Music of Miles Apart

By Brett Byles

What does traditional Middle Eastern music have to do with today’s popular music?

            On a stage in Madison Square Garden, New York City, stands Jay-Z, iconic rapper, businessman and celebrity.  As the crowd roars and the lights flash, he launches into his hit song “Bounce,” and the very foundation of the arena shakes with the music and the fans.

           

On a bench in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, sits a man holding an oud, a type of stringed instrument principally used in Arabic music.  The hot sun is setting on the horizon, but there’s still plenty light to see the skill with which he strums a traditional Arabic composition.

           


          These two men seem to lead completely different lives; the only connection they hold is both being musicians.  However, both share a striking similarity that anyone can hear, but not many people recognize.

Two vastly different genres, today’s popular music and Middle Eastern music are quite literally thousands of miles apart.  They incorporate different languages, types of instruments, rhythm, meter, and countless other musical elements to form their own unique identities.  However, often times modern popular music will borrow musical and compositional ideas from traditional Middle Eastern music in ways that are subtle, yet colorful and impactful.  Whenever Middle Eastern sounds appear in modern popular music, most people can identify its unique sound, yet are unaware of that sound’s origin, and why it sounds so uniquely the way it does.

The reason behind this “Middle Eastern” sound can be found in a brief musical analysis of its composition and theory.  Most, if not all, of Middle Eastern music written in minor keys, utilizes a particular scale in the minor mode called the harmonic minor.  It is identical to a natural minor scale, except for the seventh and final tone, which is raised a half step, as it is in the major mode.  Additionally, Middle Eastern music makes frequent use of the half step between the fifth of the minor scale and the minor sixth of the scale, creating high anticipation and a sense of suspense in the music that is often sustained to engage the listener.  This technique of variation and melody, coupled with intricate, fast and high melodies and harmonies on various instruments, leads to what many people label as “stereotypical Middle Eastern sound.”  Though countless other sounds and expressions exist in Middle Eastern music, this traditional type of sound has had the heaviest influence on what the Western world hears in modern popular music.

Hundreds of examples exist of how modern popular music has borrowed Middle Eastern ideas, in multiple different genres ranging from rock to reggae to hip-hop to rap to jazz to electronica.  Musical artists, composers and producers often weave the abovementioned elements of Middle Eastern music into their recordings in an attempt to create what is often perceived as an “exotic” sound, different from the typical Western soundscape.  Below are YouTube links to some of the most obvious, popular Middle Eastern-influenced music.

R. Kelly- Snake  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9-B3XRCCN4

Jay Z- Big Pimpin’  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=big+pimpin+jay+z

Missy Elliot- Get Ur Freak On  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPoKiGQzbSQ

Sting- Desert Rose https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3lWwBslWqg

The Beatles- Love You To https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnTkokskMHU

The Rolling Stones- Paint it Black https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4irXQhgMqg

The Allman Brothers- In Memory of Elizabeth Reed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rQWh62VUHE

David Bowie- The Secret Life of Arabia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI_aBgcLHZE

          In each example, the artist borrows different elements of Middle Eastern music to create a uniquely recognizable sound, with most common elements being the use of the harmonic minor scale and fifth-sixth variations.  As mentioned before, it is quite easy to identify this type of sound, but less people are aware that it is Middle Eastern music that has so heavily influenced the music the Western world enjoys today.  Below, you can listen to just how similar the two genres can be, and just how much pop music has borrowed from traditional Middle Eastern music in my mashup of "Snake" by R. Kelly and a traditional Middle Eastern composition.

The similarities are remarkable, and almost uncanny, between the two songs.  With a few tweaks and tricks I have learned from being a DJ, the two songs almost sound like one recorded song.  The intonations, timbres and tonalities of "Snake," along with countless other Western popular songs, are clearly influenced and borrowed from traditional Middle Eastern music.