Tarab

{{Short description|Arabic concept for emotional state caused by music or recitation}} {{about||the music genre popular in Tanzania and Kenya|Taarab}} {{Arabic culture |expanded=music}}

'''''Tarab''''' ({{langx|ar|طرب|lit=enchantment}}) is a concept of Arab culture that refers both to a heightened state of consciousness, an intensely pleasant experience or an intense state of emotion accompanied by awareness of a musical or poetic performance. Further, ''tarab'' has been applied to a style of music and musical performance in which such emotional states are evoked. Similar to the Western notion of ecstasy, ''tarab'' is a subjective experience of total involvement of the audience with the musical performance.

As there is no word in any western language that adequately renders this complex concept, scholars of Arab culture have published various descriptions for the emotional effects of Arabic music that have been associated with ''tarab'' as a psychological state that defines this kind of artistic musical performance and its reception by receptive audiences.

== Ethnomusicological and sociocultural definitions ==

=== Definitions and descriptions === The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians defined ''tarab'' as "a state of heightened emotion or ecstasy felt by musicians and audience that is central to Arab music performance. Within ''tarab'' culture, performer and audience are bound by a "common emotional experience to which both contribute."<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last1=Anderson |first1=Robert |title=Egypt, Arab Republic of |date=2001 |work=Oxford Music Online |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/documentID/omo-9781561592630-e-0000008621 |access-date=2025-07-14 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.08621 |isbn=978-1-56159-263-0 |last2=Castelo-Branco |first2=Salwa El-Shawan |last3=Danielson |first3=Virginia|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Commenting on Arabic music in the US, Kenneth S. Habib noted that ''tarab'' "refer[s] both to the feeling of enchantment or ecstasy produced by captivating music and to such music itself. While ''tarab'' refers to musical experience, it is also mutually reinforced in an active performer–audience dynamic, where "performers express themselves musically and audience members respond in affirming ways."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Habib |first=Kenneth S. |title=The Grove dictionary of American music |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-531428-1 |editor-last=Garrett |editor-first=Charles Hiroshi |edition=2nd |location=New York |chapter=Tarab}}</ref> [[File:Aleppomusic.jpg|thumb|Musicians in Ottoman Aleppo, Syria, mid 18th century]] In 2003, Ali Jihad Racy, a musician and professor of ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles, published his study ''Making music in the Arab world: the culture and artistry of tarab'''''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Racy |first=Ali Jihad |url=http://archive.org/details/makingmusicarab00racy |title=Making music in the Arab world: the culture and artistry of ''tarab'' |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-521-30414-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-12-05 |title=Tarab: Making Music in the Arab World |url=https://afropop.org/articles/tarab-making-music-in-the-arab-world |access-date=2025-07-14 |website=Afropop Worldwide |language=en}}</ref>''' He described ''tarab'' as "a multifaceted concept that has no exact equivalent in English and refers to both the indigenous music and the ecstatic feeling associated with it."'''<ref name=":0" />'''{{rp||page=1}} In Arab culture, ''tarab'' represents the deep connection between music and emotional experience. The term, found in medieval writings and still used today, refers broadly to the urban, structured classical music of the Arab Near East. Closely linked to the concept of ''fann'' ("art"), ''tarab'' can denote both this musical tradition and, more specifically, an older repertoire from pre-WWI Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean, especially associated with stirring emotional responses.'''<ref name=":0" />{{rp||pages=5-6}}'''

Further, Racy explained that ''tarab'' has been described as a "musically induced state of ecstasy", as “enchantment”, “aesthetic emotion” and “the feeling roused by music". Accordingly, the ecstasy of ''tarab'' involves intense emotional states in the listener, such as excitement, yearning, and timeless delight. It may also induce an altered state of consciousness, such as feelings linked to intoxication, empowerment, inspiration, and creativity.'''<ref name=":0" />{{rp||pages=5-6}}'''

=== Role of the audience === ''Tarab'' has been viewed as a specialized cultural domain in society. It refers to a repertory, style and performance practice with certain influences from the art music of Turkey and used to be "patronized by the Egyptian aristocracy and the urban upper class."<ref name=":1" /> Sometimes referred to as ''‘alam al-tarab'', (“the world of tarab''),'' this domain encompasses artists, repertoires, music-related ideologies, attitudes, and behaviours, including ways of listening and reacting to music. The world of tarab includes the audience, particularly the listening connoisseurs. The performers and their public are interconnected in social and emotional ways''.<ref name=":0" />{{rp||pages=|page=15}}''

Because of their intensity and private character, ''tarab'' sensations are usually conveyed through metaphors, similes, and analogies. The experience of ''tarab'' is typically personal and shaped by its context. As a form of ecstatic emotion, it usually arises in particular social settings that are "separate from the flow of ordinary daily life."<ref name=":0" />{{rp|page=8}} This intimate character is also reflected in discussions about performance, musical analysis and visible physical or emotional reactions to the music.<ref name=":0" />{{rp|page=8}}

As an important historical aspect of Arabic musical and poetic culture, ''tarab'' has been tied to urban life, with roots in cities such as Cairo, Beirut, Aleppo and Damascus. Its performers typically come from these urban areas or have spent significant time in these centres, where ''tarab'' evolved as a refined musical tradition. Following World War II, increased urbanization, the spread of Arabic music through mass media, and the influence of Cairo’s musical style on other cities greatly broadened both the practice and popularity of the appreciation through ''tarab'' in eastern Mediterranean music.'''<ref name=":0" />'''{{rp|pages=15–16|page=}}

=== Musicians known for inducing ''tarab'' === thumb|Umm Kulthum, 1968 in Rabat In her performances at times lasting up to five hours, the Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum would repeat a single line or stance over and over, subtly altering the emotive emphasis and intensity and exploring one or various modal scales (''maqām''), transporting her audiences into the euphoric and ecstatic state of ''tarab''. Her exceptional vocal control enabled her to lengthen phrases and subtly vary tone and projection with great artistry. She used these abilities to convey the emotional depth of poetic texts, with her listeners experiencing ''tarab'' as a "state of rapturous enchantment, where time and self dissolve in the music."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Faber |first=Tom |date=2020-02-28 |title='She exists out of time': Umm Kulthum, Arab music's eternal star |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/feb/28/she-exists-out-of-time-umm-kulthum-arab-musics-eternal-star |access-date=2025-07-14 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Through her art, she established the presence of women in classical Arabic music and enriched the longstanding Arab tradition of performing poetry through her performances.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Umm Kulthūm |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199757824/obo-9780199757824-0297.xml |access-date=2025-07-14 |website=Oxford Music online |language=en}}</ref>

Referring to the early works of Egyptian musician Mohammed Abdel Wahab, scholars noted that he employed little "spontaneous ornamentation and improvisation", both elements of traditional ''tarab'' style during the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Anne Elise |title=Dictionary of African biography |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-985725-8 |editor-last=Akyeampong |editor-first=Emmanuel Kwaku |edition=1st |location=Oxford/New York/Auckland |chapter=ʿAbd al-Wahhab, Muhammad (c. 1910–1991) |editor-last2=Gates |editor-first2=Henry Louis}}</ref> Other notable musicians known for inducing ''tarab'' through their music are Abdel Halim Hafez, Sayed Darwish, Sabah Fahri, Sabri Mudallal, Wadih El Safi and Fairuz, among many others.<ref name=":0" />{{Reference page|pages=202–224}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hip Deep Interview: A.J. Racy on Lebanon, Fairuz and the Rahbanis |url=https://afropop.org/articles/a-j-racy-lebanon-fairuz-and-the-rahbanis?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-07-14 |website=Afropop Worldwide |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last= Wenz |first= Clara |date=March 23, 2016 |url=https://www.thealeppoproject.com/aleppos-good-listeners-the-sammi%CA%BFah/|title=Aleppo's Good Listeners – The Sammīʿah|work= The Aleppo Project }}</ref>

=== In religious musical experience === The term ''tarab'' has also been used by ethnomusicologists to indicate states of consciousness that are mystically oriented. Commenting on the emotion of religious trance (''wajd'') accompanied by music, movement or chanting, the ''Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World'' writes: "For Ṣūfī Islam, both the music that acts upon the listener and the act of musical listening are considered ''samāʿ'', as opposed to secular music, which is given various names (and is still considered capable of bringing about a certain ecstasy, or ''tarab'')."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leoni |first=Stefano A. E. |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135 |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |date=2009-01-01 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-530513-5 |edition=1 |language=en |chapter=Trance Music |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001}}</ref>

=== ''Tarab'' strings in Indian music === In Indian music, ''tarab'' strings are sympathetic strings of string instruments such as the sitar, sarangi, and similar instruments.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Music of India |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-979772-1 |editor-last=Ghosh |editor-first=Nikhil |location=New Delhi |chapter=''tarab'' strings |editor-last2=Saṅgīt Mahābhāratī}}</ref>

== See also ==

* Arabic maqam * Arab tone system * Taqsim * Mawwal * Taarab (Swahili musical genre) * Duende

== References == {{refs}}

== Literature == * {{cite web |last=Kahel |first=Darin |url=https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1562058/FULLTEXT02.pdf |title="Music is Feeling" Tarab: a Phenomenon of Arab Musical Culture |date=2021 |publisher=DiVA (open archive)}} *{{Cite journal |last=Shannon |first=Jonathan H. |date=2003 |title=Emotion, Performance, and Temporality in Arab Music: Reflections on ''tarab'' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3651584 |journal=Cultural Anthropology |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=72–98 |doi=10.1525/can.2003.18.1.72 |jstor=3651584 |issn=0886-7356|doi-access=free }} *Danielson, Virginia (1997). ''The Voice of Egypt: Umm Kulthum, Arabic Song, and Egyptian Society in the Twentieth Century.'' University of Chicago Press. *Touma, Habib Hassan ''(1996). The Music of the Arabs'', trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. {{ISBN|0-931340-88-8}} *Frishkopf, Michael (1995). “''Tarab'' in the Mystic Sufi Chant of Egypt.” ''Asian Music'' 27, no. 1, pp: 1–55. * [https://utpress.utexas.edu/9781477331439/ Tarab: Music, Ecstasy, Emotion, and Performance] (2025). Edited by Michael Frishkopf, Scott Marcus and Dwight Reynolds. Austin: University of Texas Press.

== External links ==

* [https://afropop.org/articles/discography-tarab-the-art-of-ecstasy-in-arab-music Discography: Tarab - the Art of Ecstasy in Arab Music] by Afropop Worldwide

{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarab}}

Category:Arabic music Category:Mental states Category:Perception Category:Consciousness