In traditional Arabic music, maqam (Arabic: مقام, romanized: maqām, meaning "ascent") is a system of melodic modes that focuses on melody. The word "maqam" in Arabic means place, location, or position. A maqam is a type of melody used in Arabic music. It is a method of improvisation that determines the notes, patterns, and development of a musical piece. This system is unique to Arabic art music. There are 72 different scales called maqamat, each made up of seven notes. These scales are built using specific musical intervals, such as augmented, major, neutral, and minor seconds. Each maqam is based on a scale and follows a tradition that includes its typical phrases, important notes, and how the melody grows or changes. Both composed and improvised music in traditional Arabic music uses the maqam system. Maqamat can be performed with either singing or instruments and do not include a fixed rhythm.

An important part of performing maqam is understanding the "tonal-spatial factor," which refers to the set of musical notes and how they relate to each other, including traditional patterns and how the melody develops. The "rhythmic-temporal component" does not follow a strict or fixed structure. A maqam does not have a regular repeating rhythm or a fixed meter. While a performer might use a certain rhythm that reflects their style, this is not a feature of the maqam itself. The tonal-spatial organization of a maqam includes the number of note levels, while the rhythmic-temporal structure is created during performance through improvisation.

Background

The term "maqam" first appeared in writings from the 14th century by al-Sheikh al-Safadi and Abdulqadir al-Maraghi. It has been used as a technical term in Arabic music since then. The maqam is a type of musical scale that defines the music styles of countries in North Africa, the Near East, and Central Asia. Three main musical cultures are part of the maqam modal family: Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.

Tuning system

The notes in a maqam are not always tuned using equal temperament, which means the sound differences between notes in order are not always the same. A maqam also decides the starting note (called the tonic), the ending note, and the dominant note. It also shows which notes should be given more importance and which should be less important.

Most Arabic maqamat are based on a scale with 7 notes that repeat every octave. However, some maqamat, like hijaz kar kurd, do not repeat at the octave. Some maqamat have two or more different scales, such as Rast, Nahawand, and Hijaz. Traditional Arabic maqam scales use microtonal intervals, which are smaller than the 12-note equal-tempered system used in modern Western music. Most maqam scales include a perfect fifth or a perfect fourth (or both), and all octaves are perfectly tuned. The other notes in a maqam scale may or may not match the small intervals called semitones. Because of this, maqam scales are usually taught by listening to traditional Arabic music and learning through oral instruction.

Notation

Because it is difficult to write down every tiny musical interval, a simpler system was used in Arabic music around the start of the 20th century. This system starts with a chromatic scale, which divides the octave into 24 equal parts (called 24 equal temperament). A quarter tone is half of a semitone in the 12-tone equal temperament scale used in Western music. In this system, all notes in a maqam are rounded to the closest quarter tone.

This system isn't perfectly precise because it simplifies many details, but it is very useful because it allows maqamat to be written using standard Western musical notation. Quarter tones can be written using half-flats ( or ) or half-sharps ( ). When written using this system, some maqam scales include quarter tones, while others do not.

In practice, maqamat are not played in all chromatic keys and are harder to transpose than Western scales, mainly because of the way Arabic instruments are built. Because of this, half-sharps are rarely used in maqam scales. The most common half-flats are E, B, and A, though A is used less often.

Intonation

The 24-tone system is a way of writing music and does not change the exact pitch of notes played. Arab musicians use the names of the 24-tone system (such as half-flats and half-sharps) but often play small pitch changes that have been passed down through spoken tradition over time.

Maqamat that do not include quarter tones (such as Nahawand and ‘Ajam) can be played on equal-tempered instruments like the piano. However, these instruments cannot accurately show the small pitch changes in a maqam scale. Maqamat can be played accurately on instruments without frets (such as the oud or violin) or on instruments that allow for precise tuning (such as the nay, qanun, or clarinet). On fretted instruments with steel strings, small pitch changes can be made by bending strings, as in blues music.

The exact pitch of each maqam changes over time and in different places, just like how accents in speech vary by region. Because it is uncommon to write precise small pitch changes from a 12-tone equal-tempered scale, maqamat are mostly learned by listening.

Each musical passage includes one or more sections called "phases," which are played on one tone or within one tonal area. These sections can take between seven and forty seconds to play. For example, a tone centered on G:

Tonal levels, or main pitches, start in the lower range, rise to the highest point at the climax, and then fall again. In European-style notation, this might look like:

"When all possible ways to arrange the music for a tone level are fully used, the phase is complete."

The main tones of a maqam come from two different intervals. In the example above, the eleven main tones of the maqam can be simplified to three, which form the "nucleus" of the maqam.

The tone patterns of some maqamat may be the same, such as maqam bayati and maqam ‘ushshaq turki, but they can be different because of their unique nuclei. Bayati is shown in the example above, while ‘ushshaq turki is:

Ajnas

Maqamat consist of smaller groups of notes played in order. These groups have a clear melody and express a specific mood. These groups are called jins (Arabic: جنس ; plural: ajnās أجناس ), which means "type" or "kind" in Arabic. Most jins include four notes (called a tetrachord). Some jins have three notes (trichord) or five notes (pentachord). Other jins with different numbers of notes also exist.

Ajnas are the basic parts of a maqam. Each maqam scale has a lower jins (first part) and an upper jins (second part). Maqams are often grouped into families based on their lower jins. The upper jins can start on the last note of the lower jins or the note after it. Sometimes, the upper and lower jins overlap. The first note of the upper jins is called the dominant. It is the second most important note in the scale, after the tonic. Maqam scales sometimes have secondary ajnas that start on notes other than the tonic or dominant. These secondary ajnas are used during modulation.

Different sources on Arabic music theory may classify ajnas differently. There is no agreement on a complete list of all ajnas, their names, or sizes. However, most sources agree on the basic 9 ajnas, which form the main 9 maqam families. The basic 9 ajnas are listed below using Western standard notation (notes are rounded to the nearest quarter tone): (for more details, see Arabic Maqam Ajnas).

Maqam families

• ‘Ajam – Also known as the Major Scale ‘Ajam (عجم), Jiharkah (جهاركاه), Shawq Afza (شوق افزا or شوق أفزا), Ajam Ushayran (عجم عشيران)
• Bayati – Bayatayn (بیاتین), Bayati (بياتي), Bayati Shuri (بياتي شوري), Husayni (حسيني), Nahfat (نهفت), Huseini Ushayran (حسيني عشيران)
• Hijaz – Also known as the Phrygian Dominant Scale Hijaz (حجاز), Hijaz Kar (حجاز كار), Shad ‘Araban (شد عربان), Shahnaz (شهناز), Suzidil (سوزدل), Zanjaran (زنجران), Hijazain (حجازين)
• Kurd – Also known as the Phrygian Scale Kurd (كرد), Hijaz Kar Kurd (حجاز كار كرد), Lami (لامي)
• Nahawand – Also known as the Minor Scale Farahfaza (فرحفزا), Nahawand (نهاوند), Nahawand Murassah (نهاوند مرصّع or نهاوند مرصع), ‘Ushaq Masri (عشاق مصري), Sultani Yakah (سلطاني ياكاه)
• Nawa Athar – Athar Kurd (أثر كرد), Nawa Athar (نوى أثر or نوى اثر), Nikriz (نكريز), Hisar (حصار)
• Rast – Mahur (ماهور), Nairuz (نيروز), Rast (راست), Suznak (سوزناك), Yakah (يكاه)
• Saba – Saba (صبا), Saba Zamzam (صبا زمزم)
• Sikah – Bastah Nikar (بسته نكار), Huzam (هزام), ‘Iraq (عراق), Musta‘ar (مستعار), Rahat al-Arwah (راحة الأرواح), Sikah (سيكاه), Sikah Baladi (سيكاه بلدي)

Emotional content

Each maqam is sometimes linked to specific emotions based on its tone row and nucleus. Different maqams can share the same tone row but have different nuclei, leading to different emotions. For example, Maqam Rast is associated with pride, power, and mental strength. Maqam Bayati is linked to vitality, joy, and femininity. Maqam Sikah is connected to love. Maqam Saba is tied to sadness and pain. Maqam Hijaz is associated with the feeling of a distant desert.

In an experiment, the same number of Arabs and non-Arabs listened to Maqam Saba and described their emotions in circles, with weaker emotions placed farther out. Arab participants often described Saba as "sad," "tragic," and "lamenting." Only 48% of non-Arabs used similar words. Instead, 28% of non-Arabs described feelings like "seriousness," "longing," and "tension," while 6% felt "happy," "active," or "very lively." Ten percent of non-Arabs said they felt nothing.

Emotions linked to maqams may partly come from changes in the size of musical intervals during a performance. For example, Maqam Saba’s first four notes—D, E, F, and G♭—include two medium seconds. One is slightly larger (160 cents) and one slightly smaller (140 cents) than a three-quarter tone, and a minor second (95 cents). The notes E and G♭ may shift slightly, creating a "sad" or "sensitive" mood.

Generally, each maqam is believed to evoke a unique emotion in listeners. At a simpler level, each jins (a basic melodic pattern) is said to convey a different mood or color. Because maqams in the same family begin with the same jins, they are thought to share a similar mood. However, there is no agreement on the exact emotions or moods of specific maqams or jins. Some sources use vague terms like "love," "femininity," "pride," or "distant desert" to describe them. No scientific studies have yet proven that listeners, whether Arab or non-Arab, consistently feel the same emotion when hearing the same maqam.

In modern tonal classical music, moods are often linked to major and minor scales. There is general agreement that the minor scale sounds "sadder" and the major scale sounds "happier."

Modulation

Modulation is a method used when developing a melody within a maqam. It means changing from one maqam to another (similar or closely related) maqam. This process uses a new musical scale. A long musical piece may move through many maqamat during its performance, but it usually ends with the original maqam (in some cases, the goal is to end with a new maqam). A less obvious type of modulation within the same maqam involves shifting the focus from one jins to another, creating the impression of a different maqam.

Modulation makes music more interesting and is found in nearly every melody based on maqamat. Successful modulations are created by following traditional combinations of ajnas and maqamat that have been widely accepted in Arabic music. While these combinations are often recorded in musical resources, many skilled musicians learn them through listening to music frequently.

Influence around the world

During the Islamic Golden Age, this system affected musical traditions in many areas. One example is its impact on music in the Iberian Peninsula during the time of Muslim rule in Al-Andalus. Sephardic Jewish religious music also uses the maqam system. The cantor selects a different musical scale each week based on the feelings of the congregation or the weekly Torah reading. This change is known as the Weekly Maqam. The Arabic maqam also influenced the music of Sicily.