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Arabic pop music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arabic pop music or Arab pop is a subgenre of Arabic music.
Most Arab pop is produced in Cairo, with Beirut a secondary center prior to the Lebanese Civil War. It is an outgrowth of the Arabic film industry, also centered in Cairo.
The primary style is a genre that syncretically combines pop melodies with elements of different Arab regional styles, called ughniyah or in English "Arab song". It eschews older three-quarter tones and uses Western string instruments including the guitar.
In more recent years a newer style, the "Gulf sound", which brings in broader influences from India including Bollywood and East Africa, has become dominant.
Most Arab pop concentrates on romantic themes, but explicit references to sexuality and things forbidden by Islam, including alcohol, are rare. So is overt politics, reflecting the limited democratic traditions in the region, but international conflicts such as the Gulf War often inspire songs such as "Saddam Saddam", a 1991 hit in spiritual support of Saddam Hussein.
Arab pop has spread worldwide along with Arab emigrant communities, and has strong footholds in Paris and London.
- Music and modernization in the Arab world - Reason Magazine
- A Little War Music - by Robert Christgau for the Village Voice, 1991
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