This post inaugurates a series that will feature annotated bibliographies on performing arts inscribed in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. To promote open knowledge and preserve these traditions through scholarly writings, a monthly post will be curated for Bibliolore over the course of the year.
The Iraqi maqām (المقام العراقي) is the art music of Iraq, historically performed in the country’s urban centers, namely Baghdad, Kirkuk, and Mosul. For centuries, it has been transmitted orally from master musicians to apprentices. The core of the genre is a vocal performance in which a singer delivers classical or colloquial poetry, accompanied by a small ensemble known as the chālġī. This ensemble typically consists of the sanṭūr (a hammered dulcimer), the ǧūzaẗ (a spiked fiddle), and the ṭablaẗ (a goblet drum). In a masterful display of improvisation, the instrumentalists engage in call and response with the singer, supporting the embellished melodic mode and poetry. The canonical repertoire comprises approximately 54 modes, each with a distinct emotional and melodic character. It is said that mastering the entire system requires a lifetime of study, and today, only a few living masters have the entire repertoire memorized.
In 2008, UNESCO recognized the Iraqi maqām by inscribing it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. With documented history stretching back centuries to the Abbasid era in Baghdad, the genre stands today at a critical crossroads, challenged by shrinking performance spaces and a declining number of master practitioners. Despite this vulnerable status, musicians and scholars are actively engaged in preserving the Iraqi maqām’s legacy through dedicated research and documentation. Their writings aim to preserve the genre’s status in collective memory. A selection of key scholarly contributions to this effort is presented below.
Listen to Iraqi Maqâm: Baghdad tradition–A tribute to Yusuf Omar (Inedit: Maison des Cultures du Monde) https://open.spotify.com/album/1ZQTW88EhMv9CgbFkMjrtD
Annotated bibliography
al-Aʿẓamī, Ḥusayn Ismāʿīl. المقام العراقي بين طريقتين: دراسة موسيقية لفترة الصراع خلال القرن العشرين [The two styles of the Iraqi maqām in the 20th century: An analytical study] (Bayrūt: al-Mu’assasaẗ al-ʿArabiyyaẗ li-l-Dirāsāt wa-al-Našr, 2011). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 2011-51858]
Presents a comparative analysis of the two main styles of the Iraqi maqām: the traditional performance style named after the reciter (qāri’) Rašīd al-Qundarchī (1886–1945), and the modernized style named after the reciter Muḥammad al-Qubbanchī (1904–89). Aesthetic principles and recitation style characterize each school. A comparison of various reciters’ styles highlighted these differences, and anecdotes about the reception and appreciation of the musical tradition by amateurs and the broader public attest to its popularity in the 20th century.
al-ʿĀmirī, Ṯāmir ʿAbd al-Ḥasan. محمد القبانجي: مطرب العراق الأول [Muḥammad al-Qubbanchī: Iraq’s master singer] (Baġdād: Dār al-Šu’ūn al-Ṯaqāfiiyyaẗ al-ʿĀmmaẗ Āfāq ʿArabiyyaẗ, 1987). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 1987-32379-32379]
The life of Iraqi maqām master singer Muḥammad al-Qubbanchī (1904–89) testifies to his immense contribution to the musical genre and to the country’s musical life in the 20th century. Analysis of key recordings illustrates his many innovations to the Iraqi maqām.
al-Bayātī, Muwaffaq. القطع والأصال في المقام العراقي: دراسة تحليلية [Melodic pieces and melodic connectors used in the Iraqi maqām: An analytical study] (Baġdād: Matbaʿat Bāsim, 2009). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 2009-55313]
The performance of the Iraqi maqām relies on singers’ knowledge and mastery of classical and colloquial poetry, as well as the order of the melodies that constitute the repertoire. Modally, each Iraqi maqām is composed of a series of interconnected melodic pieces, known as quṭaʿ, and melodic connectors, known as awṣāl. Thirty-seven of these melodies are analyzed.
al-Ḥanafī, Ğalāl. المغنون البغداديون والمقام العراقي [Baghdadi singers and the Iraqi maqām] (Baġdād: Wizāraẗ al-Iršād al-ʿIrāqiyyaẗ, 1964). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 1964-10286]
The melodies of the Iraqi maqām permeate every aspect of life in Baghdad. Such melodies are regularly recited in the mawlid ceremonies (celebrations of the Prophet Muḥammad’s birthday), ḏikr circles (God’s remembrance), and tamǧīd (religious praise). They are also performed in secular cycles accompanied by the chālġī ensemble. Names and biographies of Iraqi maqām reciters and musicians are included.
Hassan, Scheherazade Qasim. “Le maqām irakien: Structures et réalisations” [The Iraqi maqām: Structures and realizations], L’improvisation dans les musiques de tradition orale, ed.by Bernard Lortat-Jacob. Ethnomusicologie (Paris: Société d’Études Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France (SELAF); 1989) 143–149. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 1989-1012].
Analyses of the Iraqi maqām reveal a melodic conception unique to Iraqi vocal art music. A maqām is identified by fixed elements and the obligatory placement of certain parts within their respective time frames. Three musical elements, taḥrīr (vocal introduction), quṭaʿ (melodic pieces), and taslīm (final vocal cadence), are indispensable in establishing the identity of an individual maqām.
Hassan, Scheherazade Qasim. “A space of inclusiveness: The case of the art music of Iraq”, International journal of contemporary Iraqi studies 2:1 (2008) 115–128. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 2008-53697].
The traditional art music of Iraq, the Iraqi maqām, which is part of other core Islamic maqām traditions, has historically been designed to fulfill two purposes: a supranational frame and a diversity of local content. Both of these underscore the idea of bringing together multi-ethnic and multi-social differences, articulating them on a common ground of musical content, social contexts, and performers. By bringing together the study of the social and the musical, the issue of Iraqi identity as expressed in this musical tradition is addressed. The Iraqi maqām is a strong cultural marker, as it represents the forms of relations between ethnic and social groups in the country. The interaction appears in sacred and religious ceremonies, secular meetings, and all social gatherings, as well as in transmitted moral and aesthetic values. (abstract by the author)
Hassan, Scheherazade Qasim. “Between formal structure and performance practice: On the Baghdadi secular cycles”, Theory and practice in the music of the Islamic world: Essays in honour of Owen Wright, ed.by Rachel A. Harris and Martin Stokes. SOAS musicology (Aldershot: Ashgate; 2017) 273–292. [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 2017-48378].
The comparative study of the suite forms of the Islamic Middle East reveals entanglements, connections, common features, and interactions that cut across borders. Those of present-day Iraq, and particularly the Iraqi maqām, deserve special attention, not only as the distant ancestors of those developed in the Baghdad caliphate, but also because they have taken shape in a border zone where the Arab, Persian, and Turkish musical worlds overlap. The ordering of maqām within the cycles—significantly different from the Turkish fasıl and the Arabic waṣlaẗ—constitutes a significant puzzle, even more so since later 20th-century performers started to assert their prerogative to pick and choose. Yet the underlying principle, one of singing improvised music, moving from mode to mode, and incorporating composed items along the way, has been remarkably resilient. (abstract by Martin Stokes)
al-Saʿdī, Ḥāmid. المقام وبحور الأنغام: دراسة تحليلية لغناء المقامات العراقية مع نصوصها الشعرية [The maqām and the oceans of melodies: An analytical study of the singing of the Iraqi maqām and its poetry] (Baġdād: author, 2006). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 2006-55181]
The Iraqi maqām is the traditional genre performed in Iraq’s urban centers. An analysis of the structure, performance style, and poetic content of each individual maqām shows the melodic complexity and poetic richness of the musical genre. Anecdotes about master musicians and from the author’s life attest to the vibrant musical life of the Iraqi maqām in Baghdad in the 20th century.
Simms, Rob. The repertoire of Iraqi maqam (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2004). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 2004-4076]
The art music of Iraq, known as Iraqi maqām, features poetry in classical Arabic and in the vernacular Iraqi dialect, sung by a virtuoso soloist and accompanied by a small instrumental ensemble. It is a remarkably cosmopolitan art, sharing many features with neighboring art music traditions, particularly with Iranian music. Its repertoire consists of orally transmitted, multi-sectioned compositions, performed with some flexibility regarding ornamentation, arrangement, and development. Focusing on the period between 1930 and 1980, this reference offers a comprehensive overview of the repertoire’s musical content through tables and musical transcriptions of scalar structures, melodies, and overall forms. Information from prominent Iraqi sources is consolidated, and a selection of recordings by master musicians, including Rašīd al-Qundarchī and Yūsuf ʿUmar, is presented. An introductory section provides a brief overview of pan-Middle Eastern modal theory along with an outline of the terminology, theory, and practices specific to the Iraqi maqām. The main section of the work is a catalog of 40 maqāms that constitute the central core of the contemporary repertoire.
al-Mašhadānī, ʿAbd Allāh Ibrāhīm. موسوعة المقام العراقي [The encyclopedia of the Iraqi maqām] (Baġdād: Matbaʿat Bāsim, 2009). [RILM Abstracts of Music Literature RILM 2012-52890]
Although the Iraqi maqām represents a continuation of performance traditions originating in Abbasid Baghdad, the 20th century was the period in which the genre evolved into the form recognized today. Traditional venues like cafés and domestic spaces gave way to new listening experiences facilitated by audio technology such as radio and commercial recordings. Simultaneously, new educational institutions, often supported by the government, began to formalize its instruction in the 1960s. Today, the standard Iraqi maqām repertoire comprises approximately 54 distinct pieces, each analyzed and categorized by its unique melodic and rhythmic structures.
