Quran

Saudi Arabia · 610s

Chill Epic Dreamy Sentimental Sad

Your digging level

For this genre

0/8

🏆

Description

Qur'an recitation (tilāwa/qirāʾa) is the highly disciplined, melodically articulated oral rendering of the Islamic scripture in Classical Arabic. Practitioners do not regard it as "music" in a secular entertainment sense; rather, it is an act of worship governed by tajwīd rules that ensure perfect pronunciation, pacing, and clarity of meaning.

Despite that distinction, many listeners perceive its sonic features—nuanced phrasing, modal color, and controlled vibrato—as musical. Reciters often shape their delivery with melodic contours related to the Arabic maqām system while maintaining a free, speech-like rhythm. Performances range from measured murattal styles for study and daily devotion to more florid mujawwad styles in public or ceremonial contexts. The result is an emotionally expressive but strictly text-centered art of sacred vocal recitation.

Sources: Spotify, Wikipedia, Discogs, Rate Your Music, MusicBrainz, and other online sources

History

How to make a track in this genre

Best playlists

Best user-generated playlists

Main artists

Top tracks

Locked

Share your favorite track to unlock other users’ top tracks

Influenced by

Arabic Music

Arabic music is the modal, largely non-harmonic art and folk music tradition of Arabic-speaking societies across the Middle East and North Africa. It is centered on the maqam system (a constellation of scales, characteristic melodic phrases, and modulation pathways) and the iqa'at cycle-based rhythmic system. Its sound is defined by microtonal intervals (often featuring neutral seconds and micro-inflected pitches rather than equal-tempered quarter-tones), expressive melismas, and a heterophonic ensemble texture in which multiple instruments ornament the same melody simultaneously. Core instruments include the oud, qanun, nay, violin/kamanja, riqq, and darbuka/tabla, with larger firqa (orchestral) lineups common in 20th‑century Cairo. The tradition values poetic text-setting, extended improvisation (taqsim and layali), and the affective aesthetic of tarab—intense musical ecstasy and emotional transport.

Poetry

Poetry (as a recorded genre) centers on the spoken or performed recitation of verse, foregrounding voice, diction, rhythm, and imagery over conventional song structure. Performances may be entirely unaccompanied or framed by sparse accompaniment such as piano, strings, jazz combos, drones, or subtle sound design. Unlike broader spoken word, which can include storytelling, monologues, and comedy, poetry recordings focus on literary verse—metered, rhymed, or free—delivered with attention to prosody and poetic form. Releases range from archival readings by canonical poets to contemporary performance sets recorded in studios, classrooms, libraries, and clubs. The listening experience often emphasizes intimacy and textual clarity: microphones capture breath, cadence, and silence, while arrangements (if any) remain secondary to the poem’s language and pacing.

Ancient Music

Ancient music refers to the musical practices of the literate civilizations of antiquity (e.g., Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Levant, Persia, India, and China) before the medieval period. It is largely monophonic, text-driven, and modal, and survives today through a small corpus of notated fragments, theoretical treatises, iconography, and instrument remains. Its sound world is characterized by modal pitch systems (e.g., ancient Greek harmoniai built from tetrachords), rhythm tied to poetic meter, and timbres from lyres, harps, auloi (double-reed pipes), flutes, rattles/sistra, frame drums, and early lutes. Because authentic performance practice must be reconstructed, modern revivals rely on scholarship in archaeology, philology, and organology as much as on musical craft.

Arabic Classical Music

Arabic classical music is the art-music tradition of the Arabic-speaking world, built on the modal system of maqam and cyclical rhythmic modes called iqaʿat. It prioritizes ornate melody, nuanced intonation (including microtonal intervals), heterophonic ensemble texture, and a balance between composed forms and improvisation (taqsim). Core forms include the samaʿi (often in 10/8), longa (2/4), dulab (short prelude), muwashshah (strophic song), and the wasla (a multi-movement suite). The aesthetic of tarab—emotional ecstasy and deep musical rapture—guides performance and listening. Typical instruments include the ʿūd (fretless lute), qānūn (plucked zither), nay (end-blown flute), violin/kamanja, riqq (tambourine), and darbuka/tabla, often assembled as a takht (chamber ensemble) or, in later periods, the larger firqa (orchestra).

Has influenced

Islamic Religious Music & Recitation

Islamic religious music and recitation encompasses the sacred vocal arts of Islam, centered on Qur'an recitation (tilāwah/tajwīd), the call to prayer (adhān), devotional chant (dhikr), praise poetry (madīh, na‘t), and paraliturgical song traditions such as nasheed, qasidah, and Sufi samā‘. While many Muslims distinguish Qur'anic recitation from "music" and regard it as a unique sacred art bound by rules of tajwīd and pious intent, its sound-world overlaps with regional musical systems (especially the Arabic maqām tradition) through modal nuance, melisma, and ornamentation. Across regions, the genre ranges from unaccompanied, metrically free recitation and adhān, to percussion-accompanied nasheed, and to more elaborate Sufi traditions (e.g., qawwali) with call-and-response, rhythmic cycles, and ecstatic crescendos—all unified by devotional texts, ethical themes, and reverence for the divine.

Nasheed

Nasheed is a form of Islamic devotional song centered on the human voice and text. Traditionally performed a cappella or with minimal percussion (most commonly the frame drum/duff), it conveys praise of God, love of the Prophet Muhammad, ethical instruction, and communal or spiritual reflection. Stylistically, nasheed draws on melodic contours associated with Middle Eastern maqām traditions and favors clear diction, call-and-response refrains, unison choruses, and melismatic ornamentation. While a conservative practice discourages melodic instruments, a contemporary current permits fuller pop arrangements, resulting in a spectrum from austere, chant-like performances to polished, radio-friendly productions. Nasheeds are sung in many languages—Arabic, Urdu, English, Turkish, Malay/Indonesian, and others—allowing the genre to function as a global bridge between traditional religiosity and modern musical idioms.

Maddahi

Maddahi (Persian: مداحی) is a Shi'a Islamic devotional vocal tradition from Iran in which a lead eulogist (maddāh) chants praise (madīh) and elegies for the Prophet Muhammad and the Ahl al-Bayt, especially during Muharram and other mourning observances. It foregrounds the voice as the principal instrument, often supported by collective responses, rhythmic chest-beating (sinehzani/latm), and, in some regions or modern contexts, restrained percussion. Melodically, maddahi draws on the Persian dastgāh modal system and flexible recitative intonation. Texts are poetic and rhetorically charged, moving between encomium and lament, and are designed to activate communal memory and catharsis through repetition, crescendos, and call-and-response. Performances occur in mosques, ḥosseinīyehs, shrines, neighborhood gatherings, and processions. The style ranges from intimate unaccompanied recitation to amplified, stadium-scale renditions, yet its core remains devotional message, communal participation, and emotionally intense delivery.

Qawwali

Qawwali is a Sufi devotional vocal music from the Indian subcontinent that aims to evoke spiritual ecstasy and communal devotion. It is typically performed by a lead singer (qawwal) with a small ensemble of accompanying vocalists, harmoniums, handclaps, and percussion such as dholak and tabla. Musically, Qawwali blends raga-based melodic frameworks and flexible, improvisatory singing with driving rhythms and responsorial choruses. Texts are drawn from Urdu, Persian, Punjabi, and other North Indian languages, and include ghazals, kafis, hamds (praise of God), naats (praise of the Prophet), and manqabats (praise of Sufi saints). Performances traditionally take place at Sufi shrines (dargahs), where repetition, call-and-response, and gradual intensification lead listeners toward wajd (states of spiritual ecstasy). In the modern era, Qawwali is also heard on concert stages, recordings, and film.

Islamic Modal Music

Islamic modal music refers to the interconnected family of modal systems that developed across the Islamic world, most prominently the Arabic maqam, the Persian dastgāh/radif, the Ottoman-Turkish makam, the Maghrebi nuba, and the Central Asian shashmaqam. These systems share core ideas: a repertoire of modes built from characteristic scale fragments (ajnas or tetrachords), microtonal intervals beyond Western 12-tone equal temperament, recognizable melodic paths (seyir or sayr), and cadential formulas. Music is primarily monophonic and heterophonic, with melody and timbre taking precedence over functional harmony, and it is articulated through cyclical rhythms (iqāʿāt/usûl) and highly developed improvisation (taqsim, taksim, avaz).

Challenges

Digger Battle

Let's see who can find the best track in this genre