 bce.
The Nabataeans (c500–106 bce) are the most famous people of ancient Jordan. Their territory extended as far as Damascus and Palmyra in modern Syria, and their capital at Petra (then known as Sala‘a) was a natural fortress with buildings chiselled into the colourful mountain rockface. When he visited there, the Greek geographer Strabo recorded that two musicians entertained the king's guests. During the Christian era, many Arab tribes converted to Christianity, as did the Nabataeans. Numerous churches were built throughout Jordan, and new rituals and ceremonies were developed. The Orthodox Church still uses some modes similar to Arab maqāmāt, and Byzantine and Greek influences are also evident in the liturgical chants.
After the rise of Islam, the Umayyad caliphs and princes (661–750) cultivated music and invited the famous singers of Medina and Mecca to their capital at Damascus, giving generous rewards. They decorated their palaces, fortresses and desert rest-houses with frescoes representing musicians, singers and dancing figures. Qusayr ‘Amra, an Ummayad rest-house in the east Jordanian desert, has frescoes of this type.
The Abbasids (750–1258) were great music patrons but less closely connected with the region, since their capital was at Baghdad. During the Crusades Jordan was a continuous battlefield. Little is known of the mutual musical influences between the Christian invaders and Jordanian Arabs. The Ayyubids and Mamluks succeeded in liberating the whole area around the end of the 13th century, allowing local traditions to recover and develop again. Karak, a city in south Jordan, became a centre of culture, music and poetry. The writer al-Maqrīzī describes how al-Malik al-Nāsir of Karak visited the Egyptian ruler al-Malik al-‘Ādil in 1238 and persuaded him to make him a gift of a harp-playing girl (jinkiyya) attached to the court. Another singing-girl called al-Karakiyya (‘from Karak’) was very famous in Cairo at the time of Sultan al-Mutahhar Hājī, who was very fond of her.
The Ottomans ruled the area for over five centuries (c1400–1918) and were primarily concerned with the safety of the pilgrim road to Mecca, which passed through Jordan. Under British Mandate (1920–48) Jordan was influenced by Western culture and music, and the army brigade was established.
Modern history began with the arrival of Prince Abdullah (later King Abdullah) in Ma‘an in 1920; he became ruler of Transjordan in 1921, the people welcoming him with songs and dances. Under King Hussein's rule (1953–99) Jordan progressed rapidly in all fields. Musical institutions were established: private and government music centres; the Department of Fine Arts at Yarmouk University; the military, police and radio/television orchestras, cultural festivals (e.g. Jarash Festival); the National Music Conservatory; and the Syndicate of Jordanian Artists. Music education was established in all schools, and foreign cultural centres invited musicians from abroad to perform in Jordan.
In February 1999, during the days of mourning after King Hussein's death, Qur’anic recitation was the sole music to be broadcast on television and radio, apart from occasional use of instrumental Western classical music. Fanfares and bagpipes were played at certain moments of the funeral.
Folksongs cover all subjects related to Jordanian life experience. There are songs for birth, marriage and death, children's songs, songs about love, lamentations, patriotic, religious and work songs, and songs on other themes. The musics of nomadic Bedouins and of settled populations are distinct but interrelated. Following the immigration of Palestinians in about 1948, Palestinian folksongs and traditional art music spread throughout the kingdom. Singers such as Jamīl al-As, Tawfīq al-Nimrī and ‘Abdūh Mūsā influenced the development of folk and folk-related music.
Bedouin
songs have specific characteristics. Melodies are short (mostly four bars) and repetitive
(repeated for every line of the poem), operating within a narrow ambitus not
exceeding a 4th. The modal material known as ajnās (sing. jins)
is limited to use of the tetrachords Sabā, Bayātī,
Huzām and the Bedouin jins – C D Eb F
G. The style is responsorial; first the
leader sings, then the other participants repeat what he has sung. The songs
relate to Bedouin circumstances and use Bedouin vernacular Arabic
pronunciation. Sometimes a Bedouin poet-singer sings and improvises new poems
to the accompaniment of the rabāb (spike fiddle). (For music
examples see Bedouin music.)
Hjēnī. This genre comprises three bars in 4/4 metre. It has roots in the pre-Islamic hudā’ (camel-driver song).
Sāmer or qasīd. This has a two-bar melody in 4/4 metre. A leader sings the poem, and the participants sing the following refrain: ‘Halā hālā lā yā halā / Winta hinēfī yā walā’ (‘Halleluja, halleluja! You are a believer [in God], young man’). On happy occasions the singing accompanies a dance performed by two groups of men. It starts in a moderate tempo and develops to a lively and exciting climax when the male dancers encircle a female dancer called al-hāshī.
Fārida. Women sing the fārida as they accompany the bride from her parents’ to her husband's home. The song's main features are the narrow ambitus (not exceeding a 3rd) and the prolongation of a particular note of the melody. The melody is composed of two parts, one of them repeated (ex.1).
Uhzūja or hidā. This sort of declamatory singing is used in battles, processions and work (ex.2).
Ma‘īd or ‘adīd (lamentations). Women, dressed in black, sing lamentations for the dead. Sometimes they form a semicircle and perform a slow death dance.
Tarwīda. Like uhzūja, the tarwīda comprises several sorts of songs and melodies. Women's songs include lullabies, songs for the bride's bath or henna ceremony (ex.3), and some love songs.
The music of the sedentary population differs greatly from the music of the nomadic Bedouins. Melodies follow the form of the poem and are generally longer, with a wider ambitus; they contain some melismas, ornaments and figurations. People sing their own songs, antiphonally or responsorially, using different ajnās (tetrachords) and ‘uqūd (pentachords). They also use a variety of musical instruments (see §3 below). Occasionally a professional solo poet-singer (zajjāl or qawwāl) provides the audience with a varied repertory of songs and improvised types appropriate to the occasion.
Dabka songs. All villagers and townspeople in Jordan and neighbouring Syria, Lebanon and Palestine perform the dabka dance on joyful occasions. In the dance they stamp the ground, just as their ancient ancestors used to do at springtime to glorify the return of Dummuzi and Inanna, the deities of fertility and love. A male musician stands inside the circle of dancers playing the song tune on the shibbāba (oblique flute), mijwez or yarghūl (types of double clarinet; see §3 below). The dance leader (qawwāl) sings the verses alternately with the dancers, and instrumentalists play some interludes. The main types of dabka are ‘alā dal-ōnā, ‘al-yādī, ya zarīf at-tūl and ‘allā (ex. 4). Women participate in only one variant, habl muadda‘ (‘ornate string’), so-called because each girl holds hands with dancers on either side of her in the dance circle. Melodies are of eight bars in 4/4 metre. Their ambitus is less than an octave; the most common maqām (mode) is Bayātī, and the dance-songs are performed in a lively tempo.
Improvised types. Improvisation is considered to be an important feature of both traditional Arab art music and folk music. In folksinging, improvisation entails the spontaneous invention of new poems relating to the occasion and social setting. Poet-singers usually improvise to stereotyped forms such as ‘atābā, mējānā, mu’annā and mawwāl (see Arab music, §II, 3), whose melodies can be developed, altered, ornamented or slightly changed. Manipulating the melodic formation and poetic structure needs much experience; this is gained orally during a long period of apprenticeship.
Mu’annā is made up of four hemistichs with AABA rhyme scheme. Usually the poet sings ad libitum the first two hemistichs in the same melodic line, then the third one on a lower pitch, preparing for the high pitch of the fourth line, which has a fixed melody in tempo giusto. The following is an example:
Allāh ma‘ak yā sāhibī allāh ma‘ak
Ghannī il-qawāfī fīl mu’annā tasma‘ak
Ya mhājir il-khillāni dōmi ‘ūd
Fōq il-khalīqa yā wilef bidd arfa‘ak
(God be with you my friend, God be with you./Sing the rhymes of mu’annā and let us hear you./You, who left your admirers, return to them./Then, my love, I would raise you above all creatures.)
The audience repeats the last line once or twice.
Songs of Bedouin origin. Settled people have close links with the Bedouin nomads, and some are of Bedouin origin themselves. In settled communities Bedouin genres such as hjēnī, fārida and tarwīda are commonly performed. A type also known as sāmer combines the two traditions; it is composed of an improvised part by the poet-singer and a refrain line in tempo giusto sung by the audience: ‘Yā halālī yā mālī; yā rab‘ī ruddū ‘alayya’ (‘My possession, my treasure; I ask my friends to repeat after me’). The first part is of rural origin, the second is Bedouin.
Songs related to the Arab art tradition. Songs within this category originate from neighbouring cities such as Baghdad, Damascus, Aleppo and Cairo. Jordanian people change the melodies and words to suit their taste, or adapt the words and give them local tunes (e.g. ‘Al ōf mash‘al). The Zajal form is used in this way. The professional poet-singer (zajjāl) improvises new poems to a fixed melody. The words are in vernacular dialect; rhythms and rhymes very much depend on the melody and its cadences. Transmitted orally, the art of zajal singing requires considerable knowledge and experience.
The most common instrument in Bedouin society is the rabāba, a monochord bowed instrument played in a vertical position (see Arab music, fig.6). It has a rectangular frame (20 cm × 35 cm × 6 cm) covered on both sides with skin. The neck is about 35 cm long, with a single peg at the upper end.
In towns and villages three types of bamboo aerophones are played: shibbāba, mijwez and yarghūl. Shibbāba is a short oblique flute 35 cm in length, with six finger-holes but no thumb-hole. Mijwez is a double clarinet with bamboo pipes of equal length (about 30 cm) and six finger-holes (see Arab music, fig.4). Yarghūl is a double clarinet with pipes of unequal length, found in varying sizes according to the tuning of different maqāmāt. The short pipe has five finger-holes, and the long one provides a drone. Both mijwez and yarghūl are played with a continuous breathing technique. Plucked instruments are sometimes available, such as ‘ūd (short-necked lute) and buzuq (long-necked lute), usually imported from Egypt, Syria or Iraq. The buzuq was especially played by Gypsies; Jamīl al-As is a very good mulahhin (composer of melodies for songs) and buzuq player of Gypsy origin.
The most common percussion instruments are duff (frame drum) and tabla (goblet drum). In the month of Ramadan a large tabla or a naqqāra (small kettledrum) announces the beginning and end of the daily fast. When they dance at home, women occasionally use a sort of jingle (khilkhāl) and small finger cymbals (faqqāshāt). The mihbāsh is a beautifully carved wooden mortar and pestle originally used to grind coffee and now also used to accompany some folksongs. Rhythms are created by striking the base and walls of the hollow body with the long stick inserted through the small opening at the top.
In contemporary Jordan all the instruments of the Western orchestra, of military bands and of modern popular groups are available. The bagpipe (qirba) has become especially popular among peasants and Bedouins.
Singers such as Tawfīq al-Nimrī used to broadcast on the radio from Jerusalem, since ‘The Voice of Jerusalem’ (established in 1936 under British Mandate) was the only broadcasting service available until 1959, when the Amman radio station began to operate. A group of traditional musicians formed the first ensemble of the radio station; only some could read Western notation. Others joined the ensemble later, such as Elias Faza‘, student of the noted Palestinian church musician Augustin Lama. The radio and (later) television popularized folk-related songs that flourished and gained success in Jordan and neighbouring Arab countries. Some songs were also produced for national occasions, to glorify Jordan or to praise the king. Traditional art music did not become popular to the same extent, although some Jordanian musicians such as Rawhī Shāhīn, Emīl Haddād, ‘Amer and Mālik Mādī and others who studied in Egypt did compose songs in traditional sophisticated forms in the 1980s.
Two composers have produced work related to Western classical styles, both using Jordanian tunes and Arab musical elements. Yūsuf Khasho (1927–96), who studied with Augustin Lama in Bayt Lahm and Jerusalem, composed several works for orchestra. ‘Abdul-Hamīd Hamām (b 1943) studied composition at the Vienna Akademie für Musik und Darstellende Kunst and has composed orchestral, chamber and choral works, songs, sonatas for various instruments, and piano works. In Jordan there are also many groups using Western popular styles, rhythms and musical instruments to perform light and dance music.
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