This new book is an invaluable resource for specialists and non-specialists alike. With contributions from leading scholars of the field and covering a comprehensive range of genres and styles, it will be useful to anyone researching or just interested in the popular musics of the Middle East and North Africa. I will certainly be pointing my own students to this ... Read moretext!
Laudan Nooshin, Senior Lecturer in Ethnomusicology, City University London, UK
No mere reference volume, this is a fascinating and engagingly written introduction to the incredibly rich variety of musical genres of the Middle East and North Africa, from folkloric Bedouin songs to the seamen's anthems of Kuwait to the working class sha'bi of Egypt. Especially impressive is the inclusion of varieties of music from regions often ignored or forgotten, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the Arabian Gulf. Learned yet accessible, it is an invaluable resource, and a truly great read.
Ted Swedenburg, Professor of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, USA
Show Less