(Arab. Jumhuriya al-Arabya-as-Suriya).
Country in the Middle East. The territory of modern Syria, with an area of 185,180 km2, extends from the Mediterranean coast on the west to the desert on the Iraqi border, and from the Turkish chains of mountains on the north to the Jordanian and Iraqi borders on the south and south-east. The population is estimated at 16·13 million (2000).
2. Classical music traditions.
5. Music education and modern developments.
SCHEHERAZADE QASSIM HASSAN
Syria has a very ancient civilization, with human presence in the region dating back one million years. The prehistoric period ended in the 4th millennium bce with the establishment of an agricultural and urban society in which flourished various activities – diplomatic, economic and artistic – basically related to those of Mesopotamia. Ugaritic writings, using the first alphabet discovered in this part of the world, reveal the Semitic names of the ‘ūd (short-necked lute), kinnāra (lyre) and tb (tabl drum), which survive today.
Syria can be divided into three regions (fig.1). A vast area, forming the northern and western parts of the Fertile Crescent, extends from the Golan and Hauran highlands on the border with Israel and Lebanon to Mesopotamia, encompassing Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo. This north-south axis forms the heart of Syria proper (bilād al-shām: ‘the country of sham’).
This area gave birth to the classical musical traditions of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. Also included in this part are the alluvial plains of the Euphrates and the steppes around the Tigris valley, a region particularly bathed in Mesopotamian culture and now dominated by Bedouin Arabs. Kurds, Assyrian Christians, Yezidis and some Turkoman tribes inhabit the northern parts of this region. The western region, along the Mediterranean coast, has vast plains and parallel mountain chains. Though the musical culture is of Bedouin origin, the region has developed a particular style with characteristics shared with Lebanon and Palestine.
The central part of the country, covering 58% of the territory, is a desert/semi-desert and dotted with some green oases. Its population of Bedouin nomads and camel-breeders practises transhumance across Syria, Iraq, Jordan and the Arabian peninsula.
Modern Syria is an Arabo-Islamic country similar to all Middle Eastern countries in its ethnic and religious diversity. The majority of the population is Sunni Muslim. A Shi‘a community inhabits the south, and members of the Shi‘a ‘Alawi sect inhabit the mountains (jabal ‘alawiyyīn) overlooking the Mediterranean. Christianity is the second religion of the country, and the Syrian Christians form one of the oldest Christian communities in the world (see Syrian church music). Heterodox Islamic sects include the southern Druze and northern Yezidi (for Druze music see Lebanon, §2(iii); for Yezidi music see Kurdish music, §5).
Two prominent and specific classical traditions dominate Arab West Asia: the Iraqi and Syrian. The latter originates from the two ancient cities of Damascus and Aleppo and also covers Lebanon and Palestine.
Classical music has traditionally been performed at evening social gatherings of musicians and friends (maghna or sahra), in which the poetic texts are as important as the music itself. Numerous circles for performing and discussing music have long existed in Damascus, Aleppo and Homs; recently they have diminished in number. Syrian classical traditions spring from continuous interchange and mutual influence between the secular and religious spheres.
With the exception of a small tradition of light songs (uhzūjāt), the musical traditions of Damascus are religious in orientation. Their historical centre is the 8th-century Umayyad Great Mosque of Damascus. Even on secular occasions, the city organizes its famous religious evenings (sahrāt dīniyya) in which religious genres are performed alongside secular Aleppan forms accompanied by musical instruments. The city of Aleppo, the other important centre of musical traditions, combines a strong religious culture with an important tradition of secular music. In any performance both repertories can be combined. In other words, in Syrian classical music, major vocal genres are easily transferred from one context to another with suitable adjustments. The same rhythmic formulas (usūls) and melodic modes (maqāms) are employed, but the occasion, text, form and some aspects of interpretation are significant indicators of difference.
Religious occasions, celebrated as such in the Syrian Islamic society, are limited to al-isrā’ wal mi‘rāj (the ascension of the Prophet Muhammed), the nights of Ramadan, particularly laylat al qadr (the night in which the skies open) on the 27th of Ramadan, the night of mid Sha‘bān, and finally the first day of Muharram which marks the Islamic new year. On these occasions, the classical repertory, even from the secular sphere, is performed with texts adapted to the occasion.
Conversely, engagements, marriages and (to a lesser degree) circumcisions are generally celebrated at home. Recently, for lack of space, these have also been celebrated in mosques. Qur'anic recitation inaugurates and closes the suite of qasīdas (odes), muwashshah ghazals (love poems) and a section (hussa) from the mawlid nabawī (see §(ii) and (iii) below).
The Sufi dhikr rituals are religious ceremonies performed on a regular weekly basis within the different Sufi orders, and also at particular private occasions. The ritual represents a meeting-ground for the sacred and secular realms through its use of muwashshah ghazals (love poems), which Sufis interpret in mystical terms, while many secular muwashshah ghazals derive originally from the Sufi orders.
The main metric forms of Syrian classical music are Muwashshah and qadd, while qasīda and layālī are free improvisational forms.
One of the most widespread poetic forms in Syria, the muwashshah originated in Muslim Spain and is one of seven post-Classical poetic forms that spread throughout the Arab world. It is performed on both secular and religious occasions and combines classical metres with new ones arranged in strophes. Each poem is divided into an indefinite number of units (abyāt, sing. bayt), each containing a varied number of poetic lines. Musically, a muwashshah is performed by a solo singer alternating with responsorial, antiphonal or collective singing in unison, depending on the performing group. In Syria, it is passed on through oral transmission by acknowledged masters, both secular and sacred, though recently it has even been taught in some musical institutes. The performance of this difficult art, composed by specialists, demands a mastery of both maqāms (modes) and usuls, the complicated rythmic patterns of Arabic music.
Its formal and musical aspects have evolved in many ways, and today a musical muwashshah is not necessarily based on a literary one. It can even use a qasīda text. Its large repertory includes some very old compositions of Andalusian or Egyptian origin, as well as more recent pieces by Syrian composers. Previously, the samāh dance used to accompany the muwashshah in religious contexts, during the mawlid nabawī and the dhikr. Religious use of the samāh has disappeared, but it is being reintroduced in secular muwashshah performances, mainly by new ensembles.
Today some performers distinguish between different muwashshah types according to performance context. In religious settings they call it tawshīh; if the text glorifies the Prophet, it is madīh (‘praise’, pl. madāih) or muwashshah nabawī (‘of the Prophet’); if addressed to God, mentioning his qualities and asking his forgiveness, it is ibtihāl; when concerned with (sacred or secular) love, it is muwashshah ghazal.
This form, the next most common poetic form, is widely used on secular and sacred occasions. The text, in literary Arabic, follows the strict rules of classical prosody. Musically, it is performed in an improvised or semi-improvised manner. During the 1940s Ahmed al-Ubarī (1895–1952) attempted a complete concordance between melody and text according to the historical conventions of al ghinā’ al mutqan (‘perfected song’; see Arab music, §I, 2(iii)). The qasīda had to be sung in rhythms corresponding to the rhythm of the poetry. Like many other experiments, these composed qasīdas were mainly appreciated by radio audiences; they did not gain popularity at the lively evening social gatherings.
Al qudūd (sing. qadd) are popular urban songs that form part of the classical performance. They are based on well-known or old melodies to which any new text respecting the metre of the melody can be added designated as qadd al-lahan (in the size of the melody). Thus many religious melodies were chosen to be sung with secular texts and conversely. Al qudūd are better known as a qudud halibīyya (‘from Aleppo’), in reference to what the Syrians consider as their place of origin. However, this paternity is also claimed by the city of Homs. During the performance of both secular suite (wasla) and the religious cycle (fāsil), a number (five to six) of qudūd may be sung one after another with increasing speed, encouraging audience participation in collective singing.
All urban classical music is organized in cycles, each composed of an indefinite number of parts. Secular cycles are termed wasla (literally ‘piece’). Religious and Sufi rituals called fāsil or nawba are also performed within cycles.
In Syrian music this term has two basic meanings. First it implies a succession of up to four or five muwashshahs (waslāt muwashshahāt) or a similar number of qudūd (waslāt qudūd). These successive pieces must belong to the same maqām; they are performed with accelerating tempo, usually in secular contexts within a large cycle also known as wasla.
The second designation of wasla as a larger cycle is based on a succession of various instrumental and vocal forms that have in common the unity of the maqām. Theoretically the order of musical forms within a wasla is unfixed, but an accepted order is generally followed. A wasla comprises the following forms: an instrumental rhythmic composition such as samā‘ī, bashraf or dulāb; a small wasla of muwashshahs (originally accompanied by the samāh dance); qasīdas and layālīs; one or two dawrs (an improvised form originally from Egypt sung in Egyptian dialect); an instrumental dūlāb; and a waslāt qudūd, which includes a mawwāl (improvisational singing in colloquial Arabic, see §3 below).
Religious music is presented within the following large cycles: aladhān (call to prayer), aldhikr (Sufi ritual invocation of names of God) and almawlid nabawī (Prophet’s birth ceremony).
Adhān. Depending on the region, time of prayer and school of interpretation, there are many styles of adhān, which, with Qur’anic recitation, is the main religious vocal form. The Umayyad Great Mosque in Damascus preserves the unique tradition of collective adhān based on the teachings of ‘Abdul Ghanī al-Nablusī (1641–1731). The act of prayer is practised with the recitation of a succession of parts or sections. Each is designated by a name and has a particular religious significance. At the main Friday noon prayer the first adhān follows a succession of ibtihāls (muwashshahs addressing God); then comes a type of choral singing (samadiyya, from the eternal) performed three times; then a second adhān; then the Friday sermon divided in two parts, ritual prayer, takbīr (recitation of God’s attributes); and, finally the supplication (tawassul). During Ramadan, relief prayers (tarāwīh) are also sung. The order of the successive parts can change depending on the occasion of the prayers. The use of maqāms depends on the taste of the performer.
Dhikr. The Sufi dhikr ritual is performed in a suite called Fāsil whose order and general content theoretically is fixed. (Some specific dhikrs are performed in cycles termed nawba.) Unlike the secular wasla, the unity of the maqām is not compulsory. The only fixed features are the rhythmic patterns and constant repetition of texts naming God. A dhikr fāsil consists of several of the following: muwashshah, qasīda, tawshīh and two types of madīh, madadīyāt and istighāthāt.
The number of fāsil suites varies within the different Sufi orders. The Hilāliyya, a conservative Qādirī order in Aleppo, maintain two types of suite: five fixed fāsils (like the five prayers and five ‘pillars of Islam’) and more than 50 unfixed ones. The fixed ones are performed every week, whereas unfixed ones are performed only during summer, when outdoor performances extend into the night. Each week then, only one unfixed fāsil is performed, but given the great number of fāsils, none is repeated within a given season.
Up to the end of the 19th century it was usual to meditate in Sufi sanctuaries for up to 40 days, with a daily performance of a fāsil. But the munshidīn (poetic reciters) and dhākirīn (those who repeat the name of God during the dhikr) have forgotten many of these fāsils. Only one religious fāsil, called fāsil isqī al-‘itāsh (‘give water to the thirsty’), has been adopted into a secular context and is performed with musical instruments. It was originally a prayer sung during dry spells imploring God to send rain.
Mawlid nabawī (Prophet’s birth ceremony). As elsewhere in the Arab world, mawlid nabawī cycles are performed on any happy or sad occasion, as well as on the birth and death anniversaries of the Prophet. The suite contains the following: wird, tasbīhāt, hussat mawlid (part of the birth story), prayers for the Prophet, qasīda nabawiyya, religious muwashshahs (tawshīh or madīh) sometimes with frame drums (daff), an optional part of a dhikr and finally the mubāya‘a (election of the Prophet).
The folk styles of eastern Syria are based on the Bedouin vocal art common to Jordan, Iraq and many parts of the Arabian peninsula. Syria also shares rural and mountainous traditions common to Lebanon and Palestine. Folk singing styles performed by the sedentary tribes on the Euphrates in eastern Syria are the same as those practised on the other side of the border in Iraq.
The maymar, molayyia, abū m'anna and other poetic forms provide the basis of metric songs for collective dabka dances accompanied by the folk clarinet (mizwaj) and drum (tabl). In the north-east, at community festivities on the Khabur river, the nāyel and swehlī vocal genres are generally sung by Gypsies. The vocal gesīd and hujeīnī are performed by nomadic Bedouins, with rabāba accompaniment.
The main and most popular poetic vocal genre in the region is the ‘atāba, which attracts a very large audience throughout Syria including urban centres, where it is included in both secular and religious classical performances. Known as ‘atāba sharqīyya or ‘atāba ‘irāqīyya’ (‘eastern’ or ‘Iraqi’ ‘atāba), it is sung in a solo melismatic style by the semi-sedentarized and sedentarized Bedouin poet (shā‘ir), generally during the sheikhs’ open social sessions (madhāfa).
Another type, the al ‘atāba gharbīyya (‘western ‘atāba’), predominates in the western coastal and mountainous region. Its free, melismatic solo singing is usually followed by the mijāna, a rhythmic metric song that invites solo or group dancing. New dance groups led by Lebanese musicians perform both the western ‘atāba and the mijāna within the current trend for folklorization.
Zajal is the other predominant poetic singing genre of the western region, performed at socially important improvisation contests involving two or more poets. The poetry, in colloquial Arabic and based on specific meters, is then sung combining or alternating syllabic singing with free melismatic passages. Zajal meetings are popular, important social events encouraged by an audience of aficionados.
The Mawwāl, one of the most widespread poetic singing genres in the entire Arab world, is very popular throughout Syria, especially in Homs, Hama and Aleppo. On account of its historical origin, the form popular in Syria is known as mawwāl baghdādī or shargāwī (‘Baghdad’ or ‘eastern’ mawwāl). It is composed of a number of poetic units, each including seven lines in the colloquial Arabic commonly used between Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. Musically, the mawwāl is performed in free improvisatory style at popular gatherings and urban secular and religious concerts. Passionate aficionados collect its poetry: two centuries ago, when Syrian sheep merchants used to walk to Baghdad, they were famous for coming back with the latest mawwāls. (See also Iraq, §I, 3(i).)
Syrian cities have their own popular songs. The best known are the Damascene metred song (shāmī) and songs from Hama (hamaouī).
During the first ten days of the month of Muharram, the Shi‘a community of the south, between Damascus and al Suweida, performs and recites the passion of al Hussayn. In the suburbs of the capital, around the shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, the granddaughter of the Prophet, ceremonies, invocations and even dhikr and plays are performed for this same occasion in the streets.
All Syrian classical and folk instruments are found elsewhere in Arab Middle Eastern traditions. As in other Arab countries, chordophones are the most important instruments of urban and classical music.
The ‘ūd is the most popular and widespread instrument. It usually has five courses, but the addition of a single sixth string has become common. Various shapes can be seen in Syrian ‘ūd workshops. The Aleppan ‘ūd (al ‘ūd halabī), with its 61·5 cm string length, is the longest and most slender, famous for its perfect octave harmonics. The Damescene ‘ūd (al ‘ūd shāmī) has a larger soundbox. The Egyptian ‘ūd (al ‘ūd masrī), characterized by its angular shape, has a weak upper octave. The Turkish ‘ūd (al ‘ūd turkī), with strings 59 cm long, is the shortest of this family. The nash’at kar, a half-size Turkish ‘ūd with guitar pegs and six courses, used to be played mainly by amateurs; like other relics of Turkish influence, it has almost disappeared. Syrian manufacturers test the solidity of the different lute boxes by putting them on the ground and standing on them. Different kinds of experiments are regularly made on the ‘ūd, sometimes on the request of users.
Aleppan qānūns (trapezoidal table zithers) are famous all over the middle East. They have ten ditals (‘urab) as compared with the five to seven ditals of the Egyptian qānūn.
Among folk chordophones, long-necked lutes are popular, usually with two or three double courses and a variable number of movable frets. The buzuq, tanbūr and sāz are played in northern Syria, especially by non-Arabs. The term sāz is used either as an alternative for tanbūr or to differentiate a particular type of long-necked lute. Gypsies (nawar) and Kurds in the villages around Aleppo play the buzuq to accompany Kurdish and Arabic songs. Kurds in Jebel Akrad and near the Turkish border (in Kamishli and Hasakah) play the tanbūr (or sāz; fig.3). Its wooden soundbox is usually made in Aleppo but may also be imported from Turkey. Aleppans also play the buzuq or the sāz, but prefer instruments with many frets (up to 29 on the Aleppan sāz, up to 36 on the buzuq). The jumbush, another long-necked lute, with six double courses and a metallic container as a soundbox, is used by the Armenians of Aleppo, who introduced it into their ensembles along with violins and percussion instruments.
The monochord rabāba is the only type of local fiddle. It is played by Bedouins in the central desert/semi-desert region between Dar‘a and Hama, and by Gypsies, who introduced the petrol can as a soundbox (fig.3). On the Mediterranean coast, the waisted wooden rabāba accompanies improvisational poetic contests (zajal).
The nāy (flute) is the main classical aerophone, but curiously it is losing favour and has almost disappeared. Nay players have always been badly paid, and instrument-makers refuse to make new flutes or transmit their professional secrets. The few remaining players now import bamboo from Egypt and make their own instruments. Among folk flutes, the shabbāba, made from metal or bamboo is played by shepherds in rural areas. It accompanies collective community dancing in Dar‘a (in the south) and Manbij (in the north) and is also used in the Euphrates region.
Single and double clarinets (mizwaj) are played in almost all regions by shepherds, either as solo instruments or along with the tabl (cylindrical drum) to accompany the communal dabka dance. The shawm (zurna) and tabl drum form the well-known instrumental duo tabl wa zurna, which enlivens folk festivities and communal gatherings. The frame drum (daff) is widely used in many contexts, including by women.
The local traditional urban ensembles, al takht, are composed of the ‘ūd (short-necked lute), qānūn (trapezoid table zither), nāy (end-blown flute), darbuka (goblet drum) and daff (frame drum). This is now augmented with violins and other Western instruments, thus creating a large orchestra.
Traditional instrument-makers have diminished in number since the first half of the 20th century. The spread of the electronic organ in the 1980s and 90s was a real blow to trade. Some manufacturers now use machines to boost production, but some good craftsmen committed to hand-built work are still to be found in the cities. Some of the latter instrument-makers, including many engineers and other specialists, inherited the traditional craft from their families and others.
Musical life and its performers of the old school (1850 to c1950) are extremely well documented in Syrian writings. Biographies of hundreds of musicians (al-Jund, 1958) reflect their status, their cultural backgrounds and their musical life. Biographies of more recent male and female musicians are found in Dhureil (1989) and Sharīf (1991).
Traditional musicians, who until the present have basically been craftsmen, merchants and even government officials, learn and teach through oral transmission. At the beginning of the 20th century, Syrian musicians were in close contact with the musicians of Iraq, Egypt and Turkey and frequently travelled throughout these countries to learn and exchange knowledge.
Traditional musicians were (and still are) expected to master Arabic language and grammar, to know a substantial part of the Arabic poetic repertory by heart, to be expert in the arts of maqām and usūl and to have a good knowledge of muwashshahs.
The rich Syrian Arab music tradition continues to flourish, despite centuries of Ottoman influence and the heavy pressure towards modernism exerted during the French mandate period (1920–44). At the start of the 21st century, individuals and specialist ensembles continue to provide teaching and sources of transmission. In Damascus alone, Qur’anic and religious reciters are organized into two guilds, whose members (mostly merchants) are available to celebrate weddings and anniversaries and to perform mawlid nabawī ceremonies upon demand.
In the 1940s Arab music began to be taught in modern classrooms. In Aleppo, Fu’ād Rajā‘ī, a dentist, important musician and patron, opened a private institute, which later (1950s) had a section for girls directed by his sister, a medical doctor and musician. It became one of the most prestigious music institutes in the Middle East, attracting famous teachers such as the nay player and musicologist ‘Alī al-Darwīsh, Nadīm al-Darwīsh, ‘Omar al-Batsh and Shukrī al-Antakī. However, private and traditional teaching continues to be the backbone of traditional music. Nowadays a great number of Syrians (especially young people) take private lessons with individual teachers or at institutes.
Although the best music flourishes in traditional spaces, official organizations also play their part. There are weekly music programmes on the radio and television, both of which have their own Arab orchestras. Films and videos are made about Arab music. The Ministry of Tourism promotes traditional music in restaurants, grand hotels, various cultural centres and even cabarets. The prestigious historical cities of Busra, Palmyra and Aleppo have annual music festivals organized around a specific theme with juries and prizes. The two large national troupes, Firqat Umayya and Firqat Zenobia, present dances and music from all parts of the country.
The Syrian government, represented by its Ministry of Culture and Education, is the only serious patron of Western art music, promoting numerous concerts of symphony orchestras, chamber music and solo performances by Syrian musicians. The Western-trained musician Solhi al-Wādī created state-supported conservatories in Damascus (1961) and Aleppo (1963) and the Advanced Conservatory of Damascus (1990), where Western music is taught, including ‘ūd and qānūn in a Western idiom.
Since the 1980s, Western musical life has become regular and very active in Damascus and Aleppo. In 1996 alone, about one hundred concerts of symphonic orchestras, chamber music and solo performances were given by Syrian musicians and students playing all the instruments that form a symphony orchestra. Syrian soloists participate in international competitions, and Damascus has become one of the main platforms in the Middle East for the performance of Western musicians.
See also Arab music; Bedouin music; and Islamic religious music.
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Wasla d’Alep: chants traditionelles de Syrie, perf. Sabri al Mudallal and his ensemble Maisons des cultures du monde, Inédit (1988)
Zikr: Islamic Ritual, perf. Rifa’iyya Brotherhood of Aleppo, UNESCO, Auvidis D 8013 (1989)
Syrie: Muezzins d’Alep: chants religieux de l’Islam, Sabri al Mudallal, Hassan al Haffar, Abd al Raouf Halloq, OCORA-Radio France, Harmonia Mundi C 580038 (1992)
Chants sacrées et profanes de Syrie, Sabri al Mudallal, IMA/Musicales (1994)
Eglise Syriaque Orthodoxe d’Antioche, perf. Choir of the churches of St George and St Ephraim, Aleppo, dir. Nouri Iskander, Inédit (1996)
L’art sublime du Ghazal, i perf. Adib al Dayikh, Al Sur (1996)
Chant d’extase en Syrie, perf. Suleiman Dawud, Al Sur (1996)
Homage à un maître du buzuq: Matar Muhammed (1939–1995), Inédit (1996)