Ma'luf in Contemporary Libya

Philip Ciantar is Lecturer in music at the Music Department of the School of Performing Arts, University of Malta. He teaches courses in ethnomusicology, World Music, oral music traditions of the Mediterranean, semiotics of music and harmony. He contributed with entries on Maltese traditional music to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and on Malta and Libya for the Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. His current research interests include Maltese popular music, North African music, Libyan music, learning styles of the world’s musicians and World Music analysis. In addition to his work in ethnomusicology he is also active as a composer.

• Contents: Preface; Libya: society, culture and music; The Nawba in North Africa and in Libya; The Ma’lufal-ldha’a: change, continuity and contemporary practices; The musical making of Ma’luf; The Libyan Ma’luf in the realm of Arab music aesthetics; Epilogue; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.

’With the recent political upheavals, this book has assumed the character of an important historical document, as it gives us an insight into the Gaddafi era...The book is clearly constructed and is approachable even to the musically uninitiated.’ The Sunday Times of Malta ’Ciantar’s book provides valuable ethnography of music practice during the last decade of the Gaddafi era while broadening the scope of study of Andalusian music. Ciantar offers a compelling read of the Libyan ma’luf, useful for those seeking to broaden their knowledge of music in the Middle East and North Africa’ Ethnomusicology Review