Global Pop in the Middle East

In today’s increasingly globalised world, where economic, technological and cultural barriers between countries are being eroded, musical differences between East and West have also become narrow and cannot be so well-defined as in earlier centuries. Western celebrities such as David Beckham and Angelina Jolie are highly acclaimed by people in China and the Middle East and the same can be said about Western music stars such as Michael Jackson and Madonna. Also, increased emigration by Eastern people to Europe and America have influenced the music young Eastern people come into contact with. The increased availability of music on the Internet that people can download onto their mini-disk players and MP3 players also exposes people to different types of music in my opinion. In this essay I intend to explore the theme of Global Pop in the Middle East. I will explore the impact of Western music in the East but I will also discuss the increasing popularity of Middle Eastern music in the Western world over the last few decades. Beginning with a historical account of how Eastern and Western musical styles initially came into contact as early as the seventeenth century, I will go on to discuss popular music culture in Middle Eastern countries today and collaborations between Eastern and Western musicians. I will conclude by attempting to highlight both negative and positive connotations of the global pop movement.
In order to discuss my subject, I wish to begin by giving a brief historical overview of when East meets West in the music world. Western influences on music of the Middle East, and indeed vice versa, began as far back as Napoleon’s invasions of the East in the seventeenth century with the military bands that accompanied Napoleon’s armies. This influence has continued down through the centuries; even when East and West are politically at war, the global pop music culture remains prevalent. A.J. Racy has previously discussed how “Since the late nineteenth century the Easterner’s attempts to define themselves musically have been accompanied by a strong desire to emulate Europe as a “superior” or “culturally advanced” model of civilisation”.
During the twentieth century, European music theory, the use of Western notation and assimilation of Western instruments into traditional style, impacted largely on Eastern music. The 1932 Cairo Congress of Arab music marked an important milestone in the music industry of the Middle East. Philip V Bohlman discusses how “recognising the indebtedness of European music to the great traditions of North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean during the Middle Ages”, the Europeans at the congress argued for the continuing creation of traditional Arab music. The Arabian delegates on the other hand, wished to discuss ways in which Western styles and instruments might be assimilated into Arab music to create a modernised and globalised style. In Bohlman’s words “whereas Arab pride in the greatness of the past was palpable in the themes of the Congress, the more visible agenda was modernity”
While popular music in the Middle East has become increasingly globalised and westernised, it has not completely discarded traditional influences, perhaps none more so than religious influences. Kristina Nelson Davies has previously highlighted the possible connections between Eastern music and the recitation of the Qur’an. Most radio and television shows in the East begin and end their shows with recitations from the Qur’an. Davies informs us that “In Egypt, the committee that auditions new broadcasters for radio and television broadcasts and for the archives may reject an applicant for aesthetic reasons even though his recitation is correct”.
The strength of religious influence on Eastern pop music has previously been related to the popularity of certain singers. In her discussions of the Cornell University Conference of 1986 on pop music in the Middle East Katherine Bergeron discusses the definition by Virginia Danielson of the term “popular” in relation to musicians as being the popularity associated with a singer or musician. Danielson uses the example of Umm Kulthum in her paper. Umm Kulthum has previously been described as one of the most popular musicians of the twentieth century. Today her recordings are still widely available internationally. Danielson’s research on Kulthum led her to suggest that “a heightened sense of grammar, of metrical types and phraseology, and of pronunciation was acquired through Umm Kulthum’s knowledge of Qur’an chanting” and that these elements in her music contributed to the positive reception of her music.
A.J. Racy has previously stated that today’s Arab music is generally a combination of traditional, modern and post-modern traits. He explains that music in the Middle East is becoming increasingly mediated and that “Satellite broadcasting and electronic communications are widening the scope of contact between the Arab world and other neighbouring popular cultures”. Today, Eastern musicians, producers and consumers are active participants in the global pop culture.
In order to discuss global pop in the Middle East in greater detail I will now focus on two particular countries; Turkey and Israel. In his work on Turkish rock and pop music, Martin Stokes informs us that the words pop and rock are used in Turkey to describe the music genres that have emerged in Turkey since the 1960s that use Western techniques. Stokes explains in his essay that even today the popularity of rock and pop music in Turkey is not easy to calculate. The 1990s saw an upsurge in fans of pop music in Turkey but this growth was not reflected in music sales. Even at its peak pop was unable to compete with the sales of Arabesk (traditional Arab music) recordings. Also, in rural locations, pop culture is not as wide-spread as in Turkish urban areas. Stokes provides us with sample music sales figures for 1995. These figures demonstrate that the highest-selling cassette of the time was Kirmizigul’s Arabesk hit “Tam 12 den” which sold 1,247,000 copies. The highest selling pop hit for that year sold 661,000 copies.
Despite these low sales figures in comparison to traditional Arabian music recordings, Stokes argues that pop music has played a very important role in identity politics in Turkey. Also, “Decreasing prices of foreign-manufactured tapes and CDs (following the entry of PolyGram and Warner Bros into the Turkish market) mean that foreign popular musical styles may now make a large impact on Turkey’s popular music culture”. To compare old modern and new modern Middle Eastern pop culture we need only to look at the example of Turkey and the effects the ever growing global pop culture has had on Eastern countries. Stokes claims that in 1985 while the Arabesk market continued to thrive, pop celebrities of the west had only a small following in Turkey. The 1990s however could be seen to be heavily influenced by the Western genres grunge and techno. This influence could be easily observed in the fashions seen on Istanbul’s university campuses. Therefore, within a mere decade, we see the increase in globalisation of popular music in Turkey, and the increasing impact of Western culture on Eastern youth.
Israel’s music culture has also been largely affected by globalisation by both East and West. The mid-1990s saw a change in patterns of music consumption in Israel. Alexandra Nocke states that while it had been for a long time it is virtually impossible to purchase Arabic music in Israeli record stores; today music stores stock a wide variety of diverse ethnic music. Nocke observes that “popular music soaks into daily life and finds broad exposure within the urban framework of Israel’s cityscapes, as well as in advertising and the media” and that music has “served as a powerful tool for integration between the different ethnic backgrounds” living in Israel. Locke observes how popular music is in Israel; today it is heavily influenced by Mediterranean music, particularly Greek and Turkish music. India’s “Indipop” is also extremely popular in the Middle East. I will now examine popular music collaborations between Eastern and Western musicians, using in particular the example of the collaboration between Sting and Cheb Mami on the song Desert Rose. Arabian music has played a very minor role in global music and in the 1990s failed to achieve the success achieved by other ethnic music such as Celtic and Latin music in the US. One song that did achieve success in the 1990s was Desert Rose. Cheb Mami and Sting toured together in 1999 and 2000 and in 2001 his album Dellali entered the CMJ New World Top 20. The album featured collaborations with Sting and Ziggy Marley, son of the late Bob Marley. Olivia Bloechl has shown how Desert Rose gave rise to spin-off records with titles such as Arabian Rhythms and Arabic Groove. When Arabic Groove became Putumayo World Music’s best-selling album ever, Dan Storper, the label’s president was quoted as saying “I instinctively feel a demand for contemporary Arabic music from all ages and ethnicities”
Miles Copeland of Ark 21 records is said to be the foremost instigator of the Arab music wave in the US having signed artists from over twenty Middle Eastern countries and organised Sting’s collaboration with Cheb Mami. Six Degrees, a San Francisco based independent record label have also released a collection of Middle Eastern Music called Arabian Travels and the album has achieved high sales figures.
Bloechl discusses, how Musical artists associated with the Middle East or Islam were typically promoted as cultural mediators whose music was an opportunity for mutual enlightenment and the exchange of goodwill. In February 2003, for instance, the popular Iraqi singer Karem al-Sahir, whom an ABC News by-line dubbed the “Iraqi Elvis”, was touted as a “defacto” cultural ambassador of his embattled country.
While the increased globalisation of Middle Eastern music certainly does allow for more positive images of the East and a deeper cultural understanding between East and West, globalisation of popular music also has negative connotations. Both Bloechl and Swedenburg discuss the problematic possibility of “Orientalism”. Orientalism, as we know, was a term coined by Edward Said and it refers to the Western world’s way of thinking and writing about the East. Bloechl and Swedenburg seem to be concerned that the Western world’s interest in Arab music may result in an exoticising by the West of the East and serve to reinforce traditional stereotypes of Eastern races. Swedenburg claims that “global capitalism has become adept at marketing the exotic to sell products, while avoiding the troubling political or economic issues associated with “exotic peoples and cultures”
In this essay I have intended to highlight the major influences that Eastern and Western music styles and genres have had on each other. It is clear to see that Eastern popular musicians have often embraced certain aspects of Western music and have assimilated Western instruments into their recordings. Global pop music in the Middle East appears to continuously battle with traditional music such as the Arabesk and Tarab styles. However “the world views of a vast number of young music makers and consumers are becoming well-attuned to the so-called global pop culture”. Also, as a result of Western influences, the “current popular mainstream incorporates a major audio-visual component, namely the widely disseminated and often elaborately produced music video, or “video-clip”Likewise the West continues to display growing interest in Eastern music and theories, In the US and in Europe certain universities offer students the opportunity to study traditional Arab musical styles, history and instruments. Many Western record labels are also signing Eastern artists to their labels and in the East consumers have ever-increasing access to Western pop artists. However we do need to be careful in how we in the West perceive Eastern musicians and perhaps this works in the opposite way also. Global pop culture should be a means to understand more about different cultures and perhaps to create a deeper level of communication and tolerance between East and West. It should not serve to instigate a new practice of “Othering”, exoticising or the reintroduction of traditional stereotypes in how the Eastern and Western worlds thinks about each other.