“An excerpt of a 78 rpm recording from the early 1900s (Track 5 to accompany the Musics in Multicultural America Textbook)
Like many forms of Arab music, this piece is performed in free rhythm. The singer’s
melody and the instrumentalists’ accompaniment are improvisatory. the excerpt concludes with a brief violin taqasim (improvisation), the length of which was presumably determined by space remaining on the 78 rpm disc. The vocal exclamations heard toward the end of the excerpt are in praise of the musicians’ playing.