Popular Music in the Arab World

Catalog description

This course combines theory with intensive listening to examine popular songs in the Arabic-speaking world from the 1950's to the present. Students will develop familiarity with a wide range of Arab singers and their work by way of audiovisual playlists, scholarly and journalistic writing, and social media commentary. The course will introduce basic theoretical issues in popular music studies to provide students with tools for engaging in analysis and writing. We will begin with an exploration of cross-linguistic classification of musical genres and ideologies of the popular and continue to study the ways in which music is linked to political, cultural, religious, and economic forces. The primary forms of assessment are weekly listening quizzes, periodic entries in a shared class blog, and a mid-term and final paper. We will begin with an exploration of cross-linguistic classification of musical genres and ideologies of the popular and continue to study the ways in which music is linked to political, cultural, religious, and economic forces. The primary forms of assessment are weekly listening quizzes, periodic entries in a shared class blog, and a mid-term and final paper.