São Paulo – On Saturday, Arabic dance teacher and choreographer Marcia Dib will release her book Música árabe: expressividade e sutileza (Arabic music: expressiveness and subtlety), by the Library and Centre of South American and Arab Research (BibliAspa) publishing house, at the Syrian Sports Club, in the city of São Paulo. The author is going to give a lecture about the main features of Arabic music and tell part of the book’s story.
The 217-page book is a chapter in Marcia’s master’s thesis, entitled A diversidade cultural da Síria através da música e da dança (Cultural diversity of Syria in music and dancing). She concluded the essay late last year. The idea of writing a book came from her supervisor. “I devoted an entire chapter to explaining Arabic music. I found nothing published about it in Portuguese. It is a first-of-its-kind book,” said Marcia.
According to her, the book is for lay people who want to learn something about the theory and history of Arabic music. “The book was written from the perspective of a person who uses the music in their work,” said the teacher, who is a descendent of Syrians and travelled three times to the Arab country in order to finish her master’s thesis.
The publication is divided into five chapters. The first one, Origin, influences and treaties, discusses the paths that Arabic music has travelled, and its theoretical and philosophical aspects. “In the past, music used to be studied together alongside other sciences,” said Marcia.
The second chapter, The notion of time and the axial shift in world view, approaches differences in how time is experienced. “To us, time is a straight line, whereas to the Arabs it is like a circle,” said the teacher, who elaborates on that thought in the chapter. In the third one, The concept of world influences songwriting, playing and learning, the author discusses the importance of memory, of knowledge being passed down verbally from generation to generation, because there used to be no sheet music.
Melodic and rhythmical characteristics deals with the definition of Arabic music, and the notes and scales, which differ from those used in Western music. The last chapter, The doctrine of Ethos or Ta’thir, is a parallel between music and other sciences. “I discuss how music influences the body and the mind, for instance,” stated Marcia.
According to her, Arabic music is an art form integrated with other fields of knowledge and existence, and has the power to speak to the feelings of people, who respond to it with their bodies and minds.
Service
Release of the book Arabic music: expressiveness and subtlety
Date: June 12
Time: 04:00 pm
Autograph session: 05:00 pm
Place: Auditorium of the Syrian Sports Club
Address: Indianópolis Avenue, 1192 – São Paulo
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
