It was mentioned in the biographies that the Abbasid Caliph al-Mu'tamid Billah (870-892 CE) asked the historian Ibn Khardadzah (820-912), author of the book “Amusement and Amusement,” what is the characteristic of Al-Hadhiq?

Ibn Khardathbeh replied, "The clever singer, O Commander of the Faithful, who managed his breath and was kind to his embezzlement and branched into his races."

Perhaps this answer applies to the Iraqi maqam, which is one of the predominant genres of singing in Iraq, whose roots extend back to very early years, reaching the Abbasid state, and then transmitted orally through the reciters of the maqam to subsequent generations up to the present time.

Iraqi Maqam is an authentic Iraqi music genre, sung in the vernacular Iraqi dialect, and it has a historical and cultural Arab-Islamic depth, and has West Asian influences.

Iraqi flavor

The Iraqi maqam, as one of the ancient Arab musical arts, is concerned with a special style that the Iraqis have added to the tones of some of the oriental peoples who came to them during the Abbasid era.

It was sung at first in religious traditions and Sufi poems, and was also used as the most prominent maqam of recitation of the Holy Qur’an.

Iraqi Maqam reader Taha Gharib says, "Art had an important civilized role in daily life in Mesopotamia, and music used to accompany all religious rituals in the temple or outside it in all kinds of celebrations, occasions and laments, and as a result, music was part of the schedule of preparing priests, and it was taught in the temple school." Term of 3 years. "

It is noteworthy that the Iraqi maqam reached with its distinctive and varied melodies the countries of Asia, then moved from them to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and even India.

Terms and melodies

The maqam is a type of classical singing consisting of several syllables that cannot be increased or decreased. Its reading of principles and rules, through complete improvisation that depends on hearing and uttering the larynx, and moving on the musical scales in a controlled manner.

Among the most important main shrines are: the shrine of Rast, the shrine of the Nahawand, the shrine of the Hijaz, the shrine of the bayat, the shrine of the sikah, the shrine of youth, the shrine of non-Arabs, and the shrine of the Kurds.

Sami Hayal, a researcher in traditional musical arts, asserts, "The Iraqi maqam is a musical performance that consists of parts that include Tahrir or Bedouin, cutting or joining, the session, the movement, the shouting, the decision and finally the delivery."

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, Hayal explained that “the musical instruments accompanying the Iraqi maqam, which he called the Chalgi al-Baghdadi, as a well-known name, include the santor, which is similar to the law machine, and the walnut, which is a stringed instrument made of coconut shells and was taken from the specifications of the violin, and there The percussion and parchment instrument also always accompanies the Iraqi maqam. "

Among the characteristics of the Iraqi maqam is the presence of certain non-Arabic words and phrases, including Arabic, which the singer repeats while reading the maqam in certain places, without having any direct relationship with the sung poetry, and he uses the wonderful musical instrument with it.

The Iraqi researcher in musical arts, Sami Hayal, indicated that the Iraqi maqam was domesticated with Persian and Turkish melodies (communication sites)

Hayal explains that "many Persian and Turkish melodies entered the Iraqi maqam, and it is the one the singer sings with now. You may hear the Iraqi singer singing the word" Ya Dost "meaning" oh friend ", and other words such as" friad min "meaning" help, "and" del O regret, meaning my heart flared up, and (iky kosem) meaning my two eyes, and (del min) meaning my heart, and (jan min) meaning my soul, and (effend) meaning my master. "

In turn, the Maqam reader Taha Gharib comments - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - saying that “the ancients put these words into tonal keys that help the reciter of the maqam to set the melodic path of the maqam. ".

Sociable and amusing to the Baghdadis

Despite the ancient Iraqi maqam, it remained embodied in all aspects of the daily life of the Iraqis, especially in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk, and this may indicate its elevation and the originality of its source.

The Iraqi maqam was described as a musical heritage, which has an improvisational nature in singing and playing on various traditional musical scales in a controlled manner, if the occasion on which the maqam is read is worldly.

But if the occasion was religious, then the performance of the maqam is limited to singing without musical instruments, as in the mawlid, chants, tawshiyat and praise, and the maqam was not limited to that, but was present in all the arts of Baghdad, and even the call to prayer was the Iraqi maqam, as well as the prophetic praises sung by it.

Some Iraqi maqam readers believe that the maqam has become more mundane at the present time, while Sami asserts that “singing in Iraq is not limited to its two types of joy and sadness, as the happy maqam is sung on occasions such as weddings, circumcision of children and national occasions. Sad singing is sung in Iraq, even on happy occasions. "

And Hayal adds, "As for the sad occasion, there will be distinctions, mawwil and Buddhism that are commensurate with sadness, because Iraq tends to phases of sadness more often."

Manly art

The emotional state of singing Iraqi maqamat may be one of the reasons for describing it as (masculine art), and because of that - it seems also - the Baghdadi man rejected the feminine singing practices of maqamat as a pioneering new experience in singing Iraqi maqams.

The Iraqi maqam was described as rural mountain singing performed by men, and there was fear and hesitation among the Maqam readers in the early days, and therefore women feared this art and did not approach it, until it developed in Baghdad, and women began to perform it in the modern era.

For his part, Hayal says, "The people who have emerged most in the art of singing the Iraqi maqam are men, except for a small minority of women, so men remain on the throne in singing the Iraqi maqam."

"The women who entered the Iraqi maqam battlefield had an important role, but it was not up to the level of ambition," he added.

In turn, the Iraqi maqam reader residing in the Netherlands, Farida Muhammad Ali, explains, “This art was seen as manly because the exhibition spaces were limited to cafes, the Zourkhana (the place where wrestlers train in the sport of wrestling) and the Prophet’s remembrance councils, and these places were difficult for women. That it is present in it as a result of social traditions, so I established the idea that the maqam is a manly art, in addition to that some maqamas need an unnatural voice.

Hayal believes that "the Iraqi maqam remained masculine despite the attempts of the artist Maa Nazt and the artist Farida Muhammad Ali to enter his yard."

Female Voices

On the women's storming of the Iraqi Maqam Square, which has been considered throughout the ages as a manly art, Taha Gharib says, "Iraqis knew a variety of female voices that were able to perform some of the maqamas in proportion to their voices. In 1925 CE, the singer Siddiqa Al Malaya recorded records of a number of shrines, thus opening the door to voices Women to perform some minor and simple maqamat such as Jalila Al-Iraqiya, Badriya Anwar, Zahoor Hussain, Lamaiaa Tawfiq, Ma'idat Nazhat, and Farida Muhammad Ali

Gharib added that "despite the fact that the Iraqi maqam square was characterized by strong masculine voices, because the performance of the Iraqi maqam in many shrines requires a wide vocal space that is not available in female voices."

Farida Muhammad Ali speaks for herself, telling Al-Jazeera Net, "I do not fail to mention here that I have so far performed more than 20 maqamas according to the rules and principles that adhere to Iraqi shrines, in addition to that I was the first woman in the history of the Iraqi maqam to teach this subject at the Institute of Studies. Musical and with the encouragement of my teacher, the great artist Munir Bashir, as well as my teacher, Dr. Hussein Al-Azami.

As for the assistant professor at Salahaddin University in Erbil, Lance Joseph Conwy, he said in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, “The lady of the Iraqi maqam has a unique voice with sincerity of performance and distinctive lyrical ability in terms of controlling the vocal space, acting and improvisation, while employing the aesthetics of singing performance according to the reality of the female voice. After her great bid, he took her over a period of time to the level of imposing her presence among the great readers of the Iraqi maqam, and it is difficult to repeat this female vocal model. "

In turn, Dr. Muhammad Hussein Kamer, a professor of musical sciences and theories and an expert on Iraqi maqamat, spoke about Farida Muhammad Ali, saying, "It is unique among the female voices capable of performing the Iraqi maqam because she possesses the specifications required for reading the maqam. Of the previous female readers, as well as some male readers, this number did not come. "

An artistic legacy

And Iraqi cafes had a prominent role in developing this art, as they are considered performing schools for this high-end cross-border art.

The year 1910 A.D. was the beginning of holding weekly concerts for Maqam readers, and lovers of this art used to come to Baghdad cafes to listen to it.

Researcher Sami Hayal says, "The Baghdad cafes played an important role in the spread of the Iraqi maqam, in addition to rural songs. We mention, for example, but not limited to, Al-Zahawi Café, Umm Kulthum Café, Shabandar Café, Al-Fadl Café and Azzawi Café."

Hayal also pointed out that there were other cafes where the Iraqi maqam was read, such as “Al-Basha Cafe, Al-Askajiya Cafe, Al-Mashahirah Cafe, and Muhammad Al-Qubanji Cafe. In this locality there were several cafes, including: Rawazi Cafe, Al-Ortma Cafe and Small Coffee Cafe. In which the Maqam singer Ahmad was also read. Zidane, Najm al-Din, Rashid al-Qandarji and others. "

As for the most prominent personalities who had a role in the performance and development of the Iraqi maqam, Farida Muhammad Ali recalls, “The remaining professional Iraqi maqam reciters who have a footprint in this field are Dr. Hussein Al-Azami and Professors Hamid Al-Saadi, Saad Al-Azami, Sabah Hashem, Khaled Al-Samarrai, Taha Gharib and Qais Al-Azami.”

Farida Muhammad Ali, the first lady of the Iraqi maqam, has overcome the severity of the shrines that are no longer exclusive to men (communication sites)

Out of attention

As a result of the prevailing political conditions in Iraq and the continuation of wars, and like all aspects of cultural life, the Iraqi shrine was subjected to marginalization and chaos, after the evenings of the Iraqi shrine were held, as well as the nights of al-Jalghi al-Baghdadi that were held in the ancient "Khan Marjan" in Rashid Street. Al-Iraqi is about to leave the circle of attention, as a result of the official neglect of this authentic Iraqi art.

Gharib, in turn, points out that the decrease in the numbers of Iraqi maqam readers and the lack of interest of the institutions concerned with this heritage will inevitably affect the chain of transmission between generations. Gharib added that this was confirmed by UNESCO in 2007 considering the Iraqi maqam as one of the human arts threatened with disappearance, and therefore preservation and renewal was And its development is an urgent task led by some of the symbols of Iraqi singing.

He points out that, "In 1996, I became aware of the danger of the extinction of the Iraqi maqam, as it announced the establishment of a troupe to revive this heritage, and it called it (The Rafidain Rhythms Band), through which we presented many concerts and participations in festivals and conferences in a number of Arab and foreign countries."

For his part, Lance Conway says, "The privacy of the Iraqi maqam is threatened due to the diminishing opportunities for direct reception of the Iraqi maqam offer, as it is imperative to provide suitable conditions for the Iraqi maqam performances, especially since there are special events and exhibition spaces that help lovers and connoisseurs of the Iraqi maqam to communicate."

Muhammad Hussein Kamer, co-founder of the Iraqi Maqam Foundation in the Netherlands, concluded his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, saying that "the Iraqi maqam is going through the most dangerous stages as a result of the state's lack of interest and artistic institutions in this color, which is the artistic identity of Iraq."