Introducing maqamat

• 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
  • Bayati
  • Nahawand
  • Kurd
• 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!