Fawad - 2-28-2006 at 09:07 PM
Im doing research on Maqam Hijaz, for recitation in particular, and one thing that ive come across is that the jins is what gives the 'feel' of hijaz.
The jins being the half, 1.5 and half note intervals (is that right?). What I would like to know is if you leave out the jins in any composition
(recitation) of Hijaz, does it still count as Hijaz? How would I then be able to differentiate between this and any other Maqam?
Ibn_Rushd - 2-28-2006 at 10:05 PM
Fawad,
I am not an expert on this matter, however, I know that the Jins Hijaz is defined to be the tetrachord with D Eb F# G. Of course you can transposed it
to any other note you would like, as long as you keep the intervals between the notes intact. This jins has a unique feel since it is (along with
Nawa'athar) are the only two *common* ajnas that contain a minor third interval (1.5 note). To form a maqam within the hijaz family you have to
cascade it with a higher jins (typically Rast on G ascending and Nahawand on G descending) to form the known Hijaz maqam. Other maqams in the same
family are Hijaz Kar, Shadd Araban, Shahnaz, Suzidil and Zanjaran. They all have a Jins Hijaz as a lower jins. I heard that westerners call maqam
Hijaz the "Gypsy Scale" but I am not sure. If you change the intervals between the notes of the jins Hijaz (1-1.5-1) you would lose the integrity of
that jins and you would be playing in some other maqam.
Note: in practice the 1.5 step is normally narrowed by lowering the F# by a Koma and raising the Eb by a Koma. Any thoughts on this?
Hatem_Afandi - 3-1-2006 at 11:20 AM
Hi guys,
I received this book that explains the details of 45 musical maqams.
http://www.musicalmissions.com/teachingCDs.html
I do recommend it for anyone who is studying Arabic music in his own and needs a quick reference.
Good luck,
Hatem
Vince Millett - 3-3-2006 at 07:20 AM
There is some great info on all the Arabic maqamat here:
Maqam World
This site lists all the maqamat, with audio files of them being played on various instruments and real-life examples from recordings too.