Knowra Maqam Maqam A system of melodic modes in Middle Eastern music that organizes pitches, characteristic phrases, and expressive movement. Each maqam guides melodic development without prescribing a fixed harmony.
Jins (music) : A melodic unit of several pitches that forms a building block of many maqamat. A maqam often combines two ajnas, whose pitches and characteristic phrases shape its identity.
Seyir : The characteristic melodic course or pathway associated with a maqam. Seyir describes how a maqam typically rises, turns, and settles, distinguishing it from a pitch list.
Arabic music : A diverse set of musical traditions from Arabic-speaking societies. Maqam organizes melody across many Arabic musical genres and performance settings.
Western church modes : A set of historical diatonic modes used in Western liturgical and later musical traditions. Unlike maqam, these modes generally use the pitches of the diatonic scale and lack its characteristic melodic pathways.
Ottoman classical music : A courtly and urban musical tradition developed in the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman repertory and theory helped shape the makam tradition and its regional influence.
Quarter tone : An interval equal to half a semitone in the conventional twelve-tone equal-tempered system. Some maqamat use pitches between piano keys, though their tuning is not always an exact quarter tone.
Tahrir : A short melodic phrase used to establish or announce a maqam in performance. A tahrir can signal a maqam's identity through a recognizable opening gesture.
Turkish classical music : A learned art-music tradition shaped by Ottoman and later Turkish court and urban culture. Its instrumental and vocal repertories use makam as a central compositional and improvisational framework.
Raga : A melodic framework in Indian classical music that shapes pitch, ornament, and characteristic performance. Raga and maqam both guide melodic improvisation, but differ in theory, tuning, and musical practice.
Abbasid music : Music cultivated under the Abbasid Caliphate, especially in its major urban centers. Medieval Arabic musical theory and practice formed part of the historical background to later maqam traditions.
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