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In traditionalArabic music,maqam (Arabic:مقام,romanized: maqām, literally "ascent";pl.مقاماتmaqāmāt) is the system ofmelodic modes, which is mainlymelodic. The wordmaqam in Arabic means place, location or position. The Arabicmaqam is amelody type. It is "a technique ofimprovisation" that defines thepitches, patterns, anddevelopment of apiece of music and is "unique to Arabic art music".[1] There are 72heptatonictone rows orscales of maqamat.[1] These are constructed fromaugmented,major,neutral, andminor seconds.[1] Eachmaqam is built on ascale, and carries a tradition that defines its habitual phrases, importantnotes, melodic development andmodulation. Bothcompositions andimprovisations in traditional Arabic music are based on themaqam system.Maqamat can be realized with eithervocal orinstrumental music, and do not include arhythmic component.
An essential factor in performance is that each maqam describes the "tonal-spatial factor" or set ofmusical notes and the relationships between them, including traditional patterns and development ofmelody, while the "rhythmic-temporal component" is "subjected to no definite organization".[2] A maqam does not have an "established, regularly recurring bar scheme nor an unchanging meter. A certain rhythm does sometimes identify the style of a performer, but this is dependent upon their performance technique and is never characteristic of the maqam as such."[2] Thecompositional or ratherprecompositional aspect of the maqam is the tonal-spatial organization, including the number of tone levels, and the improvisational aspect is the construction of the rhythmic-temporal scheme.[2]
The designationmaqam appeared for the first time in the treatises written in the fourteenth century byal-Sheikh al-Safadi and Abdulqadir al-Maraghi, and has since been used as a technical term in Arabic music. Themaqam is amodal structure that characterizes the art of music of countries inNorth Africa, theNear East andCentral Asia. Three main musical cultures belong to the maqam modal family: Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.
The notes of a maqam are not always tuned inequal temperament, meaning that thefrequency ratios of successive pitches are not necessarily identical. A maqam also determines other things, such as thetonic (starting note), the ending note, and thedominant note. It also determines which notes should be emphasized and which should not.[3]
Arabicmaqamat are based on amusical scale of 7notes that repeats at theoctave. Somemaqamat have 2 or more alternative scales (e.g. Rast, Nahawand and Hijaz).Maqam scales in traditional Arabic music aremicrotonal, not based on a twelve-toneequal-temperedmusical tuning system, as is the case in modernWestern music. Mostmaqam scales include aperfect fifth or aperfect fourth (or both), and alloctaves are perfect. The remaining notes in amaqam scale may or may not exactly land onsemitones. For this reasonmaqam scales are mostly taught orally, and by extensive listening to the traditionalArabic music repertoire.
Since accurately notating every possiblemicrotonal interval is impractical, a simplifiedmusical notation system was adopted in Arabic music at the turn of the 20th century. Starting with achromatic scale, the octave is divided into 24 equal steps (24 equal temperament), where a quarter tone equals one-half of asemitone in a12 tone equally-tempered scale. In thisnotation system all notes in amaqam are rounded to the nearest quarter tone.
This system of notation is not exact since it eliminates many details, but is very practical because it allowsmaqamat to be notated usingstandard Western notation. Quarter tones can be notated using half-flats (
or
) or half-sharps (
). When transcribed with this notation system somemaqam scales happen to include quarter tones, while others don't.
In practice,maqamat are not performed in allchromatic keys, and are more rigid totranspose than scales in Western music, primarily because of the technical limitations ofArabic instruments. For this reason, half-sharps rarely occur inmaqam scales, and the most used half-flats are E, B and less frequently A.
The 24-tone system is entirely a notational convention and does not affect the actual precise intonation of the notes performed. Practicing Arab musicians, while using the nomenclature of the 24-tone system (half-flats andhalf-sharps), often still perform the finer microtonal details which have been passed down through oral tradition to this day.
Maqamat that do not include quarter tones (e.g. Nahawand, ‘Ajam) can be performed onequal-tempered instruments such as thepiano, however such instruments cannot faithfully reproduce the microtonal details of themaqam scale.Maqamat can be faithfully performed either on fretless instruments (e.g. theoud or theviolin), or on instruments that allow a sufficient degree of tunability and microtonal control (e.g. thenay, theqanun, or theclarinet). On fretted instruments withsteel strings, microtonal control can be achieved by string bending, as when playingblues.
The exact intonation of everymaqam changes with the historical period, as well as the geographical region (as is the case withlinguistic accents, for example). For this reason, and because it is not common to notate precisely and accurately microtonal variations from atwelve-tone equal tempered scale,maqamat are mostly learned auditorally in practice.
Each passage consists of one or more phases that are sections "played on one tone or within one tonal area," and may take from seven to forty seconds to articulate. For example, a tone level centered on g:[4]
The tonal levels, oraxial pitches, begin in the lower register and gradually rise to the highest at the climax before descending again, for example (in European-influenced notation):[5]
"When all possibilities of the musical structuring of such a tone level have been fully explored, the phase is complete."[5]
The central tones of a maqam are created from two different intervals. The eleven central tones of the maqam used in the phase sequence example above may be reduced to three, which make up the "nucleus" of the maqam:[6]
The tone rows of maqamat may be identical, such as maqam bayati and maqam 'ushshaq turki:[6]
but be distinguished by different nuclei. Bayati is shown in the example above, while 'ushshaq turki is:[6]
Maqamat are made up of smaller sets of consecutive notes that have a very recognizable melody and convey a distinctive mood. Such a set is calledjins (Arabic:جنس; pl.ajnāsأجناس), meaning "gender" or "kind". In most cases, ajins is made up of four consecutive notes (tetrachord), althoughajnas of three consecutive notes (trichord) or five consecutive notes (pentachord) also exist. In addition to other exceptional ajnas of undefined sizes.
Ajnas are the building blocks of amaqam. Amaqam scale has a lower (or first)jins and an upper (or second)jins. In most cases maqams are classified into families or branches based on their lowerjins. The upperjins may start on the ending note of the lowerjins or on the note following that. In some cases the upper and lowerajnas may overlap. The starting note of the upperjins is called thedominant, and is the second most important note in that scale after thetonic.Maqam scales often include secondaryajnas that start on notes other than the tonic or the dominant. Secondaryajnas are highlighted in the course ofmodulation.
References on Arabic music theory often differ on the classification ofajnas. There is no consensus on a definitive list of allajnas, their names or their sizes. However the majority of references agree on the basic 9ajnas, which also make up the main 9maqam families. The following is the list of the basic 9ajnas notated withWestern standard notation (all notes are rounded to the nearest quarter tone):
 ‘Ajam (عجم) trichord, starting on B♭ |  Bayati (بياتي) tetrachord, starting on D |  Hijaz (حجاز) tetrachord, starting on D |
 Kurd (كرد) tetrachord, starting on D |  Nahawand (نهاوند) tetrachord, starting on C |  Nikriz (نكريز) pentachord, starting on C |
 Rast (راست) tetrachord, starting on C |  Saba (صبا) tetrachord, starting on D |  Sikah (سيكاه) trichord, starting on E |
(for more detail seeArabic Maqam Ajnas)
It is sometimes said that each maqam evokes a specific emotion or set of emotions determined by thetone row and the nucleus, with different maqams sharing the same tone row but differing in nucleus and thus emotion. Maqam Rast is said to evoke pride, power, and soundness of mind.[7] Maqam Bayati: vitality, joy, and femininity.[7] Sikah: love.[7] Saba: sadness and pain.[8] Hijaz: distant desert.[7]
In an experiment where maqam Saba was played to an equal number of Arabs and non-Arabs who were asked to record their emotions in concentric circles with the weakest emotions in the outer circles, Arab subjects reported experiencing Saba as "sad", "tragic", and "lamenting", while only 48 percent of the non-Arabs described it thus with 28 percent of non-Arabs describing feelings such as "seriousness", "longing", and tension", and 6 percent experienced feelings such as "happy", "active", and "very lively" and 10 percent identified no feelings.[8]
These emotions are said to be evoked in part through change in the size of an interval during a maqam presentation. Maqam Saba, for example, contains in its first four notes, D, E, F, and G♭, two medium seconds one larger (160 cents) and one smaller (140 cents) than a three quarter tone, and a minor second (95 cents). Further, E and G♭ may vary slightly, said to cause a "sad" or "sensitive" mood.[9]
Generally speaking, eachmaqam is said to evoke a different emotion in the listener. At a more basic level, eachjins is claimed to convey a different mood or color. For this reasonmaqams of the same family are said to share a common mood since they start with the samejins. There is no consensus on exactly what the mood of eachmaqam orjins is. Some references describemaqam moods using very vague and subjective terminology (e.g.maqams evoking 'love', 'femininity', 'pride' or 'distant desert'). However, there has not been any serious research using scientific methodology on a diverse sample of listeners (whether Arab or non-Arab) proving that they feel the same emotion when hearing the samemaqam.
Attempting the same exercise in more recent tonalclassical music would mean relating a mood to themajor and minormodes. In that case there is some consensus that theminor scale is "sadder" and themajor scale is "happier".[10]
Modulation is a technique used during themelodic development of amaqam. In simple terms it means changing from onemaqam to another (compatible or closely related)maqam. This involves using a newmusical scale. A long musical piece can modulate over manymaqamat but usually ends with the startingmaqam (in rare cases the purpose of the modulation is to actually end with a newmaqam). A more subtle form of modulation within the samemaqam is to shift the emphasis from onejins to another so as to imply a newmaqam.
Modulation adds a lot of interest to the music, and is present in almost everymaqam-based melody. Modulations that are pleasing to the ear are created by adhering to compatible combinations ofajnas andmaqamat long established in traditionalArabic music. Although such combinations are often documented in musical references, most experienced musicians learn them by extensive listening.
Duringthe Islamic golden age this system influenced musical systems in various places. Some notable examples of this are the influence it had in theIberian peninsula while under Muslim rule ofAl-Andalus.Sephardic Jewish liturgy also follows the maqam system. The weekly maqam is chosen by thecantor based on the emotional state of the congregation or the weeklyTorah reading. This variation is called theWeekly Maqam. There is also a notable influence of the Arabic maqam onthe music of Sicily.[11]
Sources
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