Arab music, or West music?

Hans Sachetti: The music of the Western world is based on a 12-note scale. Without knowing a great deal about Middle-Eastern music, it would seem that there are at least 24 notes at play in Middle Eastern music.I have been involved in music for most of my life, and I don't think that the music of any one region or culture is derivative of the music from another.The cultural origins and influences of any song is a difficult thing to define. There is plenty of western music that borrows from Middle-Eastern musical ideas, but is not necessarily derivative of it. Is there much western influence on middle-eastern music? I don't know to be honest, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was. I don't think there was any part of the world that wasn't influenced by the Beatles to some degree... possibly Antarctica...Spanish music, with particular reference to flamenco guitar, has certainly influenced western music - it is a style that demands great musicianship, and you can recognise! a great deal of it in the progressive rock artists of the 70's, who served as an influence on music of the 80s, and thus also the 90s, and even this century. Don't get me started on the music of this century... the good music is out there, it just doesn't get radio or video airplay....Show more

Dale Mccoun: All why Westerns say that Arabs use the Western melodies and beats because of the electronic rhythms no more, and it's IMPOSSIBLE to consider this as Western, if you did that means you should consider the entire music as Western, most musicians use the electronic bass since it was invented, Spain has no self-made music it's all coming back to Arabs and some Celts.