Ataaba
[1] Popular in the Middle East, it was originally a Bedouin genre, improvised by a solo poet-singer accompanying themselves on the rababa.[2] As part of Arab tradition, ataabas are generally performed by a vocal soloist, without instrumental accompaniment, who improvises the melody using folk poetry for the verse.In urban settings, the ataaba is often paired with a metric choral refrain called a mījanā.These phrases are often a melodic curve beginning on the fourth or fifth, descending to the cadence and ending on the supertonic or tonic.[5] All ataabas are performed by a soloist, who often begins by singing a long melismatic phrase on the syllable ōf.