Ma'luf Reflections on the Arab Andalusian Music of Tunisia

This is the only book in the English language on Tunisian music, or on any national tradition of Arab Andalusian music, and it is the only book in any language to survey changes in the ma'luf since its modern revival in the early 20th Century within the framework of social, political, and musical developments in Tunisia and the wider Middle East. The author explores topics such as Arab music theory, modernization, westernization, and Egyptianization; the use of notation in oral tradition; and cultural policy. The relations between traditional music and the mass media are also considered, and the conclusions of this study have a significance that will extend beyond Tunisian and Middle Eastern music to ethnomusicology as a whole.

Ruth F. Davis is senior lecturer in ethnomusicology at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Corpus Christi College, where she directs studies in music.