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• 1 2018-08-22T17:40:31-07:00 TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY ARAB MUSIC IN THE UNITED STATES 18 plain 2026-07-10T16:02:32-07:00

  EARLY 20TH CENTURY

  From the mid-1920s through the early 1960s Arab music flourished in large-scale formal music parties and weekend-long gatherings along the East Coast, often organized as philanthropic events sponsored by the immigrant community. During the same time period the large U.S. record companies began issuing Arab music as part of their marketing to ethnic communities in America. By the 1940s Arab Americans had established their own record labels as a part of the industry. By the 1960s Arabic folk music for dance and other forms of popular Arabic music overtook the traditional "classical" repertoire. Wedding bands (zaffa bands) and private corporate parties are still a major means of support for Arab musicians playing a variety of musical styles from different areas in the Arab World. 

  ARAB ORCHESTRAS AND ENSEMBLES IN THE U.S.

  The modern Arab Orchestra originated in the 1930s when Mohamed Abdel Wahab began to arrange songs for Arab orchestras, large ensembles that mixed Western musical instruments — especially the bowed strings and the concert flute — with traditional  musical instruments.

  THE NATIONAL ARAB ORCHESTRA

  Conducted by Michael Ibraham, the orchestra was formed in Detroit in 2010 ​(see YouTube channel and website). In its concert repertoire the National Arab Orchestra plays arrangements from Wahab's era (1930s through 1970s), as well as  contemporary compositions that extend traditions of Arab music. The Orchestra has also established a community choir and other outreach programs in the belief that "music crosses cultural and historical barriers." [NAO website] 

  THE NEW YORK ARABIC ORCHESTRA

  The orchestra was formed in 2007 by Bassam Saba (see YouTube channel and website). From the NYAO website:

  Bassam Saba of Lebanon is a world-renowned virtuoso, multi-instrumentalist, and leading figure of Arabic music. Saba studied nay, oud and violin at the Lebanon National Conservatory and Western Classical Music and Flute Performance in Paris and Moscow. He has toured extensively with international Arab music singing star Fairouz, Andalusian singer-songwriter Marcel Khalife, and Palestinian-American oud virtuoso and composer Simon Shaheen. He has collaborated with classical and pop stars such as Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, Alicia Keys and Santana, and jazz icons such as Herbie Hancock and Quincy Jones. Saba, a highly sought-after teacher of Arabic music, co-founded and directs the New York Arabic Orchestra.

  NYAO Video: "Nirvana" by Basam Saba (Contemporary Arabic suite) with New York Arabic Orchestra: 
  

  ASEFA (website) / NEW YORK ANDALUS ENSEMBLE (website)

  Samuel Thomas is founder and bandleader of Asefa, an ensemble devoted to contemporary approaches to composition, improvisation, and fusion drawn from Sephardic, Islamic, North African and jazz traditions. Asefa has performed throughout New York State, in North Carolina, and at the Smithsonian Library of Congress, among other locations in the U.S. Thomas also is executive director of JATM (Jewish Awareness Though Music), an applied ethnomusicology organization focused on cultural exchange through music. [Brooklyn Council on the Arts]

  New York Andalus Ensemble performs regularly in New York City. 

  For five hundred years, Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived side by side in Medieval Iberia, sharing their arts and sciences to create a scintillating, multicultural tradition of music and poetry. Singing in Arabic, Hebrew, and Ladino to reflect this cultural pluralism, the New York Andalus Ensemble presents spiritual texts and songs of love and everyday life in Al-Andalus, emphasizing the expressive quality of the region’s shared tradition even as it respects the individual cultures that comprise it. Meticulous attention is paid to authenticity of style and pronunciation as ensemble members, hailing from Algeria, Syria, Israel, Morocco, and the United States, pool their linguistic and musical expertise. [NYAE]

  CIVIC AND ACADEMIC ENSEMBLES

  Traditional Arab music is supported by academic and civic institutions in major cities in the United States. A number of universities maintain Arab music ensembles, including the Arab Percussion Ensemble at University of Pennsylvania, the Columbia Arab Music Ensemble, Cal Poly Arab Music Ensemble and Dance Troupe, and the Arabic Choir at University of Texas at Austin. The cities of Philadelphia and Las Vegas also have Arab Music Ensembles. Some of these organizations have videos posted online.