Frame Drum

Regarding the idea of music in Islam, the origins of popular music should be addressed. In the early days of Islam, there was a well-known instrument most commonly played by women: the frame drum. The frame drum is a portable, single-headed, round instrument that is played with the bare hands. These drums were present in numerous societies, namely in B.C.E. Mesopotamia, Egyptian New Kingdom dynasties, Palestine, Greek and Roman Empires, and Arabian and Persian cultures. Discussed in her essay, “The Frame Drum in the Middle East: Women, Musical Instruments and Power,” Victoria Doubleday claims that the frame drums are strongly associated with Middle Eastern women. She notes the mere remarkability of the situation as in most regions, drumming

Males use the prescribed statuses (and their corresponding rights, privileges, and powers) of women to exclude women from music-making. In the Middle East, the woman’s role in her family and social relationships is crucial. Ergo, women have been discouraged from gathering communally to produce music, which has further hindered the likelihoods of collective music-making. Not only have men used social norms to restrain women from the public sphere of music, but they have applied theology as well. Many male Muslim scholars have ascribed negative powers to music, saying it may “cause human beings to lapse into sin” (Doubleday, 104). This kind of mentality became prominent immediately after the death of the Prophet Muhammad. After Muhammad’s death, women’s place in the realm of music became acutely renounced. Women then became easy targets for Muslim males looking to enforce new principles or standards of social conduct. Within all of this commotion, prominent Muslims campaigned against music, indicating the emergency of the male professional musician (Doubleday, 112). Consequently, the implementation of male economic interests has led to the stigmatization of amateur (and professional) women’s music. Thus, women’s music has nearly been eradicated from public

Doubleday argues, “virtually all musical activity is segregated according to gender; men dominate religious, classical and radio music, leaving only music to be shared with women; and men have inhibited women from playing almost all musical instruments” (116). Denied access to their profession, female creativity has become degraded in certain regions. In response to this segregation and degradation, women have resorted to using the frame drum to produce informal music within the privacy of their all-women domestic space. However, this space is still under surveillance of male authority. It is “bad” to play when men are at home, as they should not be disturbed by such practices (Doubleday, 116). Albeit many instances of women’s music-making may be limited to the home, there are still forms of public music-making, many practiced by