Includes Africa, Asia, Middle East. Traditional dance and music as well as contemporary.

1. MUSIC and DANCE in the MUSLIM
WORLD (Africa, Asia & Middle East)
Curated/Created by Javed Mohammed
All images are from public domain and copyright of respective owners
Traditional dance
Traditional music
Contemporary music

2. What do you think about when you hear the word
Muslim?

3. Music & Dance is probably not one of
them

4. Some Muslims and Scholars consider
Music & Dance to be forbidden in
Islam

5. We are not here to
question that!

6. But almost in all parts of the world
Music and Dance are a part of life and
culture

8. Muslim culture is extremely diverse

10. Arab African
Asian
Shared
Beliefs
& values
People, Place, Plurality= Cultural Expression

11. All music and dance has ancient roots

12. Muslim roots of the blues reaches
back through the South to the culture
of West Africa
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Muslim-roots-of-the-blues-The-
music-of-famous-2701489.php#photo-2167362

13. Music and Dance is about
Preserving
• Traditional Stories
• Legends
• Myths
• Social Justice
• Challenging the Status Quo
• Beliefs

14. Music is a product of culture
• Music is manifested in a variety of ways in a
given culture
• Classical vs. folk vs. popular
• Integrated vs. independent
• Oral vs. written tradition
• Literal vs. extemporaneous

15. Music is a part of celebration
• Weddings last for days; always includes dance
music and vocal music
• Hassabala troupe (bugles, trumpets, wooden
drums) with dancers
• May include amongst women singing (raks
sharki)

16. Space- The area of space occupied by the dancer’s
body; includes direction, size, pathways, levels and shapes.
Time- The relationship of one movement or part of a
movement to another. Includes pulse, speed (or tempo),
duration, rhythm, and phrases.
Force- (energy) degree of muscular
tension and use of energy while moving.

17. Purpose of Dance
• Ceremonial (religion,
celebration, ritual)
• Recreational (folk,
social dancing, aerobic
dance)
• Artistic (ballet,
modern, narrative, tap,
lyrical).
AH-E-2.2.32

18. Why People Dance
• Dance tells a story
• Dance is a way to express emotion
• Dance differs by region and culture
• Right of passage, communication, also
strengthen the bonds within the tribe
• Dance is often used to communicate or
celebrate thoughts, and feelings through
movement

19. Music and Islam in the Arabic World
• A minority of Muslims strongly discourage the
practice of music of any type
• Music may be performed by “outsiders”
• Music is important to rural groups and tribes
• Success of singers and “stars” often outweigh
protests against them
• Blending of styles, indigenous and foreign
encouraged

20. Dance
• Dances typically in Groups and in Circles or
Lines
• Each ethnic group has its own uniqueness;
rhythm/ dress / norms
• Most dances are performed in circle
• Women perform dance in private gatherings
• Colorful dresses are a part of dance themes

21. Major Cultural Influences
• Persian culture (Iran, speak Farsi, adheres to
Shia interpretation of Islam; historic Persian
Empire)
• Arabic culture (Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq
Lebanon, Egypt, Kuwait; speak Arabic)
• Turkish culture (Turkey, present day
Afghanistan; speak Turkic; historic Ottoman
Empire)

22. Folk dances are the traditional social
dances of ethnics groups, rural or urban
from all over the world.
Social dances are participatory dances
done at weddings, parties, and other
gatherings.
What is Folk dancing

23. Purpose of Folk Dancing
• Dance conveys feelings, attitudes, concepts, and stories that emanate
from everyday life, morality, myth, and legend
• It also reflects aesthetic and social values and communicates systems of
belief
• Dance plays and educational role providing a way of passing down cultural
heritage from adults to children
• Some dances express social rank. Prestige is usually associated with
restrained dance styles.
• In some tribes/cultures dance promotes healing and is used as
preventative medicine

24. Learning out comes
Dance
Performed during;
–celebrations
–ceremonies
–entertainment
–and teaching
Important part of culture
It serves;
 Social
 Spiritual
 Artistic
 Emotional
functions

26. Mevlana Dance(Sufi Whirling)

27. Chechen Dancers

28. South Asian Music

29. Qawwali Music
• Draws on musical traditions of India,
Persian and Arabic music
• Songs in Urdu, Persian
• Addresses themes of the Prophet, God
and love songs

30. Ghazal is a form of sung poetry
associated with Persian-Arabic Muslim
culture taken up by Urdu speakers in
North India and Pakistan

31. Pakistan’s cultural
dances; Composed of
different ethnic groups
dances
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pakistan#Society_and_culture

32. Urdu/Hindi Film Songs in Bollywood
Films
Mohammed Rafi an Indian playback singer and one of the most popular singers of the Hindi film industry ( Wiki)

33. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
A Pakistani musician of Qawwali, the devotional music of the Sufis and considered one of the greatest voices
ever recorded (Wiki)

34. A. R. Rahman
Two times Academy Award winner AR Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer,
musician and philanthropist. A.R. Rahman's works are noted for integrating Eastern classical music with
electronic music, world music and traditional orchestral arrangements. (Wiki)

35. The
predominant
musical
ensemble in
Indonesia is
gamelan

36. Gamelan
music serves
ritual,
spiritual,
government,
dramatic,
and social
functions

37. AFRICAN MUSIC

38. THE MUSIC & DANCE OF SUB-
SAHARAN AFRICA

40. Key instruments
include
lamellaphones
(the mbira),
strings (the
kora),
xylophones,
trumpets, flutes,
musical bows,
and drums

41. WEST AFRICAN DANCE
• Grounded (low level) – respecting Earth, occasional leaps
• Learned from community
• Posture – bent knees, many body parts move in isolation to
different rhythms at the same time. Often flat, bare feet
• Mostly Ceremonial purpose. But could be Artistic for
dancing before the Chief or King or could be Recreational.
• Themes of nature, animals, spirits, initiation, life cycle
events, work
• Movements sharp, energetic, strong, big, free flow.
Although often low, can be high.

42. WEST AFRICAN DANCE
• Call and Response: dancer responds to drum sounds,
sometimes drum responds to dancer, voices respond to each
other. Dancers play the drum sounds with their bodies.
• Music – drums, rattles, gourds, percussion voice. Often fast,
use of pulse, pattern, breath
• Often in a circle or line following a circular path with
musicians in the center
• Sometimes tell stories through a dance
• Often women only or men only – different movements for
each gender
• All dancers equal, but with a chance to solo supported by
the community

43. Youssou N'Dour
A Senegalese singer, percussionist, songwriter, composer.
In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, "perhaps the most famous singer alive" in Senegal and much of Africa.
(Wiki)
By Kotoviski photograph by Henryk Kotowski - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7967274

44. Khaïra Arby
The reigning queen of song in Timbuktu, Mali

45. MUSIC OF THE MIDDLE EAST

46. Tal/Tala
The rhythmic/metric organization of Hindustani music.
Tala is the cyclic patterning of beats and rhythms that
organize musical time. Length of patterns are organized
into groupings described as binary (8 or 16), ternary (6
or 12), quintuple (10), etc., with up to 28 beats.

47. Khaled Hadj Ibrahim
Khaled, is an Algerian raï singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist .
He has become the most internationally famous Algerian singer in the Arab world and across many continents
(Wiki)

48. Umm Kulthum
An internationally famous Egyptian singer, songwriter, and film actress (Wiki)

49. Googoosh
Iranian singer and actress of Azeri origin known for her contributions to Persian Pop music, the most iconic
female pop-singer from those regions

50. Flamencoand the surprising
Muslim
Connection
(originated in Andalusia)

51. For women :
- the shawl
- the fan
This is a song,
music
and dance
style

52. Contemporary Muslim Music Artists

53. Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, humanitarian, and education philanthropist.
His musical style consists of folk, pop, rock, and Islamic music.[ (Wiki)

54. Mos Def (Yusuf Bey)

55. Sami Yusuf

56. Maher Zain

57. Thank you
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