Continuity and change in the Libyan ma'luf musical tradition

Abstract

Over the past thirty-nine years, the Libyan ma'luf musical tradition undergone through several changes in order to ensure its existence. Most of these changes and/or innovations had generated new performance practices that changed the more familiar and traditional sonority of this musical genre as it used to be experienced by the Libyans in the context of the zawiya (Sufi meeting place). These innovations were being proposed by a newly established ensemble that in 1963 was set up by the renowned Libyan musician Hassan Araibi as to revitalize a musical tradition which at that time was on the verge of extinction. At first, the people could not accept, for instance, the inclusion of "modern" instruments such as the violin and cello in a ma'luf ensemble because such instruments were considered as not belonging to Arabic instrumentation. But then the same people began realizing that such innovative practices were not only stimulating a new

interest in this musical tradition but were also assisting in the continuation and preservation of the same tradition. This article presents a case in which "modern" practices of performance and dissemination had guaranteed the existence of an "old" musical tradition to the extent that nowadays this same tradition is still

enjoyed in both its "authentic" and "modern" forms.