Concerning the Issue of the Logic of Maqom Composition

Abstract

The phenomenon of maqom composition takes up a central position in the maqom musical tradition. Its comprehension is assisted by maqom thinking, which, unfortunately, is gradually becoming extinct. This is stipulated by the weakening of the maqom canons, the changes of the process of cognition of the maqom and the methodological notions of the traditional school of ustod-shogird. The treatise “Bayozi Shashmaqom” by the famous Tajik maqom player Fazliddin Shakhobov (1911–1974) presents a most important source containing a classical interpretation of this question. It is the only work written during the Soviet period by a representative of the classic school of the Shashmaqom. The merit of Fazliddin Shakhobov’s position lies in that it brings a procedural interpretation of the maqom scalar modes in a maqom composition, demonstrating the logic of its formation. The main conditions of its development are represented by the ability and skill of using maqom scalar modes in the maqom dramaturgy. With the aid of several examples, the article demonstrates a procedural interpretation of maqom composition in adherence with the canons of modality, rhythm and form-generation. The information contained in Shakhobov’s treatise serves as a foundation for drawing conclusions that the chief compositional method in maqom is the asl-far. This method hearkens back into medieval traditions, the hidden theory of the maqom, and profound knowledge of the parda/maqom. It is the asl-far in particular which is capable of reviving maqom musical thinking. Keywords: the musical culture of Tajikistan, Shashmaqom, maqom, asl-far, Khororang, Chorgokh-Mukhayar, Uzzolrang, farsaqil, aslparda.