Okay, historians & early music people, help me out here.

Mister came by a very cool CD of Renaissance/pre-Renaissance music by a German group called Wolgemut. Some of the tunes are obviously European, but others seem to have an Arabic/Middle Eastern influence to them. (great for belly dancing!)

But I got to thinking, and here's what I want to know.... how much did Middle Eastern culture influence European early music? The Moors occupied a large piece of Europe, as did the Ottoman Turks, plus a lot of Europeans traveled to the Holy Land during the Crusades.

Any and all contributions made in good faith are welcome and appreciated.

Many thanks ----- KFC