Among the Jasmine Trees. Jonathan Holt Shannon

Among the Jasmine Trees

Among the Jasmine Trees

MUSIC AND MODERNITY IN

CONTEMPORARY SYRIA

Jonathan Holt Shannon

Published by Wesleyan University Press,

Middletown, CT 06459

First Wesleyan paperback 2009

Printed in the United States of America

5 4 3 2

ISBN for the paperback edition: 978–0–8195–6944–8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Shannon, Jonathan Holt.

Among the jasmine trees : music and modernity in

contemporary Syria / Jonathan Holt Shannon.

p. cm. — (Music/culture)

Includes bibliographical references (p. ), discography (p. ),

and index.

ISBN-13: 978–0-8195–6798–7 (cloth : alk. paper)

ISBN-10: 0–8195–6798–1 (cloth : alk. paper)

1. Music—Social aspects—Syria.

2. Music—Syria—21st century—Philosophy and aesthetics.

3. Syria—Social life and customs—21st century.

I. Title. II. Series.

ML3795.S415 2006

780.95691—dc22 2005028912

The publisher gratefully acknowledges assistance from the

Manfred Bukofzer Publication Endowment Fund of the

American Musicological Society.

Wesleyan University Press is member of the Green Press Initiative. The paper

used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper.

In Memoriam

FATEH MOUDARRES

(1924–1999)

Dedication

To my mother,

LINDA KAY SHANNON

Damascene jasmineHas white clawsThat pierce the walls of memory . . .—Nizār Qabbānī, Lā Ghāliba ilā Allāh

	List of Figures
	A Note on Transliteration
	Preface
	Introduction: The Aesthetics of Authenticity in Contemporary Syria
ONE	Among the Jasmine Trees
TWO	Sentiment and Authentic Spirit: Composing Syrian Modernity
THREE	Constructing Musical Authenticity: History, Cultural Memory, Emotion
FOUR	Body Memory, Temporality, and Transformation in the Dhikr
FIVE	Authentic Performance and the Performance of Authenticity
SIX	Tarab, Sentiment, and Authenticity
SEVEN	Notes Toward Closure
	Epilogue: 2000
	Notes
	Glossary of Selected Arabic Terms
	Selected Bibliography and Discography
	Index