The True Story of Maqam: Lesson 33: Maqam Iraq & Seret El Hob مقام عراق:سيرة المقام و سيرة الحب

Support me on Patreon: / samiabushumays
(supporters also get additional practice lessons)
Follow me
TikTok: vm.tiktok.com/TTPdjWFu88/
Instagram: / abushumays
See more info and musical examples of Maqam Iraq at:
maqamworld.com/en/maqam/iraq.php
You can buy the book Inside Arabic Music (co-Authored by Johnny Farraj and myself) here or at other online stores: global.oup.com/academic/produ...

[@HarmoniumSumant]

Priceless KZbin channel !!!💐💐💐 Cant thank you enough for all your hardwork and pains you have taken to record all this.

[@jasonmunger4206]

These videos are the best, I’ve been studying madam off and OB for years and learned more in an hour w Sami than-in years before with other Fantastic the best pay attention bc these videos are quite information rich and merit multiple viewing Cok teshekuler Sami M

[@abushumays]

Thank you so much!

[@camtaylormusic]

I've just come back to your series after a pretty long break, and this is incredible. Really fantastic playing and melody, and moving music (in both senses of the word)! Love it. Don't think I'd really felt Sikah as a tonic properly until now. Really getting a lot out of this so far, and I'm only 13 minutes in!

[@hamzehatasheneh4356]

Loved it

[@nafezqanadilo9150]

Wishing you a happy holidays season, and thanks for the wonderful lesson and video.

[@KRISHNATOSCANA]

1960's Cairo. A nippy December night. Passionate Egyptians huddled up as notes of ethereal jasmine, amber and rose fill the air and affectionately earthy Egyptian Arabic exudes fiery enthusiasm for the much awaited Kawkab Ash Sharq to take the stage. And then....THIS happens!!!. You have infused the soul of the culture into us disciples Ya Ustadh, not just the music🎶. Tabaarak Allah .

[@mikeletterst9882]

Wonderful

[@KRISHNATOSCANA]

Is Umm Kulthum's classic 'Ya Fuaadi la tas'al 3n El Hawa (Atlaal I presume?) in Maqam al Iraq? Or would it be Huzam?

[@RusNad]

I think it's in Huzzam and apart from Sikah and Hijaz it has more Saba (ya habibi in zortu yawman aykahu), Nahawand (aateni horriyati atleq yadaya) and Rast (wa min al shawqi rasulun baynana) than Bayati as far as I recall.

[@camtaylormusic]

Coming back to this again, singing and listening along it's hard for me not to hear "6" (the Nahawand/Rast/higher Hijaz tonic) as the tonic for so much of the song. How does the average non-instrumentalist Arabic listener hear their way around here? Even with so much activity from the 6th, do they mostly still priorotise the Sikah on 1 and possibly Bayati on 3 in their minds over 6? If left to my own devices without instruction I think I would audiate everything around that Nahawand tonic, and even hear what you called the 6 below the tonic and the flat 1 as simply a low octave tonic and b3. I guess that's because I'm much better at audiating a Nahawand or Rast tonic than Bayati, Sikah and even Hijaz...?

[@RusNad]

The sikah tonic tends to be strongly emphasised and has a characteristic resolution, 6 can be a secondary tonic but in maqam huzam, iraq etc. the resolution to sikah is stronger. People are encultured to it, because it's so classic (see el ward gamil, el atlal, fat al maad and a million other famous songs)

[@KRISHNATOSCANA]

I do find that the second and the third scale degrees of Sigah sound a quarter tone lower than natural. Would that be right? I do understand that it is the third scale degree (se-gah) of Rast. But looking at Sigah as it is...Would this be correct?

[@camtaylormusic]

I've found there are no exact quarter-tones, and exactly equal quarter-tone divisions of the usual tuning into 24 equal parts doesn't do most of the melodies a great service. I've found for Rast a third of around 355c fantastic, and 350-360c good. (400c is the equally tempered major third, and 350c is the equally tempered neutral third, or "major third lowered by a quarter-tone"). I don't tend to change my intonation from Rast C D Ed F G to Sikah Ed F G, so that means we have from the Sikah tonic ideally something like 0 143 347c, or roughly 0c 138-148c 342-352c. That's with fixed tuning, from someone who's only just starting to learn this stuff and doesn't have nearly enough vocab. Sami is a master at this, and even though I can hear there are slight variations, there are definitely stylistic things that happen consistently, e.g. in Hijaz, typically the second and third are both slightly flatter than they would be in equal temperament, e.g. on a piano or guitar, thus the first leading tone between 1-b2 is rather narrow while the other between 3-4 is much wider.

[@KRISHNATOSCANA]

@@camtaylormusic Your insight seems amazingly precise. In my field, Indian music, we seldom use quarter tones, flats are common though, and quarters go unnoticed. Ustadh Sami is the BEST source for Maqam learning we have on the net and his style, knowledge and patience are remarkable

[@camtaylormusic]

@@KRISHNATOSCANA In my experience, although the number of tones/pitches and modulations in much Hindustani Indian music seems to be much fewer than in Arabic music, the intonation of those pitches is generally very precise, e.g. placement of Tivra Ma in certain Ragas like Marwa (very low), Yaman (slightly low) and Todi (often a little higher?), and placement of Komal Re in Marwa (very low) Todi (low), and Bhairavi (slightly higher). The intonation of most pitches except for Sa and Ga changes a bit depending on the Raga, with the shruti/comma system providing one explanation. In general, the intonation in Carnatic music seems much more flexible, with so many pitch ornamentations that I cannot often get as solid of a sense of pitch centre.

[@KRISHNATOSCANA]

@@camtaylormusic That is quite correct. A student of Hindustani music is not taught the komals and the tivras with extra emphasis on exactly how low or high they should be. Although the slightly higher and lower komals do exist sometimes, its a matter of getting it correct through years of intense listening, learning and practice. Have you been learning Hindustani music?

[@camtaylormusic]

@@KRISHNATOSCANA just listening and experimenting. I should really learn a bit more but haven't devoted enough time and energy to it yet to understand for example the order of pitches to be introduced, or ways to ornament a melody. I've enjoyed reading about it in a few booka, and do plan on eventually learning how to sing at least a couple of Ragas. Marwa feels quite magical.

[@GlennFiddles]

Very very nice lesson. If you want to hear more Ottoman repertoire in this maqam, check out this show produced by Fikret Karakaya, it starts with a beautiful taksim on kemençe by Tanburi Cemil Bey: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eHSxo5-lis6hhqc Ps what is the transliteration of the for song you mention in this lesson before Seret El Hob?