Key Terms
Notable instrument from the region
GADULKA (also spelled gdulka), a Bulgarian knee-violin played with a bow.
DEFINITION
Klezmer is the Yiddish dance music of Ashkenazi Jews. The word "klezmer" comes from the Hebrew kleizemer, meaning "vesse
ORIGINS
Developed in Eastern Europe during the Middle Ages; migrated to the United States.
EARLY OCCASIONS
Played for weddings, holiday celebrations, and rite-of- passage ceremonies in European Jewish communities.
RELIGION AS UNIFYING FACTOR
Islam spread Arabic and Byzantine musical influence throughout the region rapidly from the 7th century onward.
RIQ
A type of tambourine. Adds a higher rhythmic line.
Egyptian Arabic)
A drum made of ceramic clay with a goatskin head glued to the body. Native to Egypt; rooted in ancient Egyptian culture.
DUDUK
Armenian double-reeded, oboe-like instrument made from apricot tree wood. Very popular.
USUL
The rhythmic cycle in Ottoman/Turkish classical music; marked by percussion instruments.
FASIL
A suite of Ottoman court music pieces all in the same makam; typically six to eight pieces totaling about thirty minutes
PESREV
The slow, stately introductory piece in an Ottoman fasil.
SEMAISI
The concluding piece of a fasil; contains passages in a lively dance tempo. Always ends with an energetic finish.
TESLIM
The repeated melodic refrain in a saz semaisi.
RAGA
In Indian classical music, an ascending and descending pattern of melodic pitches with specific extra-musical associatio
TALA
In Indian classical music, the organization of rhythm within a recurring cycle of beats. Comparable to but more complex