Tarab

A heightened emotional engagement with music found in Arabic culture and associated with classical Arabic music by timeless performers such as Umm Kulthum and Fairuz. Meaning “enchantment,” tarab describes the gradual buildup of emotion as a singer lingers on a phrase, repeats a line, or alters a melody to respond to the mood of the audience. From late Ottoman times through the 1948 War, Jerusalem was part of a wider Levantine musical world including Cairo, Damascus, and Beirut, where classical Arab music flourished and local musicians, poets, and audiences cultivated tarab in private salons, cafés, and social gatherings.