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
  • Putting it together in a song: Ah Ya Hilu
  • To learn more, see these resources:
  • PLUG: please join the Middle Eastern and North African Music Ensemble (Winter 2022) to learn more, by performing this music!