This recording presents traditional instrumental solo improvisations performed by Arab and Jewish musicians in Israel. All but one of the taqasim (=pl. form of taqsim, the genre of Middle Eastern instrumental improvisation) are in mainstream urban style, a pan-Middle Eastern style that owes its existence largely to Egyptian musical trends and the Arabic mass media. The cassette is accompanied by a booklet with program notes in Hebrew, Arabic, and English.
Alexander L. Ringer was an American research musicologist and educator of Dutch and Polish descent. He was a survivor of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After the war, Ringer emigrated to New York City in 1947. There he received a M.A. in Sociology and psychology in 1948 from the New School for Social Research and a Ph.D. of Musicology in 1955 from the City College, Columbia University.