maqam
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.35 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A modal structure characterizing the art of music of countries in North Africa, West Asia and Central Asia.
Example Sentences
- "Elsewhere in the evening the young Iraqi-American trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, who has studied both jazz and traditional Arabic maqam patterns and combines them in modal pieces for improvisers, demonstrated with his sextet (including an oud and a santoor, the Persian hammered dulcimer) how hungry jazz still is for sources older than itself."
- "At 18, late for a professional musician, he took up the oud, studying the mysteries of the Iraqi maqam, the complex system of tonal sequences and improvisation passed from master to student."
- "But he hesitated when approached to do a project that combined maqam with jazz, even though that had been his pre-quest intention."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: مَقَام, ق و م