Dissertation Examples CDs (1-5) are a compilation of the music discussed and analyzed in the Warkov dissertation “The Urban Arabic Repertoire of Jewish Professional Musicians in Iraq and Israel: Instrumental Improvisation and Culture Change.” These CDs are intended to be used alongside the dissertation to demonstrate a variety of musical styles and to bring the musical analysis to life.
The contents are drawn from Warkov’s field recordings: The performers on these 5 CDs are mostly Iraqi-Jewish musicians who recorded these items for the Arabic section of Israel Radio, with the exception of ’78 recordings by Ezra Aharon and the al-Kuwaiti brothers, which were recorded in Iraq (early 1930s) and played for Warkov.
“Radio tape” means that these examples were recorded by Israel radio in their studio and copied by Warkov onto cassette tapes at the radio station (1980 and 1981). The radio station donated their reels to the National Sound Archives, Israel, some years after she copied them onto cassettes.
Tape and item numbers refer to the cassettes that the dissertation examples were drawn from. Each CD now has the same number that appeared on the cassette. Each CD has a log sheet prepared by the ethnomusicology archive, University of Washington (Seattle). The information below amplifies the descriptions on the log sheets.
See also in our website the project on Music, Muslims and Jews, that includes the Esther Warkov's PhD thesis Jewish Professional Musicians in Iraq and Israel, Revisited.
