Music 220 - TOPICS WORLD: ISLAMIC MUSIC

Topics course.: Music is a thorny issue in many Islamic societies. There is often tension between hardliners who believe that music has no place in Islam and thus try to prohibit it and those who tolerate it, albeit within well-defined parameters. The debate intensifies in the case of popular music. Despite this, there is an incredible variety of vibrant popular music traditions throughout the Islamic world. In this course, we engage with Islamic debates on popular music, explore music in a variety of cultures (e.g., Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan, Senegal and Turkey), and examine the ways they illuminate different themes (forms of Islam, issues of diaspora, gender considerations, musical diversity, etc.). No prerequisites, though MUS 101 is helpful.