Rast Musicology Journal

Abstract

This In a score archive investigation conducted on the TRT Turkish Music Repertoire that comprises approximately 30,000 works today, the number of makams with musical compositions was seen to be 286, the number of makams without any musical compositions is given as more than 300, and it was seen that 72% of the repertoire was composed in only 20 makams. Apart from these 20 makams, it was determined that the total of 266 makams with examples of works corresponds to 28% of the entire repertory, and, in addition, the number of makams with less than 10 works of art constitutes 1.97% of the repertoire with a tally of 167 pieces. Zirefkend, one of the two makams examined in this study, falls to the category of rarely used / rare makams and comprises 6 works. The makam Kûçek, which we assume has evolved from Zirefkend over the centuries, is represented by only 16 works in the repertoire. The situation encountered in the repertory constitutes one of the motivations of this study. Besides, the previously made determination with respect to the fact that Safi al-din Urmevi’s (d. 1294) Zirefkend lives as Kûçek today has already entered into the English literature, and it was suggested therein that interested researchers should investigate the similarities between ancient edvar and later makams in future research. Said determination and suggestion constitutes another motivation of this article. In order to prevent the degeneracy of Turkish makam music, which constitutes a significant part of our cultural memory, and for this tradition to be authentically passed on to newer generations, it remains important to both clearly reveal the makams in question within the context of makam theory from the past to the present, and to achieve the proper makam analysis of works through the theoretical information obtained. In this context, the possible transformation of Zirefkend to Kûçek –-- with Zirefkend being selected from the Kitâbü’l Edvâr and the Şerefiyye Treatise of Safi al-din Urmevi (d. 1294) as constituting one of the earliest examples on which the Pythagorean makam music theory we use today is based –-- will be investigated. The makam analyses of the works in the two selected makams were thus made, and we tried to substantiate the aforementioned possible transformation contingent upon these analyses. Based on our examination of manuscripts from Safi al-din to the present, where the theory of makam was tried to be explained, the aforementioned makams were investigated, whereby such a research formed the foundation of our theoretical knowledge. The said makam analysis, which falls under the qualitative method, is supported by references to several models ranging from the approach used from the beginning of the Anatolian edvar school that utilizes compositional seyir (melodic progression) to the widespread approaches that were introduced by Yekta and Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek, who adapted the knowledge they received from Safi al- din to Western staff notation featuring the idiom of tonality. As a result, it was possible for us to determine in a few examples, by examining the earliest edvar books and their subsequent hand-made copies, that the name of the makam in question evolved from Zirefkend to Zirefkend-i Kûçek or Kûçek. Even so, while a few inferences can be made in terms of makam analysis, the scarcity of the number of works prevents to draw a scientific conclusion. On the other hand, it was seen that 20th Century makam music composers have composed their pieces in the said makams according to the makam definitions under the AEU system.