Maqāmic Music

Maqāmic music is the art music of the Arab world and its neighbours that is organised by the maqam system: melodic modes built from tetrachords with quarter-tone inflections, each carrying characteristic phrases and a prescribed path of development and modulation. It is performed as improvised taqsim, composed suites such as the wasla, and long-form song, on instruments including the oud, qanun, nay and violin. Its best-known vehicle is the voice of *Umm Kulthum*, whose extended songs set the system's melodic resources before mass audiences across the twentieth century.