The Peregrinations of panjgāh

Abstract

One of the more durable elements in the modal repertoires of the art-music traditions of the Middle East and Central Asia, panjgāh has a recorded history going back to the beginning of the fourteenth century, and all major theoretical texts of the following centuries refer to it. Discussed here is the documentation of its emergence, diffusion and morphological development, leading to a presentation and comparison of contemporary forms from Turkey to Xinjiang, manifestly diverse but in several cases still demonstrably related.