An Investigation into the Tonal Structure of the Maqamat

The maqamat of Arab music are generally understood as melody types, similar to the Hindu ragas and the Greek nomoi . Yet, modern theory tends to treat them quite abstractly as scales in the Western sense. Even learned Arab musicians, when asked about the interrelationships of different songs in a given maqam , will point to a scale comprised of fixed interval relationships as the only binding factor, seemingly undisturbed by the fact that the improvisatory sections of songs—for instance, their openings or interludes like the ya-leil or the maual —are clearly based on specific melody types. The basic studies of Idelsohn, Farmer and others, though discussing various aspects of the maqamat , say little about the nature of the living music. Hampered by the lack of precise tools of measurement, these pioneers failed to answer a number of pertinent questions. For example, do all songs written in a particular maqam share common melodic elements, and, if so, to what extent are these fixed for a particular social group ? Such patterns might be of many different types, possessing the most varied tonal and rhythmic characteristics.