The Arabic maqam

A maqam is more than a scale. It is a way of making melody: a scale, the phrases that habitually go with it, the turns to other maqamat it allows, its ornaments and its sense of beauty. This page gathers what our sources say about the Arabic maqam as a system; the map of the modes shows each maqam and what connects it to the others.

The Arabic maqamat on the map of the modes →

Scale, path and character

MaqamWorld describes the Arabic maqam as a system of scales, habitual melodic phrases, modulation possibilities, ornamentation techniques and aesthetic conventions, which together make a melodic framework and an artistic tradition. The course a melody takes within that framework, composed or improvised, is called sayr, its path.^1,2

A maqam has no rhythm or metre of its own: it governs the notes and how the melody moves among them, not its time.³

The jins, the building block

A jins (plural ajnas; the word means kind) is a fragment of three, four or five notes. It is the basic melodic unit of Arabic music: a maqam is a path among ajnas. A jins is defined by its intervals, which stay the same on whatever note it is placed, and they give it its character.^3,4,5

Three of its notes have names. The tonic (qarar, also rukuz) is where the melody comes to rest, usually the jins's first note. The ghammaz is the note most emphasised after the tonic, and where the next jins usually begins. The leading tone (hassas) is the note just below the tonic. The notes from the tonic to the ghammaz are the jins's basic scale; most ajnas also use notes beyond it, below the tonic and above the ghammaz, and with them make up their extended scale.^4,5

MaqamWorld describes 24 ajnas. By size:⁴

3 notes: Mustaʿar مُستعارSikah سيكاه
4 notes: Bayati بياتيHijaz حجازHijaz Murassaʿ حجاز مرصّعKurd كُردLami لاميUpper ʿAjam عجم اعلىUpper Rast راست اعلى
5 notes: ʿAjam عجمʿAjam Murassaʿ عجم مرصّعAthar Kurd أثر كُردJiharkah جهاركاهNahawand نهاوندNikriz نكريزRast راستSazkar سازكار
of no set size: Hijazkar حجاز كارMukhalif Sharqi مخالف شرقيNahawand Murassaʿ نهاوند مرصّعSaba صَباSaba Dalanshin صَبا دَلَنشينSaba Zamzam صَبا زَمزَمSikah Baladi سيكاه بلدي

References differ on the list of ajnas, their names and their sizes; most agree on nine basic ones, which are also the main maqam families.³

How a maqam is built

A maqam's scale is two, sometimes three, ajnas chained together. The first jins starts on the maqam's tonic; the second starts on the first one's ghammaz, usually its last note, and a third on the second one's ghammaz. The maqam takes its intervals, its melodic behaviour and its mood from these ajnas.^1,2

Most maqam scales have seven notes that repeat at the octave, the jawab; a few run beyond the eighth note, and in a few the eighth note is not the octave of the first.^1,2

The upper jins may start on the last note of the lower one or on the note after it, and the two may overlap; a scale often holds secondary ajnas on other notes too. Some maqamat, Rast, Nahawand and Hijaz among them, have two or more scales.³

Families

Maqamat are grouped into families by their first jins, the root (jins al-asl), which does most to define a maqam's character. A family takes the name of its root jins; its most common maqam usually has the same name, and the others, each with an upper jins of its own, are its branches.^1,2

Rast family راست: Rast راستMahur ماهورSuznak سوزناكSazkar سازكارDilnashin دلنشينKurdan كردانYakah يكاهSuzdalara سوزدلارا
Sikah family سيكاه: Huzam هزامSikah سيكاهSikah Baladi سيكاه بلديRahat al-Arwah راحة الأرواحIraq عراقBastanikar بستة نكارMusta'ar مستعارAwj Iraq أوج عراق
Bayati family بياتي: Bayati بياتيShuri شوريHusayni حسينيMuhayyar محير
Hijaz family حجاز: Hijaz حجازHijaz Kar حجاز كارZanjaran زنجرانShadd Araban شد عربانShahnaz شهنازSuzidil سوزدل
Nikriz family نكريز: Nikriz نكريزNawa Athar نوا أثرAthar Kurd أثر كرد
Nahawand family نهاوند: Nahawand نهاوندFarahfaza فرحفزاNahawand Murassa نهاوند مرصعUshaq Masri عشاق مصري
Kurd family كُرد: Kurd كردHijaz Kar Kurd حجاز كار كرد
ʿAjam family عجم: Ajam عجمAjam Ushayran عجم عشيرانShawq Afza شوق أفزا

MaqamWorld counts five maqamat that share their first jins with no other and so belong to no family: Jiharkah, Lami, Saba, Saba Zamzam and Sikah Baladi.^1,2

Quarter tones, written and played

Arabic maqam scales are not tuned to the twelve equal semitones of Western music. Since about the turn of the twentieth century they have been written by dividing the octave into 24 equal steps and rounding every note to the nearest quarter tone: a half-flat (as in E½♭) lowers a note by a quarter tone, a half-sharp raises it by one. The half-flats used most are on E and B, less often on A; half-sharps are rare.^3,6

That notation is a convention. Musicians who write half-flats still play finer differences handed down by ear, and the exact intonation of a maqam changes with the period and the region, much as accents do in speech; for that reason maqamat are mostly learned by listening.³

Maqamat without quarter tones, such as Nahawand and ʿAjam, can be played on a piano, though without their finer intonation; the others need the oud, the violin, the nay, the qanun or another instrument that can shade its pitch.³

Moving between maqamat

Changing from one jins or maqam to another is modulation (intiqal), and the ghammaz is its usual starting point. A long piece may pass through many maqamat and usually returns to the one it began with; a subtler modulation stays in the maqam and moves the weight from one jins to another. Which moves sound right is long-established tradition: documented in references, but mostly learned by listening.^3,5

Moods

Each maqam is often said to carry a mood: Rast pride and strength, Bayati vitality and joy, Sikah love, Saba sadness, Hijaz the distant desert. Wikipedia, which gives these examples, also notes that there is no consensus on them, and little serious research.³

In prayer and chant

Sephardic Jewish liturgy follows the maqam system: each week the cantor chooses the maqam of the prayers, by the Torah reading or by the mood of the congregation.³

Arabic Wikipedia notes its wide use in religious chant: Qurʾan recitation, the call to prayer and Sufi singing, where Bayati is heard most, then Rast and Saba.⁶

Neighbours

The same names run through the Turkish makam, with a theory of its own: its steps are counted in commas, nine to a whole tone.^1,7

Persian dastgahs line up with Arabic maqamat too: Shur and Abu Ata with Bayati, Mahur and Rast-Panjgah with ʿAjam, Segah with Sikah and Iraq, Chahargah with Hijaz Kar.⁸