الموسيقى العربيّه المقارنه Comparative Arabic Music
The best and easiest way to learn Arabic Music

Contents of this Documentary are as follows:

* An Overview of Classical Arabic Music
* An Introduction to Comparative Music
* Arabic Maqamat Overview and varieties
* Diatonic Scales Compatible Maqamat
   - Major Scale Compatible Maqamat
   - Minor Scale Compatible Maqamat
   - Maqam Kurd and its varieties
   - Maqam Hijaz Kar & Shadd Arban

 

The Arab World Educational and Information Reference Book on a Multi-Media CD. Click Below for more info

The Arab World
Reference Book
on a Multi Media CD
Makes a great Educational Gift

Related Links
Kan Zaman
Community
Ensemble

Traditional Arabic Music

Arabic Music Videos

Multi Media Publishing

      This valuable musical presentation, presented on this site, is an educational package called Comparative Arabic Music.  This presentation is published as a documentary, however, it's an excellent source for learning Arabic Music due to it's extensive study in Classical and Traditional Arabic Music.

 This presentation is published in 3  different formats: The first is Audio/Visual/ Video presentation as show above.

  The second format is an all Audio Musical Documentary and presentation, published on 5 CD-ROMs. (See Table below for Audio Clip Samples)
 

The third format is a Multi Media CD-ROM that is Audio Visual (Audio Music + Text for explanations).  This last format lends itself to folks who like to read the explanations and listen to the musical examples. All three formats discuss, in detail, the various aspects of Arabic music; its Maqamaat, Forms and rhythms,  and supplemented with many musical examples from the musical heritage of the Middle East and North Africa.  The Multi-Media format lists the graphical representations of all the popular Maqamaat and their scales.  

This package contains discussions and descriptions of all the Maqamaat presented on this web site.  It includes an extensive audio details of the sounds of notes, Tri-chords, Tetra chords and full Scales of 40 plus Maqamaat, with a diverse set of examples of the Arabic (Middle East and North Africa), Turkish and Persian Musical Heritage.

This musical presentation is based on a musical documentary published in the 1980s in the Republic of Tunis, with compilation and narration done by a musical scholar and artist, Dr. Salih Al-Mehdi.  Multi Media Publishing is proud to have revived this great educational and entertaining musical work, and is glad to share it with all the folks who are interested in learning and understanding of the various aspects of this art form.

The presentation is published on 5 Audio CD-ROMs, worth 7 hours of listening time.  Audio Narration is done in English (Arabic version is also available), and the examples are in original Arabic Music.   Each CD-ROM is divided into 10-12 tracks based on the topics, which makes it easy to scan (forward and backward) and to re-listen to any selected topic.  A hard copy of the presentation is also available, with the addition of all the Maqamaat and scale notations.

The presentation begins with an introduction and a brief history of Arabic music.  This is followed by a cataloguing and classification of the various Maqamaat.  It lists and discusses Maqamaat that are compatible with Western Scales and instruments, then  proceeds into discussion of Maqamaat that contain 3/4 sound steps (these are unique to Arabic and Eastern music), and spares no efforts in presenting the various tetra chords that compose these Maqamaat, with an ample number of examples of the sounds of these Maqamaat and their tetra chords, as well as samples of musical pieces and songs taken from the musical heritage of the many regions that utilize these Maqamaat.  

The presentation proceeds into more discussion of Maqamaat that are influenced by African Scales, such as the Pentatonic Scale, and the evolution of the Andalusian Maqamaat and music in the Arab North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunis and Libya).  It discusses the various forms of the Nawbah, and there are many of them, and its scales and rhythms. 

A large portion of the presentation is dedicated to the various musical forms (i.e. musical genres) in the Middle East and North Africa.  Again, each form is discussed in details, and supported with musical examples from the heritage of the Classical Arabic Music. 

The Presentation makes a good musical reference for students of Arabic (Middle East and North Africa) Music, and a valuable informational source for the second generation of Arab Americans, who were born in America, and did not have the extensive exposure to this art form due to the physical location, and lack of resources pertinent to this art.

Proceeds from the sale of this musical presentation and other musical packages will help support and maintain this web site, to keep it as an educational information venue. 

Note: the Audio Presentation is in English, and Music Examples are in Arabic

Note: the Presentation Text is in English, and Music Examples are in Arabic