Tarab

In Arab culture, at the ineffable point where music meets emotion, lies tarab. Often glossed as the ecstasy experienced and expressed when performing or listening to singing, instrumental works, and recitations of poetry, tarab is both a practice and an orienting concept central to musical aesthetics and spirituality characteristic of Middle Eastern cultures. Gathering fifteen essays by scholars of music, affect, literature, religion, and education, Tarab extends the study of tarab historically, geographically, and sociologically. Historical essays explore tarab's role in the medieval Middle East and the Ottoman Empire. Turning to the modern era, authors examine tarab and related concepts in Egypt, Albania, and Iraq, and among Turkish Roma and Lebanese Maronite Christians. The contributors also address contemporary practitioners and the intersections of tarab and maqam, belly dancing, music streaming, and university music ensembles. Situating this unique cultural concept in a global context, these studies enrich the story of tarab and provide new insight into music's powerful emotional appeal.