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
Dem
A sustained drone (ison) held continuously through a work or a taksim, mostly on the makam's karar pitch; sounding it is called “dem tutmak” (keeping the dem). The word is also used in everyday language to mean “moment, time” and “breath”; in music its meaning is that it provides a continuous sound bed for the melody.
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Related: Karar (tonic)TaksimAhenkTools
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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