Inheriting theGhammāz-oriented Tradition: D'Erlanger and AleppineMaqāmPractice Observed

Abstract

This study examines the usage of ghammāz (dominant note) particularly in the opening section in Arab maqām music, which has eluded the mainstream of debate in maqām theory. The concept was first introduced by Rodolphe d'Erlanger in the Congress of Arab Music held in Cairo in 1932, but never gained broad support amid the general trend towards simplification in maqām classification particularly in Cairo, where the use of ghammāz is chiefly recognised as a modulation technique. This is partly because d'Erlanger's analysis was informed by the musical practice of Aleppo, which still retains subtleties in differentiating maqāmāt (plural of maqām, melodic mode), using the ghammāz as an essential feature not only in marking transitions between maqāmāt in modulation but in differentiating seemingly similar modes by creating a modal feeling characteristic to each maqām in the opening section. Although these features have been transmitted empirically rather than theoretically, they stand as evidence for the continuity of an Aleppine tradition distinctive from the better-known practice centred on Cairo.

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