IRAQ – LEBANON Arabian Music - Maqam – UNESCO Musical Sources – Philips 6586 006

IRAQ – LEBANON 
Arabian Music - Maqam – UNESCO Musical Sources – Philips 6586 006, published 1971 (LP)

We now present a gorgeous never-reissued 1971 LP of traditional Arab maqam music released on the formidable Unesco Musical Sources collection. Maqam – signifying a place, high rank or transcendence in Arabic – is a melodic modal and improvisational system used in classical Arab music. 

 

Side A showcases instrumental maqam forms, also called taqsim, and Side B presents the llayali, a musical form based on vocal improvisation. All the musicians here are Iraqi except for on track A3, which features the Lebanese buzuk player Matar Muhammad.

 

The many forms of Arabian maqam, particularly Iraqi maqam, are closely connected with the Turkish makam, Azeri mugam, and the Persian dastgah, whose influence can be heard clearly here.

Nous présentons maintenant un magnifique album de musique traditionnelle arabe maqam publié en 1971 dans la formidable collection Unesco Musical Sources, et jamais réédité depuis. Le maqam – signifiant un lieu, un rang élevé ou un modèle transcendant en arabe – est un système modal mélodique et d'improvisation utilisé dans la musique arabe classique.

 

La Face A présente des formes de maqam instrumentales, également appelées taqsim, avec la Face B mettant en avant le layali, une forme musicale fondée sur l’improvisation vocale. Tous les musiciens ici sont irakiens à l'exception du morceau A3 mettant en vedette le joueur de bousoq libanais Matar Mohamed.

 

Les nombreuses formes de maqam arabes, tout particulièrement le maqam irakien, sont étroitement liées au makam turc, au mugam azéri et au dastgah persan, dont l'influence est clairement perceptible sur cet album.

A1 – Taqsim Shad Araban – Jeryes Saleh, ud lute;

recorded by Palestinian ethnomusicologist Habib Hassan Touma (1934-1998).

 

A2 – Taqsim Hidjaz – O. Haqqi, ney flute;

recorded by Habib Hassan Touma.

 

A3 – Taqsim Bayati – Matar Muhammad (1939-1995), long-fretted buzuk (or busoq) lute;

recorded by French scholar and photographer Jacques Cloarec (1940-2015).

 

A4 – Taqsim Sigah – I. Basson, kamanje (or kamanche) bowed violin; 

recorded by Habib Hassan Touma.

 

B1 – Al-Maqam Al-Iraqi (Maqam Mansuri) – The Djalghi-Baghdadi Ensemble with vocalist Yusuf Omar accompanied by a santur, a jawza spike fiddle, and a clay darbuka goblet drum; 

recorded by Baghdad Radio.

 

B2 Nayel – Lomiya Tawfiq, vocals;

recorded by Baghdad Radio.

 

B3 – Layali Rast and Mawwal – Suheil Nasser Farardji, ud lute and vocals;

recorded by Habib Hassan Touma.

 

B4 – Ataba and Nayel – Djabbar Aggar, rabab bowed lute and vocals;

recorded by Baghdad Radio.

 

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Other related posts:

Iraq – Jamil Bachir Ud – Arabesques N°4, 1973 here

Azerbaijan – A Musical Anthology of the Orient – BM 30 SL 2024 here

Turkey – Nuit Précieuse au Serail – ARION 30 U 097 here

Don't miss our friends' excellent Iraqi Maqam blog for a fascinating, in-depth exploration here

Find other essential recordings in the great Unesco Musical Sources collection here

Photograph below is from Arab Painting by Richard Ettinghausen, Skira, 1962:

Archangel Israfil blowing into the trumpet to signal the Day of Reckoning (al-Qiyāmah) from Wonders of Creation (Aja'ib Makhluqat) by Muhammad al-Qazvini, Iraq, c. 1370-1380:

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