Syrian Cantors - Maqamat

Maqamat

The maqam system is characteristic of, and can be used to classify, all Arabic music.

The term maqam has various shades of meaning. On the most basic level, a maqam is a musical scale. A few of these consist of steps of a whole tone and half a tone in the same way as the Western diatonic scale. Others also admit steps of one and a half tones, like the Western harmonic minor and the steiger of Ashkenazic cantorial practice. The majority include one or more three-quarter tone steps, this being the distinguishing characteristic of Arabic and other Middle Eastern music.

In addition to the scale used, each maqam has different conventions governing which note of the scale predominates, which note a melody must end on and the characteristic melodic turns of phrase; thus there can be two or more maqamat using the same basic scale. Each maqam has a different flavor or mood, which is meant to provoke certain moods, thoughts, and emotions. Due to that fact and the myriad of possible combinations, there are over one hundred maqamat, each named after its supposed city or region of origin in the Middle East. (This may be compared with the geographical terms such as "Dorian" and "Phrygian" used for the modes in ancient Greek music.) Approximately ten of these maqamat are in widespread use in the Syrian Jewish community.

In yet another meaning, maqam can be used for an improvised instrumental cadenza using a given musical mode (the vocal equivalent is called a mawwal, and is used for the petiħot interspersing the baqashot service).