The terms of makam music with short, clear definitions: pitches and intervals, makams, usuls, forms, instruments, performance tradition and notation. You can listen to terms that have a sound example with the ▶ button.
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Performance
A word of Persian origin meaning “beginning.” It is used for the opening part of a taksim or a work, and in this respect is close to the girizgah; in some older sources it also refers to the pitch or register at which a makam's seyir begins.
Related: GirizgahTaksimSeyir (melodic path)
The definitions were written in our own words, drawing on sources such as the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, Yılmaz Öztuna's Encyclopedic Dictionary of Turkish Music and Wikipedia; pitch and interval values follow the Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek system. This content has not yet been reviewed by an expert; if you spot a mistake, please write to us.
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