18th International Meeting

StubickeToplice
Croatia

13-17 April, 2011

at the invitation of

Institut za etnologiju i folkloristiku

Jürgen Elsner, 
Germany
elsnermw@web.de

Some Aspects of Dan-Singing in Yemen

The term Dan used in Yemen covers various meanings. From time immemorial, Dan is basically related to the rhythmic and metric structure of verses and chants. Thus the term appears as a recent version of the medieval Arab verse metrics and of musical metric patterns. Further, Dan is connected to musical genres and shapes. It is used in the context of ritual and festive functions and denotes certain musically meditative sessions. Dan-singing, accompanied with the lute, is still lively practiced in the Hadramaut.
This paper tries to shed light on multiple meanings of Dan as it appears in the current practice of indicating rhythmic and metric structures, solmization intersections and antiphonic schemes.