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Maqamat Varieties
We will talk about
the musical Maqamat, and it is the plural of Maqam. In the Arab
North Africa it’s called Tabie (the plural is Tuboo) and the word also
means the nature of man and his character. It is possible that the
usage of the name Tuboo indicates the close relationship between music
and the human nature and behavior. And this relationship was
discussed by many of the old literature.
We will divide our
discussion about Maqamat into four groups:
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Maqamat
(Scales) that are common to western music and that can be played with
western instruments, namely:
The Major Scale, the Minor Scale and
Maqamat that can be played on Western
Instruments
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Maqamat
that have small sound divisions (quarter tones) which can not be played
with conventional western instruments
(except none fretted and string
instruments),
namely:
Maqam Rast and its derivatives. Maqam Bayati and its derivatives
Other Maqamat that are common to Rast and Bayati
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Maqamat with an African character, mainly the Pentatonic Scale.
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Maqamat
that combine the pentatonic Scale with small sound divisions (quarter
tones). We find these Maqamat in the music of Andalus
preserved in Arab North Africa, and sounds of the Arabian Peninsula and
the Persian Gulf.
Please see
Table of Contents for more details
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