سماع — samāʿ, the art of listening

The Listening Hall

Three wings: the maqamat, the instruments, the dances.

This hall plays. In the first wing, the great Arabic maqamat are synthesised live with true quarter-tones — press play and hear the note a piano cannot find. In the second, six instruments speak in real recordings, one of them cut on shellac in 1931. In the third, four dances that carry music into the body. Every room is narrated. Take the guided tour and the hall will play itself.