Re: [tuning] Digest Number 3860

tuning@yahoogroups.com wrote:

> Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2006 13:37:23 +0200
> From: "Ozan Yarman" <ozanyarman@ozanyarman.com>
> Subject: Re: 5ths based tuning
> > Hi Neil,
> > Indeed, Maqam Music (Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Hindustani etc..)

I would be extremely hesistant about lumping Hindustani music into the "Maqam Music" label. While there has indeed been a massive admixture of islamicate traditions into Hindustani music, and that admixture is an important factor in distinguishing it from parallel traditions sharing a common Indic ancestry (Karnatic, Sri Lankan among them), it is a bit like calling English a Romance language because of the massive French lexicon in English. My hesitancy becomes a real caution when I note that such a lumping can go the other way as well: one might as well include all of the "Maqam Music" repertoires listed above (with North African, Andalusian/Iberian, Greek, Armenian, Coptic, Arab-Orthodox and Arab-Catholic Christian, Sinti/Rom etc. thrown in for good measure) into an even broader category of "Rag Music", but by a certain point one strains to hear a meaningful common denominator and the distinctions definitely become more interesting than the commonalities.

Seeking commonalities can often be diplomatically useful, but when pressed too far, one can fall into meaninglessness, or worse, banal imperialism. (On that topic, which is OT here, I've found http://anthropik.com/ to be very interesting).

DJW