Mugham
| Azerbaijani Mugham | |
|---|---|
Azerbaijani mugham performers. Early 20th century
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| Country | Azerbaijan |
| Reference | 039 |
| Region | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2008 (3rd session) |
| Mugam | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins | Middle Eastern musical traditions |
| Cultural origins | ca. 9th-10th century |
| Typical instruments | Caucasian tar (lute), kamancheh, daf; earlier balaban and gosha-naghara |
| Subgenres | |
| Rast, Shur, Segah, Chahargah, Shushtar, Humayun, Bayati-Shiraz | |
| Fusion genres | |
| Jazz mugham, Symphonic rock mugham | |
| Music of Azerbaijan | |
|---|---|
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| General topics | |
| Genres | |
| Specific forms | |
| Traditional music |
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| Subgenres | |
| Media and performance | |
| Music festivals | |
| Music media | Medeniyyet TV |
| Nationalistic and patriotic songs | |
| National anthem | March of Azerbaijan |
Mugham or mugam (Azerbaijani: Muğam) is one of the many folk musical compositions from Azerbaijan, contrasting with tasnif and ashugs. Mugam draws on Arabic maqam.
It is a highly complex art form that weds classical poetry and musical improvisation in specific local modes. Mugham is a modal system. Unlike Western modes, "mugham" modes are associated not only with scales but with an orally transmitted collection of melodies and melodic fragments that performers use in the course of improvisation. Mugham is a compound composition of many parts. The choice of a particular mugham and a style of performance fits a specific event. The dramatic unfolding in performance is typically associated with increasing intensity and rising pitches, and a form of poetic-musical communication between performers and initiated listeners.
Three major schools of mugham performance existed from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the regions of Karabakh, Shirvan, and Baku. The town of Shusha of Karabakh was particularly renowned for this art.
A short selection of Azerbaijani mugham, played on the Azerbaijani wind instrument balaban, was included among many cultural achievements of humanity on the Voyager Golden Record, which was attached to the Voyager spacecraft to represent world music.
In 2003, UNESCO recognized mugam as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
In the course of its long history, the people of Azerbaijan have retained their ancient musical tradition. Mugham belongs to the system of modal music and may have derived from Persian musical tradition. The Uighurs in Xinjiang (新疆) call this musical development muqam, the Uzbeks and Tajiks call it maqom (or shasmaqom), while Arabs call it maqam and Persians dastgah.
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Wikipedia