Nidaa Abou Mrad: Lebanese Sparks Illuminate the Sorbonne

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Nidaa Abou Mrad: Lebanese Sparks Illuminate the Sorbonne

Nidaa Abou Mrad continues to uphold the torch of scientific excellence through pioneering research and prestigious collaboration between Antonine University and Sorbonne University.
The history of Lebanon has been shaped by visionaries who dared to dream beyond conventional paths and imposed borders. By climbing the ladders of success, they proudly lifted this tormented country to the heights of regional and international prominence. As this brilliance now seems a distant memory, we mourn a country whose grandeur seems to elude us, a country we feel we did not deserve. Lebanon of Henri Goraïeb, the Rahbani brothers, Fayrouz, Elie Choueiri and Bassam Saba; Lebanon of Mikhail Naimy, Gibran Khalil Gibran and Ghassan Tueni; Lebanon of Michael DeBakey, Peter Medawar and many others. As the country appears to be on the brink, some continue to fight, against all odds, to awaken it from its lethargy and prove to the world that Lebanon is not dead. Nidaa Abou Mrad is a perfect example of this.

Multidisciplinary research

Professor of Musicology, Medical Doctor and Dean of the Faculty of Music and Musicology at Antonine University (UA), Nidaa Abou Mrad has been appointed for two years to the Senior Professor Chair in Musicology, Neuropsychology of Music and Neuro-Music Therapy at Sorbonne University (SU) to carry out an innovative project focused on the theme “Music, Neuroscience and Therapy.” He was appointed to this role because of his research on the generative musical grammar of modal monodies and its relations to cognitive neuropsychology of music, but also thanks to his expertise in implementing music therapy teaching at UA. This expertise will be leveraged to establish a “Music and Therapy” master’s program at SU.
“I am delighted and honored by this appointment, which crowns my career while allowing me to continue my duties at the Faculty of Music and Musicology at UA,” says the musicologist to This Is Beirut. His work has led to the development of modal semiotic theory, which earned him the 2017 Scientific Excellence Award from the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS-L). This theory proposes a limited number of rules to describe and predict the development of musical compositions and meanings in various modal musical traditions. It has led to two hypotheses regarding the neurocognitive processing of modal music: the first links the overall emotion of a composition to its melodic scale structure and tempo, while the second connects the meaning of musical phrases to their deep structuring, which generates states of tension and relaxation, presumably perceived as such.

Therapeutic application

These hypotheses have been validated through experimental studies conducted with Lebanese and French children and youth, conducted under the direction of Nidaa Abou Mrad by researchers (Hayaf Yassine, Nathalie Abou Jaoudé, Carmen Saadé and Rawan Dimachki) from the Center for Research on Musical Traditions at UA, in collaboration with prominent researchers (Frédéric Billiet and Jean-Marc Chouvel) from the Institute for Research in Musicology (IReMus, SU and CNRS-F) and with support from CNRS-L. “Our teams have set up several protocols on the therapeutic application of these results in the areas of stress and pain reduction and rehabilitation, which are currently being carried out by our doctoral students, and which feed into the music therapy training provided by the Faculty of Music and Musicology at UA at both undergraduate and master’s levels,” emphasizes the researcher.
Furthermore, Nidaa Abou Mrad has developed the hypothesis of a generative musical grammar that is common in its deep structures across the three melodic systems (modal, pentatonic and tonal) and would produce meanings according to convergent patterns. He wishes to explore, with music neuropsychologists, the cognitive and emotional brain processing of the perception of these meanings, ensuring that the results of this research are implemented in therapeutic processes. “This is essentially the research project underlying my appointment at SU,” he clarifies.

North-South expertise

Nidaa Abou Mrad expresses his gratitude to the President of SU, Prof. Nathalie Drach-Temam, who created this Senior Professor Chair this year, and to the Director of the Music and Musicology Department, Prof. Frédéric Billiet, who supported his application. It was also endorsed by Dr. Théodora Psychoyou, Director of IReMus and Collegium Musicae, and by eminent emeritus professors Nicolas Meeùs and Jean During who recommended his candidacy. “I would particularly like to thank the Rector of UA, Father Michel Saghbiny, and the Secretary-General of UA, Father Ziad Maatouk, for their generous support,” he continues, “and express my gratitude to Viviane, my wife, for her crucial support.”
Professor Abou Mrad concludes, “What is notable in this cooperative process is that, unlike the usual North-South expertise model between France and Lebanon, this represents university expertise forged at UA, which will contribute to the development of a new path of interdisciplinary research and training at the Sorbonne. As a Lebanese academic, I can only be delighted.”