America's Other Orchestras: Arab American Ensemble Series Episode 3

posted on: Aug 3, 2016

UCLA: The Birthplace

BY: Sami Asmar/Contributing Writer

Although one of the largest universities in the world, and consistently one of the best in many fields, the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) does not feel crowded. Everybody loves the spacious grounds and unique architecture with Middle Eastern style arches found on many buildings. Decades ago, UCLA started a department for ethnomusicology, where music of the world was studied by graduate students, especially, who carried out field work in the regions of the world they were studying. The most notable region is the Near East where numerous students majored in the music of the Arab World.

Many students earned PhDs in the field and became themselves faculty members at other universities throughout the country, propagating the serious academic scholarship of the Arab music we grew up enjoying. This accomplishment is credited to one man, Professor AJ Racy who led the Near East Music program for over three decades and gained worldwide recognition as the foremost expert in Arab music. Born in Lebanon to a family of poets, scholars, and artists, Dr. Racy moved to the U.S. to pursue graduate education in Musicology and stayed to teach it.

A very popular teacher, his American students love his warm personality, patience, and generosity with his time and knowledge. They also admire his teaching style, which went beyond the theory lectures, seminars, papers, and award-winning books, but also by example. He is a composer and performer who has given concerts in major theaters, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and recorded several albums. He is also a master of many traditional instruments such as the nay reed-flute and the buzuq long-necked fretted lute. He also performs on folk Middle Eastern instruments such as the mizmar double reed, the rababah spike-fiddle, and the mijwiz, a double-pipe reed instrument.

To impart the tradition and aesthetics of the music of the Levant and Egypt, Prof. Racy started an ensemble, where classic compositions of the region, as well as his own, are played. Now the oldest in the country, the UCLA Near East Ensemble attracted numerous talented musicians who wanted to study with Racy; this resulted in maintaining an incredibly high quality orchestra, which can be surprising to many outsiders considering the vast majority of the students were not of Arab background. Due to the different modal structure and Arab scales with microtones that are absent form contemporary Western music, Arab musicians often felt that one has to grow up with the music to appreciate its true allure. Prof. Racy proved that he could teach any talented musician to appreciate and perform this music, including taqasim improvisations that typically require in-depth knowledge.

The UCLA Near East Ensemble was a novelty for a period of time in the local community then turned into their choice source of quality traditional Arab music. Annual concerts were free and open to the public, which flocked from all over the region. Guest artists from the community sought to perform with the group after proving their ability, as it was an honorable addition to their resumes.  

The Ensemble’s regular weekly rehearsals became a mecca for visiting musicians from all the over the world; the visit to the Ensemble to meet the famous professor and speak to the students became a routine stop on every tour. These were not any visiting artists; UCLA guests included the legendary Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab and the incredible Sabah Fakhri and numerous other famous instrumentalist, vocalists, and even whirling dervishes. Those who could not visit the ensemble such as Wadi’ al-Safi, Marcel Khalife, and others, would arrange private meetings with Prof. Racy. It was such a treat to the students to learn first hand from the masters and interview them for their research.

The UCLA Near East Ensemble started the phenomena of America’s Arab Orchestras, academic as well as community based, and is still going strong, gifting the country with generations of musicians who carry out the tradition. His creativity always flowing, the modest and soft-spoken professor is still busy composing, publishing, performing, teaching, and even co-directing the East Coast’s annual Arabic Music Retreat. To honor him, a local organization founded a music scholarship in his name and a magazine article compared him as giving to Arab music in America what Gibran Kahlil Gibran gave in literature and philosophy!

Watch a UCLA Near East Ensemble performance here: