The Convergence of Judaism and Islam. Religious, Scientific, and Cultural Dimensions

Encounters between Jewish and Muslim Musicians throughout the Ages r 281

of a hybrid style, which represents a kind of modernization and

popularization of the classical musical tradition, making it more

appealing to the new generation of audience.

3. One finds occasional reluctance on the part of Muslim purists
   concerning the deficient knowledge of Jewish musicians with
   respect to established norms including defective knowledge of
   classical Arabic and correct utterance in the performance of vo-
   cal music. In turn, their excellence as instrumentalists is usually
   recognized and extolled.


4. The presence and active involvement in musical life of an unusual
   number of gifted women musicians. This phenomenon is charac-
   teristic of modern times in particular.


5. In commenting on the remarkable involvement of numerous
   gifted Jewish and Christian musicians in the musical life of their
   surroundings, some scholars explain this phenomenon as a di-
   rect consequence of the hostile attitude toward music maintained
   throughout the ages by radical Muslim religious authorities. To
   bypass this intransigent approach, rulers and other prestigious
   music lovers used the service of gifted non-Muslim musicians in
   the realm of secular music at various times and places.


6. In view of the foregoing patterns, one may ask the pertinent ques-
   tion: Would it be possible to think that in the process of this long
   collaboration between Jewish and Muslim musicians, to detect an
   extent of a Jewish contribution, in other words, to admit that the
   influence did not go exclusively one way? This is not a question
   that can be answered with certainty. A kind of positive answer
   is found in the aforementioned works of Anglés and Chottin to
   which we can add the two tales on the stratagem used by Mo-
   roccan Jews and Persian Jews, who played synagogue music for
   their respective rulers. Why then can we not conceive of an in-
   stinctive or random incorporation of Jewish elements in regular
   performances?

A Lebanese collector of ancient recordings published a CD dedicated
entirely to the art of past Jewish musicians.^29 He wrote in his introduction
that the secular music of the Jews of Arab countries is a rich and unex-
plored domain revealing a specific musical heritage. It does not refer to
a Jewish school in the Arab repertories in the full sense of the word, but