Student question:
I was surprised to hear you say that you did not consider the
Muslim piece to be music. I realize that since you consider intention a
core part of music (and I agree with you), the fact that the
practitioners did not label it as music is compelling. I wonder,
though, if the issue is only one of semantics. How might those
practitioners consider music? If they see it as something that is
relatively lighthearted and mainly for entertainment, then I understand
why such a term would not be applied to religious practice. From my
perspective, however, it most definitely is music. To me, music can
have any kind of atmosphere and emotional intention about it, including
deeply sober exaltation or enlightening transcendence. Certainly, there
have been many, many songs written on the subject of divinity. What I
heard when that was played was a manipulation of sound in a very
deliberate way that was most definitely infused with emotion. I was
hoping you could elaborate on why exactly you did not consider that music.
My response: I share my opinions not because I think they are “right” or the “truth,” but rather to give you a different perspective on the way ethnomusicologists approach such matters (though we certainly do not that all agree!). In discussions such as this, there is truly no right or wrong and it is essentially a matter of semantics, or what you label something. Let me try to explain my position on the qur’anic recitation example I played. Clearly there are all kinds of elements in the example that equate with components of music as “we” are familiar with it, but as an ethnomusicologist (and I think you would find this true for almost all of us) what is of primary importance–indeed the intent of our field–is to understand and interpret the perspectives of the people we work with. Therefore, if my colleagues in Sumatra consider this sound not to be music, and label it something else, then it is my job to respect that position and represent it as fairly as I can, no matter my own personal take on the matter (actually over the years that rarely even surfaces any more).
Another student raised the question after class that perhaps labeling this “not-music” relates to the way that music is valued within the society. In West Sumatra, where I lived for a couple of years in a fairly devout Islamic environment, there were many forms of music (and classified by the people living there as such) with spiritual intent and heft. Indeed, music is often used within sufist communities there to get closer to God. This is not necessarily true of other parts of the Muslim world where music is sometimes valued negatively (see the supplementary reading for 9/17 that presents a diversity of perspectives within the one community, which also happened in West Sumatra where you find a few people at the extremes who value most music negatively). Qur’anic recitation and the call to prayer, however, are in a distinct realm from music for almost all people.
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