Maqam Kurd (Kurdi)

         Any body that has studied Arabic music knows that, to obtain the tonic of the minor scale, one descends one and a half steps below the Major tonic to obtain the minor.  However, if one moves up from the Major tonic by two sound steps, one obtains a new Maqam (Mode) (Scale  ).  This mode is called “Kurdi” as in the name Kurdish.  This Maqam is obtained from the old Persian Maqam “Si-kah” (Scale ), and the word Si-kah is composed of two words; Si, which means Three, and the word Kah which means sound, and the combination means the third sound or the sound produced on the third note (E).  We have obtained the “Kurdi” Maqam by playing Sikah (Scale ), and this sound is dissonant because it’s based on the Diatonic scale, which was modified (Tempered) for Western Instruments such as the Piano, Guitar and wind instruments. 

Let us hear an Improvisation on the Piano, of Maqam Kurdi,  by the Lebanese Artist Abdalla Shaheen (Piano  ). 

Maqam Kurdi

Watch & Listen to the Scale

Taqseem Kurd-Oud
Taqseem Kurd-Oud
Taqseem Kurd-Oud-R. Sunbati

Maqam Al-Sagah

Maqam Al-Sagah

We observe that this Maqam is related to Maqam “Al-Sagah” when we hear the Algerian Artist Mr. Iskendarani Playing “Al-Sagah” on the Piano.  That was played in a way that is not very encouraged in Arabic music (Piano ).  This style is exactly what happened in the Andalus. That is after the Arabs left Spain.  The Sagah was being played other than its original way, and with this, a well known maqam was born, It’s the “Flamenco”. 

Maqam Iraq

The Iraqi Maqam

There exists an old Maqam in Arabic music that is played on the third natural note Mi (E).  This Maqam is of Iraqi origin and differs from Kurdi by lowering its fifth note.  It’s said that the first to improvise on this Maqam is the Iraqi Artist Muhammad Qabbanji, and is considered the dean of this Maqam.  And here is an example (Taqseem Oud  ). 

      We go back to the Kurdi Maqam, and we see it transposed to the tonic Re (D) (Scale ).  This Maqam will then be composed of Kurdi tetrachord on Re (D), followed by a Nahawand Tetrachord on the fourth note Sol (G) (Scale ).  And here is an example, a Dour by the late Egyptian composer, Seyid Darweech. (Song: Ana hawiet ) 

Maqam Hijaz Kar Kurd

  Maqam Hijaz Kar Kurdi

      If we change the tonic of the Kurdi Maqam to the Key of Do (C) ( Scale ), its second Tetrachord becomes a Nahawand on Fa (F) (Scale ), and the name becomes “Hijaz Kar Kurdi”, and here is an example, a part of Samaii Hijaz Kar Kurdi composed by Dr. Salih Al Mehdi. (Samaii  )

         We go back to the “Hijaz Kar Kurdi” Maqam, and here is another example of this maqam (Ya Rasheeq Al-Qauam ).  The foregoing shows us that there is no difference between the Kurdi Mode and the Hijaz Kar Kurdi except the tonic where each one begins.  This is a pattern that prevailed during the time of the Ottoman Sultan Saleem the Third, who was a musician himself and a patron of music.  He died in the year 1808.  These similar modes with changed tonics are called  Shadd Maqamat, and a well known Maqam “Shadd Arban” which is wrongly called Shat Araban. 

 Maqam Hijaz Kar Kurdi

Watch & Listen to the Scale
 

Samaii Hijaz Kar Kurd
Samaii Hijaz Kar Kurd-Salih Al-Mehdi
Muwashah Yamurru Ajban: Sabah Fakhhri

Maqam Athar Kurdi

Athar Kurdi

We return to Hijaz Kar Kurdi Maqam (Scale ) which changes name if we raise its fourth note (Scale  ), and becomes “Athar Kurdi”.  Here is the second movement of Samaii Hijaz Kar Kurdi, by Dr. Salih Al Mehdi. (Samaii HKK  ) 

At times the Kurdi Maqam can be played in the Key Sol (G) , and here is the Fourth movement of  Bilady (my country) Symphony by Dr. Salih Al –Mehdi as an example. (Music  ) 

), It’s called Saba Kurdi (Oud  ).

Maqam Athar Kurdi

Maqam Hijaz Kar

Maqam Hijaz Kar

(Taqseem Oud )  We continue talking about scales and Maqamat that are compatible with the Diatonic scale, which can be played with Western instruments.  We Introduce the Hijaz kar Maqam, which is played in the key of Do, and has three tetra chords progressing upward as follows:  Hijaz Tetra chord on Do (Sample ), Hijaz on Sol (Sample ), then a Hijaz on the upper Do (Sample).  The last Tetra chord can be replaced with a Nahawand Tetra chord (Sample ), and this way we end up with two varieties of Hijaz Kar.  The First is on Middle Do (Sample ), and the Second, by replacing the Hijaz Tetra chord on the upper Do, with a Nahawand Tetra chord (Sample ).  And here is a good example of Hijaz Kar, a song by the late Um Kalthoum, composed by the Late Zakaria Ahmad, and is called (Ana Bintitharak )  We notice in this song, the usage of the second Tetra chord of Rast by the late Zakaria Ahmad.  Taqseem Hijaz kar on the Clarinet (Turkish Music ).  Then a (Muwashah ). 

Watch & Listen to the Scale
 

Longa Hijaz Kar
Taqseem Hijaz kar-Oud
Muwashah Zarani Almahboub- Sabah Fakhri

Maqam Shadd Arban

Maqam Shadd Arban

We notice that most Western Musicians who want to use Eastern Music resort to this Maqam. That is “Hijaz kar”, which is called “Char-Gah”.  In Turkey they transposed this Maqam to the Note Sol (G2) and called it “Shadd Araban”.  And here is an example of “Shadd Arban”, a Samaii composed by the Turkish Composer Jameel Biek, which was played throughout the Arab World in the first part of the last century.  (Samaii Shadd Arban ) The Shadd Araban was used extensively by contemporary composers such as Salvatore Arneetah of Lebanon, Azeez Shawwan of Egypt, Adnan Seiboun of Turkey, and Dr. Salih Al Mehdi of Tunis.
 

Watch & Listen to the Scale
 

Samaii Shadd Arban