Among the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria
by: Jonathan Holt Shannon

Softcover. Middletown CT, Wesleyan University Press, 2nd pr., 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 252 pages. How does a Middle Eastern community create a modern image through its expression of heritage and authenticity? In Among the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria, Jonathan H. Shannon investigates expressions of authenticity in Syria's musical culture, which is particularly known for embracing and preserving the Arab musical tradition, and which has seldom been researched in depth by Western scholars. Music plays a key role in the process of self-imaging by virtue of its ability to convey feeling and emotion, and Shannon explores a variety of performance genres, Sufi rituals, song lyrics, melodic modes, and aesthetic criteria. Clean copy.