Speaker: Dwight F. Reynolds
While the cultural achievements of medieval Muslim Spain – Arabic al-Andalus – have been the topic of many scholarly and popular publications in recent decades, what may arguably be its most enduring contribution – music – has been almost entirely neglected. This presentation explores the fascinating interactions between Muslim, Christian and Jewish musicians and musical tradition in medieval Iberia, situating them in the larger network of musical transformations taking place in and around the medieval Mediterranean.
About the speaker
Dwight F. Reynolds is Distinguished Professor of Arabic language & literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His is author of Heroic Poets, Poetic Heroes: The Ethnography of Performance in an Arabic Oral Epic Tradition (1995), Arab Folklore (2007), the award-winning Musical Heritage of al-Andalus (2021, now OpenAccess), and Medieval Arab Music and Musicians (2022, now OpenAccess).
He is also editor and co-author of Interpreting the Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition (2001), The Cambridge Companion to Modern Arab Culture (2005), co-editor and co-author of The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 6: The Middle East (2002) with Virginia Danielson and Scott Marcus, and most recently co-editor and co-author of Tarab: Music, Ecstasy, Emotion and Performance (forthcoming, University of Texas Press), with Michael Frishkopf and Scott Marcus.
He has published numerous articles on various topics in Arabic literature, folklore and music, and has conducted fieldwork on modern Andalusian musical traditions in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria.
About this event
This event is organised by Dr Vanessa Paloma Elbaz in the Faculty of Music.