Iacobus Leodiensis [Iacobus de Montibus, Iacobus de Oudenaerde]

Island.

Jamaican, later British, record company. It was set up in Kingston in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, the son of a plantation owner and heir to the Crosse & Blackwell fortune. Initially Island concentrated on jazz. Its first release was by the pianist Lance Hollywood. Island moved to Britain in spring 1962 and established itself as one of the most experimental and influential independent record labels. Tapping in to the burgeoning ska scene, Island released a series of seminal records by artists such as the Skatalites and Toots and the Maytals and was instrumental in popularizing these with white mainstream audiences. In 1963 nearly 100 singles were released on the Island label, and in 1964 it had its first international success with the ska hit My Boy Lollipop by Millie.

In 1964 Island diversified into rhythm and blues and signed the Spencer Davis group. It also began licensing releases from the American rhythm and blues label Sue, which in its British form included recordings by James Brown and Etta James. By the late 1960s, having licensed its Jamaican catalogue to Trojan, Island was on the cutting edge of contemporary rock. Through deals with labels such as Chrysalis and EG, its roster included Traffic, Free, Mott the Hoople, Jethro Tull and King Crimson; in 1971 Roxy Music, previously unrecorded, joined their ranks. However, Island's biggest catch was Bob Marley and the Wailers, with Marley becoming the first superstar of reggae in the late 1970s. In the 1980s its biggest successes came with Grace Jones, Robert Palmer, Steve Winwood and U2. In 1989 Blackwell sold his company to A&M records, but the label stayed true to its roots in innovation by capturing artists such as P.J. Harvey, Pulp and Tricky, while continuing its association with U2.

DAVID BUCKLEY

Islamic religious music.

I. General

II. Sufism and popular Islam

III. Shi‘a Islam

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ECKHARD NEUBAUER/VERONICA DOUBLEDAY

Islamic religious music

I. General

1. Introduction.

2. The legal status of music.

3. Qur'anic recitation.

4. The call to prayer

5. Calendrical and weekly observances.

6. Prayers, praises and devotional songs.

Islamic religious music, §I: General

1. Introduction.

The consideration of religious singing and instrumental music in the context of Islam is fraught with complexity and ambiguity. Strictly speaking, the words ‘Islamic religious music’ present a contradiction in terms. The practice of orthodox Sunni and Shi‘a Islam does not involve any activity recognized within Muslim cultures as ‘music’. The melodious recitation of the Holy Qur'an and the call to prayer are central to Islam, but generic terms for music have never been applied to them. Instead, specialist designations have been used. However, a wide variety of religious and spiritual genres that use musical instruments exists, usually performed at various public and private assemblies outside the orthodox sphere.

General terms relating to music within Islamic cultures require some clarification. The word samā‘ is used to distinguish between licit (halāl) and illicit (harām) music as understood by the schools of Islamic religious law and in discussions between representatives of the law schools and Sufi orders. The Arabic word ghinā’ (literally ‘song’) has sometimes been used generically for musical practice. The traditional term mūsīqī (which is classical Arabic) has been used in writings dating from the 9th century, is a loan and theoretical concept inherited from the ancient Greeks. In the countries of Islam it was rarely used in the sense of singing and instrumental music: reference to musical practice was made through a series of individual terms. The modern Arabic term mūsīqā is not representative of the traditional Islamic understanding of musical practice, but has connotations more akin to the Western sense of ‘music’. Current usage of the word mūsīqī in modern Persian is similarly general. 20th-century scholars have used some of these terms in attempts to elucidate categories of music that have been accepted or rejected according to Islamic (Shari‘a) law (see Al-Faruqi, 1985; Nasr, 1997). See Table 1.

Since its birth in the 7th century, Islam has spread over a vast geographical area stretching into China, South-east Asia, Russia, many parts of Africa and elsewhere (fig.1). From an early period orthodox jurists expressed hostility to certain kinds of music in principle, and the legal status of music has been continually contested and discussed. Sufism evolved as the mystical branch of Islam and some Sufis actively opposed the extremist puritans. Their musical practice, inspired by the message of Islam and personal religious experience, had a broad influence. Another important development was the music of commemoration and lament specific to the Shi‘a sects (see §III, 1 below).

The many forms of Muslim musical religious expression present considerable diversity, and they are often strongly local in flavour. However, there are significant unifying factors: the consistent presence of Qur'anic recitation and, within that, the influence of Egyptian style; the importance of Arabic as the language of divine inspiration in the Qur'an; and the widespread use (albeit in varied ways) of dhikr, repetitive vocalizations of names of God (see §II, 3 below).

Religious and devotional musics are variously performed by professional, semi-professional, amateur, male and female adults (and occasionally children) in solo or group styles. Some are accompanied by musical instruments or include dancing. With very few exceptions, instrumental music is not performed in mosques, where only certain types of religious recitation and singing are permitted. Other performance settings include shrines, Sufi lodges, Shi‘a religious meeting-places, homes and encampments, streets, concert platforms and recording studios.

Our present knowledge and understanding of religious and devotional music within Muslim cultures is patchy and incomplete. There are many areas where research has not been undertaken; some regions have been closed or inaccessible, and the musical role of women has not been adequately studied. From the 1970s onwards, sweeping changes precipitated by Islamization (also known as ‘fundamentalism’) and globalization have compounded the situation with fresh impulses and reactions. This survey draws upon available material and does not claim to be comprehensive.

Islamic religious music, §I: General

2. The legal status of music.

There is no statement in the Holy Qur'an explicitly condemning music. Evidence in the Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (Hadīth) clearly demonstrates that on occasion he listened to music with pleasure, but these texts are open to many interpretations. From an early period, Islamic jurists felt concern about the perceived dangers of music and began to differentiate between admissible (halāl) and inadmissible (harām) music, both sacred and secular. Between these categories there is an intermediate zone consisting of material not expressly forbidden (see above, ‘controversial’ categories, Table 1). The simple chanting of the Qur'an and the call to prayer have an uncontested lawful status, and certain types of devotional singing have been variously tolerated within the different Islamic law schools.

A rejection of music was expressed immediately after the Prophet's death, and the jurists' condemnation extended to court musicians of the Umayyad dynasty (661–750). Concern about inadmissible music increased in the 9th century, when Sufi communities introduced dance and spiritual audition (samā‘) into their ecstatic rituals. In Islamic thought, the basis of hostility to music lies in its power to stimulate the ‘lower passions’ (nafs). Individuals such as Ibn Abī al-Dunyā (d 894) theoretically condemned almost all instrumental and vocal music, yet Majd al-Dīn Ahmad al-Ghazālī (d 1126) and Abū Hāmid Muhammad al-Ghazālī (1058–1111) defended the practice of listening to music, including its usage by the Sufi orders. Arguments in favour of music have stressed the individual's ability to listen (samā‘), drawing close to the Divine. An extensive literature in Arabic, Turkish and Persian discusses admissible and inadmissible music with constant reference to verses of the Qur'an and the Hadīth. The most exhaustive collection of learned opinions is contained in the Kitāb al-imta bi-ahkām (‘Guide to the application of the rules for listening to music’, c1300) by Kamāl al-Dīn al-Adfuwī.

See also Arab music, §§I, 3(iii) and II, 2.

No universally acceptable agreement about the legal status of music was ever reached, leaving interpretation open. This has led to ambiguities. In Iran at the beginning of the 1979 Revolution, the broadcasting and public performance of music was banned. Yet, shortly before his death in 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced that music was admissible, except in the case of women singing to men and as long as it did not incite sensual passions.

Islamic religious music, §I: General

3. Qur'anic recitation.

The sacred words of the Holy Qur'an pervade the experience and practice of Islam. Great importance is placed upon the proper articulation of its sound patterns in the original Arabic. In all Islamic cultures, Qur'anic recitation is performed by lay people, in a plain style, and by prayer leaders and specialist Qur'an readers, sometimes in a highly embellished form. Islamic education prescribes that children learn to recite the Qur'an by memory, a task requiring concentration upon rhythmic aspects of vocalization.

Qur'anic recitation has many applications. Verses are silently recited within the ritual prayer (Arab. salāt) performed five times daily by pious Muslims. Public recitation precedes congregational prayers and occurs within most religious rituals, and the entire Qur'an (khatm al-qur'ān) is performed during the month of Ramadan and for commemoration of the dead. At the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, teams of reciters provide continuous recitation of the Qur'an inside the room housing important relics of the Prophet Muhammad. Although usually performed solo, collective recitation occurs; for instance in some Iraqi mosques on the ‘eve’ of Friday, or in Liberia, where collective recitation for the dead is termed fidao.

As a unique and divine text, the Qur'an is set apart from other religious texts and praises. Specialist Arabic terminology is used. Qirā'a designates Qur'anic recitation; qāri' is a trained reciter (both words derived from the same Arabic root as Qur'an). Tilāwa is a general formal term for all Qur'anic; in pre-Islamic Arabia it simply designated recitation of poetry. Tartīl, another term for recitation, especially implies slow deliberate attention to meaning, for contemplation. Tajwīd is the exact science of correct recitation.

For 300 years Egypt has been regarded as the centre of Qur'anic recitation both for accuracy and artistry, and its Qur'an readers are very respected and highly paid. There two styles are distinguished: murattal (ex.1), a plain style used in private devotion and for teaching, and mujawwad (ex.2), an embellished style reserved for public audition, performed by specialists trained in tajwīd (sharing the same Arabic root as mujawwad). Tajwīd, the system of rules regulating the correct oral rendition of the Qur'an, governs many parameters of sound production. These include precise duration of syllable, vocal timbre and pronunciation, with characteristic use of nasality and special techniques of vibration. Echoing silences between text sections add to the dynamic nature of presentation. Public Qur'anic recitation has a distinctive sound which has been profoundly influential as an aesthetic ideal.

Qur'anic recitation has developed considerably since the time of the Prophet Muhammad (570–632), who apparently enjoyed the mellifluous recitation of the holy words. By the mid-7th century, simple chanting was extended into a kind of conventional artistic concert performance. This reached a peak between the 9th and 12th centuries. Verses of the Qur'an were sung like secular poems to existing tunes, including folksongs and dance-songs: the court reciter of the Abbasid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (786–809) made the Qur'an sound almost like secular song. Florid styles of recitation spread to many cultural centres in the eastern Caliphate, North Africa and Muslim Spain. Orthodox legists condemned this as qirā'a bi-l-alhān (‘recitation to secular melody’). Such extreme secularization has not recurred, but the artistic limits of Qur'an reading are still discussed.

Today the science of recitation (tajwīd) is taught in specialized schools. These may exist for women as well as men, and in Egypt, Malaysia and Indonesia female Qur'an specialists have attained prominence. Qur'anic recitation has always been orally transmitted; notation is opposed. As a consequence, personal and regional variants developed. A significant aspect of qirā'a is the lack of regulations with regard to melody, except that it must enhance comprehension of the text and not be based on secular material.

The relationship between Qur'anic recitation and local traditional musical idioms is open. In West Africa, South Asia and South-east Asia, lay people generally modify the qirā'a towards the tonal idioms of their local traditions. In many areas Qur'anic chanting takes the form of a recitative mostly independent of the Arab art music tradition (maqām). But some complex and richly ornamented melismatic styles show a pronounced influence of the maqām tradition in their tonality and melodic construction. In countries including Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, chanting is taught in the tonal tradition of certain maqāms. Iraqi Qur'anic reciters usually excel as secular maqām singers (also known as qāri'), but when reciting the Qur'an they do not follow the formalized melodic ordering of the Iraqi maqām. Learning the Qur'an is sometimes the first stage of a secular singer's musical education.

International communication networks are strengthening the impact of Egypt and Arabia within global Islamic culture through education, travel and the export of materials including audio-cassettes of Qur'anic recitation. Egyptian reciters visit other Muslim countries to perform during Ramadan, and Arabization in style is evident in parts of Africa, South Asia and elsewhere.

See also Egypt, §II, 1; Iraq, §II, 2; Saudi arabia.

Islamic religious music, §I: General

4. The call to prayer

(Arab. adhān/azān). The adhān is performed five times daily, loudly and in public, a prominent aspect of Muslim soundscapes. Its deliberately attractive sound invites Muslims to perform the ritual prayer (salāt), regulating daily life and creating sacred time within it.

The Prophet Muhammad is said to have instituted the vocal call in order to distinguish Islamic practice from those of other religions. The first prayer-caller (muezzin, mu‘adhdhin) was Bilāl, an Abyssinian slave and early convert to Islam. The post of muezzin soon attracted great respect, and important mosques came to employ as many as 20 muezzins at a time; in the Ottoman empire they formed their own guild. The call has not always been exclusively vocal. From the 10th century in some urban areas, military/ceremonial bands, variously called tablakhāna, Naqqārakhāna, mehterhane or naubāt, sounded the prayer times on a daily basis. By the 19th century this practice had mostly died out, but in the shrine of Imām Rezā at Mashhad, Iran, a remnant of this tradition (consisting of drums and horns) sounds out at dawn and dusk (see Iran, §III, 2(iv), fig.15). In West Africa a prayer-drum (tabula) was later replaced by a vocal call.

The vocal call consists of seven or (in Shi‘a areas) eight passages, with repetitions and certain variations according to the time of day and importance of the specific prayer. It is chanted once from the minaret, then again (called iqāma) inside the mosque, directly preceding congregational prayer. Nearly all branches of Islam allow it to be sung. The text must be clearly understandable and its pronunciation impeccable.

The musical form has no rules. Styles vary from calls at a measured pace on a single note, or within a narrow range centred on one note, to richly melismatic chants with a wide range. Regional schools may assert rules based on the choice of certain maqāms; these seldom gain general acceptance, but sometimes melodic structures are related to the maqām. Rhythmic structure is influenced by the length of the syllables in the text. Melismas seem to be associated with particular words and formulaic endings. Textual repetition often leads to repeated musical phrases differing only in their final note. Unusually, the call may be collective (see Syria, §4(i)).

Broadcasting, commerce and international travel have spread the influence of the Egyptian call, considered the model and widely imitated. The use of audiotapes as a substitute for muezzins is causing a decline in variety of the adhān, and loudspeakers often produce harsh distorted sounds. In cities where Muslims are in a minority, amplification of the adhān has caused neighbourhood conflict: use of calls broadcast on the radio creates a non-intrusive abstract communal Islamic context for worship. Western media representations often debase the adhān as a ‘sound-bite’ introducing any aspect of Muslim culture.

Islamic religious music, §I: General

5. Calendrical and weekly observances.

The Islamic lunar calendar is punctuated by two major events affecting the entire Muslim community: the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah) in Saudi Arabia and the holy month of Ramadan. These culminate in two major festivals (‘Īd): ‘Īd al-Adhā (Festival of Sacrifice) and ‘Īd al-Fitr (Festival of Charity) respectively.

Military and ceremonial bands with drums, shawms, trumpets and cymbals previously used to sound out important times of the day and year. Some examples of this tradition remain, especially marking the beginning of festivals. In Morocco, Thursday evenings (the beginning of Friday, the Muslim day of rest and prayer) are announced with trumpets (nafīr) and shawms (ghayta). Similarly, in 1975 an ensemble of four large cylindrical drums (tabl) and a shawm (alghaita) were documented playing in front of the sultan's palace in Dosso, Niger, announcing the beginning of Friday as a weekly musical event attended by the general public. Thursday evening is also the traditional time for weekly Sufi gatherings.

The Friday midday congregational prayer takes place in principal mosques (‘Friday’ mosques). The structure of observances may vary, and it is quite common for supplicatory prayers (du‘ā or munājāt) or praises to Allah (tasbīh) to be sung. At the Ummayad Great Mosque in Damascus, the main Friday prayers include specific types of solo and choral singing (see Syria, §2(iii)(b)).

The month of fasting during Ramadan has a special musical character (see §(ii) below). Within Shi‘a communities the months of Muharram and (to a lesser extent) Safar are devoted to mourning, with specific types of singing and ritual (see §III, 1 below). Joyous celebrations and instrumental music are proscribed, and Shi‘a professional musicians are not normally available.

(i) Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj).

Islamic treatises state that Mecca pilgrimage songs (tahlīl) are admissible. They may be sung on departure for Mecca, at the various stopping-points in and near Mecca, or they may be used to greet pilgrims on their return home. They are mostly choral, or solo with a choral refrain, sung by women or men according to local tradition. In Egypt they are accompanied by the mizmār baladī consisting of shawms (mizmār) and a drum (tabl baladī). Formerly military bands hailed departing pilgrims and even accompanied prominent individuals to Mecca, using a tabl al-hajj (‘pilgrims’ drum’).

At the Festival of the Sacrifice (‘Īd al-Adhā), a wealth of chanted prayers and festival invocations may be sung in mosques, at private gatherings or during the visits to cemeteries that are customary during the two principal Muslim festivals. In Turkey specifically composed pieces of Sufi origin are still performed: the bayram tekbiri (festival declamation) by Itri (d 1711/12) is used in festival ceremonies, and the bayram salati (festival prayer) by Hatib Zakiri Hasan Efendi (c1600) is sung either from the minaret or inside the mosque. Elsewhere there are festival pieces in other styles: Algerian Tuareg women perform songs for ‘Īd al-Adhā to the rhythm of a mortar drum (tinde).

(ii) Ramadan.

The beginning and end of the fast, the nightly prayer-times and the time for pre-dawn breakfast used to be announced vocally and/or with musical instruments throughout the month. In Anatolia and other areas, ceremonial naqqārakhāna bands were replaced with large cylindrical drums (davul) or by the drum and shawm (davul-zurna). In Morocco pairs of trumpets (nafīr) are blown in the streets or from the minarets.

At night the mosques are ablaze with light, and each evening congregations gather to hear a chapter of the Qur'an recited. Qur'anic recitations are also organized in homes, with invited guests. In Turkey composed songs glorifying God (temcit) are sung from the minaret between the nightly hours of prayer. Many old Turkish compositions (ilahi) are intended for specific nights of the holy month. Children sing Ramadan evening processional songs, questing for sweets and coins (see Arab music, ex.17, from Egypt). In parts of North Africa, families sing religious songs as they gather for their evening or pre-dawn meal. Ramadan music by modern Egyptian composers also exists. Secular theatrical shows and concerts used to be common, but increased religious disapproval and the advent of television and video culture has weakened live evening entertainment traditions.

The beginning of ‘Īd al-Fitr is marked with loud public sounds: ceremonial bands, cannon-fire, gunfire or (today) modern sirens. Celebratory songs are especially found in Muslim parts of Africa.

(iii) Ceremonies for the Prophet.

The anniversary of the Prophet's birthday (mawlid) is celebrated on the 12th of Rabī ‘al-awwal. Observances vary considerably from region to region, and mawlid ceremonies are performed at other times of the year (see §II, 4 below). The Prophet's miraculous ascent to heaven (mi‘rāj), described in the Qur'an, is celebrated in mosques, and especially by members of Sufi and heterodox sects.

Islamic religious music, §I: General

6. Prayers, praises and devotional songs.

A restricted range of devotional singing is admissible inside the mosque. The frequency of sung prayers and their position in communal devotions within mosques depends on the authority of the various law schools. Forms include the takbīr chanting of Allāhu akbar (‘God is great’), tasbīh (praise of God) and supplicatory prayers (du‘ā and munājāt). Styles range from plain recitation to highly decorative delivery. Madīh designates sung praises (for God or the Prophet). Tawshīh and ibtihāl are free-rhythm unaccompanied solo vocal improvisations on religious poetic texts performed at festivals, ceremonies or special events such as the opening of a mosque. Ilahi (‘for God’) is a general Turkish term applied to devotional invocations. In Turkey numerous art compositions have gained acceptance in the mosques through the influence of the Sufi orders, for instance the festival pieces mentioned in §5(i) above.

The na‘t is an important form glorifying the Prophet: in Turkey it sometimes precedes daily prayers. When the Timurid theoretician ‘Abd al-Qādir (d 1435) collected song texts for all occasions as an appendix to his treatise Jāmi‘ alhān (‘Compendium of melodies’), his list began with munājāt texts and na‘ts. Serious and devotional, na‘ts and munājāts may be performed unaccompanied or as an art music genre (but in the latter case not in mosques).

Madīh praise-songs are commonly performed by itinerant singers. Northern Sudan has a famous madīh tradition going back to Hajj El-Mahi of Kassinger (c1780–1870), who composed about 330 religious poems of which handwritten copies survive. They are performed by pairs of male singers with the accompaniment of two frame drums (tār), at religious festivities, at markets or outside mosques. (See Sudan and Yemen, §I, 1(v).)

Classical poetic forms common in Muslim devotional music are the ghazal and qasīda. Ghazal, an elevated form of love song treating secular and/or divine love, is used throughout Muslim Asia; within North Indian semi-classical music, it is more romantic than religious in tone (see India, §IV, 3(ii)). The qasīda (classical Arabic ode) is an extended vocal form sometimes applied to religious themes in the Arab world. Muwashshah, the technically complex song of Arab-Andalusian tradition, has sacred connections, but is less frequently performed.

Wedding songs are an important admissible expressive outlet for women; many have religious content, invoking the blessings of God and the Prophet.

Islamic religious music