Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/A/Arabian Music

Arabian Music. Lieutenant Lynch, in his "Expedition to the Dead Sea," gives a graphic description of some Arabian music, which the company enjoyed, and he endured, at one of their evening encampments, on the River Jordan, April 15, 1848. At Acre and at Tiberias, he had en-gaged some Arab chiefs to accompany the expedition. The name of one of these was Akil Agael Hassee, a border sheikh. Akil had a musical attendant, whom Lieutenant Lynch denominates Akil's bard, who sang Arabic love songs for their entertainment. id accompanied himself upon the "Rehabeh, or viol with one string." Lieutenant Lynch approached the sheikh's tent to hear more distinctly, and was politely invited to be seated upon a mat. The music, which was interrupted by his entrance, was continued, by request of his principal. Not a cough or an excuse was uttered. With a semicircular bow he preluded, and then added his voice. The melody was rude and barbarous, in the minor mode. The song was one of love, and though the tout ensemble gave evident pleasure to the sons of the desert, yet it presented no congruous expression of the subject to the ears and hearts of our American travellers.

After refreshments, Emir Nassir, another honorable Arab, surprised the listeners by snatching up the instrument and even excelling the professional bard in his performance, both vocal and instrumental. The music, however, was of a similar character with that of the first player, of a wailing, dolorous tone, which seemed more suitable for a funeral than for a lively scene of living love and beauty.

The account is interesting to musicians, strongly contrasting the musical instruments and vocal cultivation of civilized and Christian nations with those savage tribes which roam over Palestine and the adjacent countries.