Introducing maqamat
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- Maqam:
- literally "place", "station".
- In music of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia: melodic mode (also sometimes a suite featuring a particular mode)
- Sometimes other names are used: dastgah in Iran, Tab` in North Africa
- Maqam in music: a transposable pitch collection, with:
- (1) tonal functions, including tonic, dominant, like major/minor, but adding also:
- (2) melodic patterns (opening, development [sayr], points of repose or tension, ornament, closing formulas)
- (3) "microtones"
- "Microtones" (the term is ethnocentric!)
- intervals outside the frame of 12TET (12 tone equal temperament)
- intervals outside the frame of low-integer "just" intonations (e.g. Pythagorean={2,3} or 5 limit={2,3,5}
- i.e. you can't find them on the tempered piano or Western just intonation instrument! (but they're on the violin and trombone!)
- Islamicate theorists like al-Farabi (872-950) struggled to reconcile these intervals with Greek theory, which insisted on integer ratios (Pythagoreans)
- al-Farabi's theorization of oud tunings in his day
- Due to these variables, the maqamat are numerous! (unlike our two primary scales: major/minor)
- a dozen or more in Egypt
- many dozens in Turkey
- depends on how they're grouped
- Maqam and jins
- Theorists conceive each maqam as constructed out of a number of smaller units, each one called "jins" (type) (plural: ajnas)
- Confusingly, the jins carry the same names as the maqamat.
- Usually each maqam centers on two primary jins: lower and upper
- The lower jins is rooted at the tonic, and gives its name to the maqam as a whole.
- The upper jins is rooted at the dominant.
- Modulation is possible, usually by varying the ajnas slightly (changing the lower jins without altering tonic/dominant, or changing the upper jins entirely)
- Saltana: getting the maqam stuck in your head! Today we'll try to generate some saltanah in bayati.
- Maqam Bayyati and its ajnas.
- Maqam is used in both composition and improvisation
- Purest expression is thought to appear in improvisations, which are mostly ametric, thereby focusing attention on the maqam
- taqasim: instrumental improvisation
- mawwal: vocal improvisation
- Compare the structure and sound of different ajnas
- Maqam Shuri and its ajnas.
- How about some ear training - Bayati, Nahawand, and Kurd
- Listen and identify the jins in these "violin" recordings (a taqsim opening I recorded on my Roli!)
- Sing and use this tuner to check your intonation
- Putting it together in a song: Ah Ya Hilu
- To learn more, see these resources:
- bit.ly/mename
- General theory
- PLUG: please join the Middle Eastern and North African Music Ensemble (Winter 2022) to learn more, by performing this music!