Where else can I read about Middle Eastern rhythm history?
Check the bibliography of my notes for a class I taught on documenting rhythmic modes in pre-1600 Middle Eastern music. Here’s a bibliography from the Encyclopedia Britannica. If you primarily read English (like me), you are not going to find much on this subject. Henry George Farmer has a number of books on Arabic music history and theory (some of them in English). He does not present much about rhythm — as I mentioned there is apparently not a lot to find. Jean During (a modern westerner who studies traditional Persian music) has written about Persian music theory in both English and French. “The Art of Persian Music” is sort of a coffee table book but contains a bit of interest about Persian rhythm tradition as well as good overview of Persian music. There is a book “The Music of the Arabs” by Habib Hassan Touma — he includes some rhythmic mode definitions, although I’m leery about a few of his rhythmic notations. He also includes historical notes about music development. The Moda
