The Maqam Phenomenon: An Improvisation Technique in the Music of the Middle East

Abstract

The maqam represents a unique improvisatory process in the art music of a large part of the world. Geographically this region includes the countries of North Africa, the Near East and Central Asia; in other words, a territory which for more than a thousand years has been dominated and influenced by the Arabs and their culture. In this vast area, three principal spheres of musical culture can be distinguished, namely, the Turkish, Persian and Arabian, in which the maqam phenomenon is widely cultivated. In Turkey this musical form is called makam; in Azerbaijan mugam; in Uzbekistan shashmaqom; in Iran dastgah; and in the Arab world maqam. In order to render a clear and comprehensible account of this phenomenon, it is above all necessary to avoid the definitions and technical terms used in European music and to rid oneself of the opinions expressed by European writers on this subject. This phenomenon can certainly be most aptly illustrated and determined by a description of its latent structural elements, i.e., those underlying principles which are common to the three musical cultures mentioned above. The development of a maqam is always determined by two primary factors: space (tonal) and time (temporal). The structure of a maqam depends upon the extent to which these two factors exhibit a fixed or free organization. The tonal-spatial component is organized, molded, and emphasized to such a degree that it represents the essential and decisive factor in the maqam; whereas the temporal aspect in this music is not subject to any definite form of organization. In this unique circumstance lies the most essential feature of the maqam phenomenon, i.e., a free organization of the rhythmic-temporal and an obligatory and fixed organization of the tonal-spatial factor. A waltz, for example, is characterized mainly by its temporal organization, whereas its tonal-spatial structure is not subject to any rules. The composer invents his melody (i.e., the tonal-spatial component), adapts it to a pre-existing rhythmic pattern which he has not invented, and gives it a title to which he adds his signature. Therefore the tonal-spatial layout is different in every waltz, while the rhythmic-temporal organization is fixed. In the European cultural sphere, most musical forms are not subject to any particularly distinct and established tonal-spatial arrangement which would