What a maqam is, and why it feels like a mood
Rima introduces the maqam system from the beginning, playing three maqams on the oud so you can hear how each one carries a different mood, and explaining the quarter tone.
The singer whose records were in every house
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Show notes
The voice on every radio
One singer's monthly concerts emptied streets from Casablanca to Baghdad. Rima tells the story with help from a Cairo musician whose father played in the ensemble, and explains why a single song could run for an hour.
- The monthly radio concert and what it meant to a household
- How the ensemble followed the singer rather than the other way round
- Why one song could last an hour and never feel long
- The audience's shouts and what tarab actually means
- Archival recording: the moment a line is repeated nine times
Five recordings to start with are listed in the notes.
Transcript
Welcome back to Maqam Memory, I am Rima Haddad. This week, a singer. If you grew up in an Arab household, you already know who I mean, because her records were in every house and her voice came out of every taxi. On the first Thursday of each month her concert went out on the radio and streets emptied from Casablanca to Baghdad. I have a musician from Cairo with me whose father played in her ensemble, and he will explain how forty players followed one voice, and why a single song could last an hour and feel short. We will talk about tarab, the word for what happened to those audiences, and we will listen to the moment she repeats one line nine times and the hall shouts back. You are listening on Witspeak Podcasts.
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