Were the decades between World War II and the start of the Lebanese Civil War (1975) the Golden Age of Lebanese pop music, or was it the Golden Age of Traditional Lebanese Music Sometimes Updated to Embrace Western Song Structures While Still Featuring Ancient Arabic Instruments Like the Oud (a Middle Eastern/Asian guitar-like lute0, the Mijwiz (a double-pipe, single-reed clarinet), the Durbakke (a goblet drum), the Riq (a tambourine-like frame drum) and especially the Buzaq (a long-necked lute). Carla Fleyhan of Brazil’s “Jornal Jovem” characterizes (and surely idealizes) post-World War II, pre-Civil War Lebanon, as, “Friendship, love, peace, safety, charity, life on the pond, joy, and happiness, but above all this the arts: this is how life was in Lebanon.” Good? (In this video watch beloved Lebanese vocalist Fairuz, known for her popular modern music, perform a traditional tune with Nasri Shamsedine.)
Tag Archives | Riq
Says the Riq, Don’t Call me a Tambourine!
Bravo, Bahareh Moghtadaei…!The riq is one of the staples of any traditional music ensemble from West Asia and the Middle East. It’s not exactly the same as a tambourine, but it’s a small, round frame drum like a tambourine, and has jingles, like a tambourine. Unlike a tambourine, a riq usually has ten pairs of jingles, set in five pairs. Also, while a musician holds a tambourine in the dominant hand to make it easy to shake, hitting its head the alternate hand, a riq player holds the instrument with its head facing forward and uses fingertips of both hands to hit the head, striking the jingles with the hand holding the drum. While hand drums such the daf or tar may hold down the beat in Arabic music, forming a rhythmic anchor, the riq is often a showboat. Its players lead the way, transforming rhythm into melody. Watch this video of Bahareh Moghtadaei playing the riq and you’ll see what I mean.
