Those who understand music take pleasure in it and are moved to sadness, while those who do not understand music marvel at it and find it impressive. -- Wang Bao (first c. b.c), Rhapsody on the Flute.

Sharouk first told me about the philosophy of music in Iraq. She said the music Iraqis love first speak to the sadness of life. Of course there is joy and pleasure and love. But music must, in order to move mountains and minds in Iraq, express infinite sadness.

She then points to Celine Dion as an example of a singer who embodies--in philosophy and form--the ideality of sadness. "My Heart Will Go On", the international mega hit song from the director James Cameron's film, Titanic, Sharouk tells me, reaches a summit of sadness higher than any song in recent memory.

There is a precedent for this philosophy of music. Though not explicitly, Adorno's philosophy of music nevertheless grappled with ideas of sadness and melancholia in the works of Bach andWagner.

Chinese literary essayist Qian Zhongshu writes about the philosophy of early Chinese Classical music and draws the same conclusion as Sharouk.