Among the Jasmine Trees: Music and Modernity in Contemporary Syria (Music / Culture) Paperback – November 3, 2009

This is a beautifully written, comprehensive study of music culture in the Arab world, in Syria. One walks with the author as he explores this ancient country and how music is intertwined in its contemporary culture.

I read this book many years ago. This book refelects the charismatic nature of the author as he explores the interplay of music and culture in the Arab world.

This book on music and people deals with authenticity and its construction in a place where music is much more than just music. Scholarly in its orientation, it is written so clearly that one needn't be an ethnomusicologist or anthropologist to read it. It has important implications for the way that we all approach the aesthetics of our identity.

This is a beautifully written book that illuminates many aspects of Syrian music and culture. I will teach it often in my graduate and undergraduate courses.