Among the Jasmine Trees
Among the Jasmine Trees
MUSIC AND MODERNITY IN
CONTEMPORARY SYRIA
Jonathan Holt Shannon
Published by Wesleyan University Press,
Middletown, CT 06459
© 2006 by Jonathan Holt Shannon
Unless otherwise indicated, photographs © 2006 by Jonathan Holt Shannon
All rights reserved
First Wesleyan paperback 2009
Printed in the United States of America
5 4 3 2
ISBN for the paperback edition: 978–0–8195–6944–8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shannon, Jonathan Holt.
Among the jasmine trees : music and modernity in
contemporary Syria / Jonathan Holt Shannon.
p. cm. — (Music/culture)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ), discography (p. ),
and index.
ISBN-13: 978–0-8195–6798–7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0–8195–6798–1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Music—Social aspects—Syria.
2. Music—Syria—21st century—Philosophy and aesthetics.
3. Syria—Social life and customs—21st century.
I. Title. II. Series.
ML3795.S415 2006
780.95691—dc22 2005028912
The publisher gratefully acknowledges assistance from the
Manfred Bukofzer Publication Endowment Fund of the
American Musicological Society.
Wesleyan University Press is member of the Green Press Initiative. The paper
used in this book meets their minimum requirement for recycled paper.
In Memoriam
FATEH MOUDARRES
(1924–1999)
Dedication
To my mother,
LINDA KAY SHANNON
| Damascene jasmineHas white clawsThat pierce the walls of memory . . .—Nizār Qabbānī, Lā Ghāliba ilā Allāh |
CONTENTS
FIGURES
Yusef al-
Musicians at Omayyad Palace restaurant, Damascus, 1996.
“Whirling dervish,” Omayyad Palace restaurant, Damascus, 1996.
Fateh Moudarres in his studio, Damascus, 1981.
