Arabian Music: Maqam
المقامات
الموسيقيّه
To view a listing of all the Maqamat and their Scales,
Click Here
The Arabs are Semitic people; historical
facts on Arabic Music are as old as the political and cultural history of
the Arabs. The Earliest books on Arabic Music date from the eighth
century. Al-Kindi lived in the ninth century, and was the oldest of the
Arab Philosophers and scholars who wrote on music.
Contributions of immense importance to
the music theory and music culture of the Arab world were made by Al-Farabi,
Al-Isphahani, Ibn-Sina, Al-Urmawi, and Al-Maraghi.
The designation Maqam appears for the
first time in the treatises written in the fourteenth century by Al-Sheikh
Al-Safadi and Abdulqadir Al-Maraghi, and has since then been used as a
technical term in Arabic music.
The Maqam is a modal structure which
manifests a unique process of improvisation and characterizes the art of
music of a large part of the earth. This includes the countries of
North Africa, the Near East and Central Asia. In this extensive area
we can distinguish three main musical cultures which all belong to the modal
family, one of the great musical families of our time, namely the Turkish,
the Persian and the Arabian. An unmistakable relationship exists
between these three families in which the same modal structure is known as
Makam in Turkey, Destgah in Iran, Mugam in Azerbaijan, Shash Maqom in
Central Asia and Maqam in Arabic music.
The Main characteristic of this
structure is a fixed organization of the tonal space which is different in
every Maqam and reducible to a basic nucleus, thus determining the
tonal-spatial model of the Maqam.
The Maqam in Arabian music is a
musical structure that can be realized either vocally or instrumentally.
In either case there results an obligatory, fixed organization of the tonal
space, and a free rhythmic organization within which the melodic development
takes place.
Fixed motifs and particular note groups
in the melodic line are not considered as features of the Maqam, for these
motifs and figures can be different with each musician and depend on the
style of the soloist, the technical possibilities of the instrument, or the
musical ability of the singer. Because of the rhythmic freedom of the
Maqam the designation of "melodic line" is probably more appropriate
than "melody" since the outline of the tonal-spatial form of the Maqam is
distinguished by emphasizing certain tone centres and tone levels.
The development of the Maqam is based
mainly on a systematic exploration of the tone levels beginning with the
lower and moving toward the higher registers until a climax at the highest
tone level is reached. Each tone level can have one or two melodic
centres. The aim of the musician is to present these tone levels in a
correct order and to emphasize the characteristic intervals in each tone
level. The exploration of the resources of a tone level represents a
phase in the development of the Maqam and is achieved through the melodic
axis, a group of notes that encircles the central note, i.e. the axial note.
This axial note is at the same time the centre of the phase and the
determinant of the tone level. The form of the Maqam is thus like an
elaborate arch, the contour of which is determined in space by several note
levels. Each note of the Maqam can become the centre of tone level and
at the same time the centre of phase of the development. The
completion of such a contour depends on the ability, the virtuosity, and the
musicality of the performer.
The succession of the melodic forms
developed around axial notes explains the stepwise melodic line in a Maqam
and therefore the absence of wide leaps in Near Eastern melodic structure.
Source: The UNESCO Collection,
Modal music and improvisation. Written by: Habib Hassan Touma.
NOTE:
Comparative Arabic Music
set of Audio Disks contain a very detailed description of all of these
Maqamat, with an extensive set of musical examples to illustrate them.
To view a listing of all the Maqamat and their Scales,
Click Here
Further descriptions of Maqam
Maqâm
Another salient trait is the principal position of
Arab melody in Arab music and the absence of complex
polyphony, a phenomenon distinguishing music of this part of the world, and
a good portion of
Asia, from the music of
Europe
and certain areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. Instead, Arab music exhibits
refinement and complexity in the melody marked by subtle and intricate
ornaments and nuances. Melody in Arab music also incorporates
micro-tonality, namely intervals that do not conform to the half-step and
whole-step divisions of traditional Western art music.
The
concept of melody is commonly connected with modality, a conceptual
organizational framework widely known under the name Maqâm; plural,
Maqâmât). Each of the Maqâmât is based on a theoretical scale,
specific notes of emphasis, and a typical pattern of melodic movement, in
many instances beginning around the tonic note of the scale, gradually
ascending, and finally descending to the tonic. Although it is the basis for
various musical compositions, the Maqâm scheme may be best
illustrated through such non-metric improvisatory genres as the instrumental
solo known in Egypt and the Levant as
taqâsîm, vocal forms such as the layali and the
Mawwal, and religious genres such as Qur'anic chanting and the Sufi Qasidah.
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In
Egypt and the Levant, theorists divide the octave scale into small
microtones comparable to those discussed earlier by al-Farabi and
Safi
ad-Din. Several types of micro-intervals have been advocated, including the
comma division (roughly one-ninth of a whole step), which is found in some
Syrian theories. Yet, it is generally conceived that the Maqâmât are
based on a referential octave scale consisting of twenty-four equal
quarter-tones. Despite the essentially aural nature of Arab music, Western
notation has become fully established, and extra symbols are widely used. In
addition to the regular flat and sharp signs, the symbol flat with a
horizontal dash lowers a note by approximately a quarter tone while the
symbol sharp with one vertical line raises a note by roughly a quarter tone.
Following is a list of the scales of Maqâmât most often used in
Egypt and the Levant:
To
view a listing of all the Maqamat and their Scales,
Click Here
Source:
Courtesy of:
http//trumpet.sdsu.edu,
with permission from Dr. Jack Logan,
Professor of Music,
School of Music and dance,
San Diego State University
by
Ali Jihad Racy, Ph.D. and
Jack Logan, Ph.D.
NOTE:
Comparative Arabic Music
set of Audio Disks contain a very detailed description of all of these
Maqamat, with an extensive set of musical examples to illustrate them.
