More Than Just America

If you've never experienced world music, you need to.  It doesn't matter where specifically around the world, but just get outside of the Western norm.  I am currently taking a World Music class and have come to find it extremely intriguing.  Music outside of what we know is so much different in so many way.  I don't want to go into a classroom lecture here, but it is so interesting how different cultures view music in a different eye.

We just finished our discussion on Indian music (from India, not cowboys and indians) and have now moved on to the music of the Middle East.  What I found most interesting, and surprising, is where music stands socially.  Music in the Middle East is viewed almost exactly the opposite of how it's viewed in America.  In our Western culture, music is held in high regard.  If you don't think so, look around...it's everywhere - TV, restaurants, stores, our vehicles, etc.  In the Middle East, music is for the most part looked down upon.  They feel that the purest music is a chant of the Koran.  Other "legitimate music" (Khandan) could be chanted poetry or music for weddings.

What's interesting is that as soon as an instrument is brought into the picture, the music becomes Musiqi, or "illegitimate music".  And the more skilled you are at your instrument, the more you are looked down upon.  One belief of this awkward (remember thought, it's awkward to us, normal to them) hierarchy of music is that our voices are God-given and therefore pure, while instruments are man-made and cause music to become tainted.  Some of this Musiqi is actually illegal in a public setting.

It's unfortunate that music is seen that way.  If a musician has been gifted with the ability to become an incredible musician, let that gift be known!  I don't want this to be a rant about why Middle Eastern music should reconsider their views, but I find it very interesting.  I don't think that we look anywhere besides our CD collections for other signs of life in music.  Music is all over and we should experience that.  In my next post, I want to actually show some of these instruments that make other cultures stand out.  It's quite fascinating.