CMUS 103: Introduction to Musics of the World

Although I know that that these three sound-clips are all calls to prayer, and are not considered to be “music” by the people performing them, it is still very hard for me to disassociate them from my own personal ideas of what constitutes music. This is especially true for the first clip, “Adhan.” Perhaps it is because I feel almost transfixed by it; I find the man’s clear, strong vocals beautiful and even haunting. I feel moved by it, in the same way that I would feel moved by musical pieces that I liked. The second clip ,”Multiple azan,” more easily registers with me as a call to prayer and not as “music.” I think this has a lot to do with the ambient sound in the background, and the way the man’s voice sounds processed through a loudspeaker. It gives more context to the soundclip, and reminds me of the its original intent. I feel compelled to argue that the third clip, the ringtone version of the call to prayer, is on some level intended as music. I believe this because of the addition of synthesizing, other digital enhancements, and the piano towards the very end, which is sparse yet still there. To me, these additions signify a change in intent and therefore, a change in how the piece is classified.

-Brittany

The first thing that struck me about these calls to prayer is that although Muslims do not consider them music and because of that it is debatable whether they are music, they all have certain musical qualities in terms of tone, pitch, structure, etc. What is interesting is that these examples, along with calls to prayer I have heard in documentaries and other media is that they all have slightly varying musical qualities. For example, here is an example of a call to prayer from Mecca that sounds slightly different from the ones we listened to for the lesson (which sound a bit different from each other to begin with):

My main question is, why the variation in their musical qualities? What is the purpose behind the fact that the length and tone of the notes and lyrics are different from one another? One thought I had is that since Islam is such a widespread religion, that these variances could be regional. For example, it is not at all difficult to believe that a call to prayer in Indonesia could sound to us radically different  from a call to prayer in Albania. Another question I raise is that do these calls to prayer sound different to Muslims throughout the world. If Muslims do not consider them music, do they only take into account the words, which are universal?  Not taking into account their musical qualities, these calls to prayer could certainly all be the same, or nearly so.

I guess the first thing worth noting is that the ringtone version of the call to prayer is predictably unlike all other versions of the call to prayer. It has a biphonic texture for most of the song, whereas usually the call to prayer consists of a one-man melody. It also seems to be recorded in a studio with musical effects. The voice is notably clear – it’s a little strange hearing the call to prayer without the radio-like quality of a megaphone, and without the usual distance between you and the mosque. To flip it around, it’s strange hearing the call to prayer with elements in the voice like the purposeful slight echo of the microphone. There’s the  deep continuous tone that plays through the entirety of the “song,” we’ll call it, the piano that comes in at the end, and the dramatic cymbals that get cut off at the end. I wonder how Muslims might understand this  step  towards the musical direction and away from the purpose of the recitation. Is it music and blasphemy, or is it still not music even if it’s removed from the mosque?

The music from these examples from Islam were very new to me. They were all sung my men who had a very high range. The first two also had no instrumentals, just men singing in different pitches for very long breaths. I found them to be very entertaining and interesting because of how high and low the singers could go and sound so fluent without background music. The thrid example had a very distinct background tone that did not change throughout the song and had a little bit of instrumentals at the end where it cut off that sat very well with lyrics of the man singing. Overall I really enjoyed this music.

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.