maqam

Noun

maqam (plural maqams or maqamat)

1. A modal structure characterizing the art of music of countries in North Africa, West Asia and Central Asia.
   • Elsewhere in the evening the young Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, who has studied both jazz and traditional Arabic maqam patterns and combines them in modal pieces for improvisers, demonstrated with his sextet (including an oud and a santoor, the Persian hammered dulcimer) how hungry jazz...2008 January 14, Ben Ratliff, “Jazz Showcase Fever Propels a Mini Marathon”, in New York Times
   • At 18, late for a professional musician, he took up the oud, studying the mysteries of the Iraqi maqam, the complex system of tonal sequences and improvisation passed from master to student.2008 May 1, Erica Goode, “A Fabled Iraqi Instrument Thrives in Exile”, in New York Times

   Synonyms:

   Nahavand