On the History of the Formation of Classic Maqoms

Maqoms, which are classic examples of professional oral music, form an important part of the musical heritage of most of the Muslim peoples of the East. The Arabic term "maqom" denotes cycles of instrumental and vocal music, created on the basis of a combination of perfect scales and certain metro-rhythmic structures (usul). In order to better understand the content-semantic aspect of this kind of musical cycles, first of all, it is necessary to have a certain idea of the history of the origin and factors of the development of this art.The history of this ancient art can be divided into two main periods. The first period is characterized by the formation of intonational primary sources, because at that time there were no maqoms in the form in which we know them now. An important layer of these sources is the spiritual heritage of the great prophets, and another layer is associated with the ancient values of the musical creativity of the peoples of the East.