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Muslim Popular Music

Deep Histories and Broad Futures

Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives

Abstract

Music has been a topic of discussion throughout Islamic history. Writings by philosophers, jurists, Sufi mystics, and elite intellectuals have survived the centuries and paint a vivid picture of different ways to approach and understand music. This chapter explores this writing in relation to Islamic rituals, folk music, art music, and more. It ends just before the mass mediation of music was initiated during the nineteenth century. The main argument of the chapter is that by contextualizing discussions and positions, the internal logics of dominant discourses are made visible, making positions more graspable. The described positions are still well-known and important backdrops to contemporary Muslims understandings and discussions about music, maybe more so today than in earlier history as intellectual discourse has a much wider reach today than before the technological revolution of communication. Further, the chapter introduces many of the main historical characters, both writers and musicians, to be explored through further reading.

Alessandro LeVine provided research assistance for this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of History, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA

    Mark Levine

  2. Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, Aga Khan University, London, UK

    Jonas Otterbeck

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  1. Mark Levine
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  2. Jonas Otterbeck
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Correspondence to Mark Levine .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Sociology and Anthropology, University of North Florida Dept of Sociology and Anthropology, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    Ronald Lukens-Bull

  2. Arizona State University, TEMPE, AZ, USA

    Mark Woodward

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Levine, M., Otterbeck, J. (2021). Muslim Popular Music. In: Lukens-Bull, R., Woodward, M. (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73653-2_42-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73653-2_42-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-73653-2

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Muslim Popular Music
    Published:
    18 May 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73653-2_42-2

  2. Original

    Music in Muslim Contexts
    Published:
    16 February 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73653-2_42-1

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