Eye of the Storm

A Fusion of Arabic Music and Jazz

Presenter: Trent Glenn

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 21-22

Semester: Fall

Faculty Mentor: Rim Zahra

Department: English

Funding Source/Sponsor: Class Project, SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1H-Sacp9CXsehF9aqBK8L8EndS8UyETsQ

Abstract:
The goal of my research project is to try and fuse Jazz with Arabic music. African Americans and Arabs are both groups with their own distinctive culture, especially when it comes to music. The 1920s represented a surge in the popularity of both culture’s music: Arab music because of the large waves of Arab immigration, and jazz due to a large number of African Americans sharing different styles of music and dance. This made what would be known as the Jazz Age. These are both styles of music that were popularized by a minority group before upper-class whites appropriated the music (think of the hootchy kootchy dance, a bastardized American version of traditional Egyptian belly dancing). They also both heavily rely on improvisation. All of these reasons made me think they are perfect genres to try and fuse together. In my project, I tried very hard not to omit any ‘mistakes’ in my playing. Part of being able to improvise is being able to accept the notes you’ve played, adapt and keep playing. In the spirit of these styles mistakes are simply part of the process and part of the song. For this project I was only able to write in maqams without quarter tones. I found that there are lots of similarities between the styles of Arab and Jazz music, especially with their improvisational themes. All of these similarities compelled me to attempt to fuse the two genres together. The goal of this research project is to give you a glimpse into what the mixing of cultures could have sounded like in the 1920s.