Hicâz Zîrgûle Makam Lesson Ross Daly Labyrinth Crete

Hicaz Zirgule is another important makam of the Hicaz family from which we’ve already examined Hicaz, Humayoun, Nikriz, (Uzzal) and now we’ll examine Hicaz Z?rg?le, which uses in the low register a Hicaz pentachord and again Hicaz in the middle register Bingol for some reason concludes his piece with Sol natural (G) it looks strange to me, usually Sol sharp (G#) is used, but he chooses Sol natural.. these are the basic characteristics, but Hicaz Zirgule is not frequently used for compositions itself there are four makams in total which are transposed to other positions and then considered other makams with different names those are Kurdi, Buselik, Hicaz Zirgule and Cargia, which are called by different names when played from other positions and more often than not -maybe always- those other makams which are produced by these four basic makams when they are transposed to another key are more popular and used more frequently than the “parent” makams themselves and that’s also the case of Hicaz Zirgule, the most common transposition of which is Hicazkar, played a tone lower, namely Sol (G) Sed Araban is another transposition of Hicaz Zirgule, played five tones lower, namely Re (D) Evcara is another transposition of Hicaz Zirgule, played one and a half tones lower, namely F sharp (F#) those three makams are used more often than Hicaz Zirgule from which they come it’s the same story for Kurdi; either Acem Kurdi is used, or Muhayer Kurdi, or some other of its transpotions Cargia, which sounds like C major scale, is never used and exists only in theory but Mahur or Acem Asiran par example which are transpositions of Cargia are very popular Buselik is used some times, but much more often we see Nihavent and Sultani Yagah, which are Buselik transposed to other keys so, the basic feature of Hicaz Zirgule is the Hicaz pentachord followed by a Hicaz tetrachord (a double Hicaz), with a dominant 5th (Mi, E) let’s play Bingol’s seyir first now let’s play Gurmeric’s seyir that’s peculiar, he does an unusual move there let’s try it as it’s written, as a Si flat (Bb), it makes sense either way… he does a move with Rast from Re (D) nothing I’ve seen before, but interesting never the less but you see that this one suggests Sol sharp (G#) for conclusion, while the other one suggested Sol natural (G) so, who’s right, you might ask… they both are! because just following the makam’s rules is not the only important thing as long as the feeling of it is recognizable I’ve said this before as well, that I don’t consider makams as a list of rules let’s say that’s the dominant, that’s the tetrachord, this is this, that is that a.s.o, that’s a fine description but then you listen to a song on the radio and you can’t really be sure what makam is it it’s like trying to find a stranger in the crowd based only to a default description let’s say John, he’s that tall, wear’s glasses, that long hair, that much weight, such eyes, such ears, such a nose, so go find him but when you search in the street you find many persons fitting that description and you can’t be sure who’s John you’re looking for but if you get to know John in person, then you can recognize him immediately and easily of course the list of John’s characteristics is correct but it’s possible that John has grown a beard, or his hair got longer, or he’s wearing a different outfit so it’s not mandatory that all the basic piece of info about John apply every time you meet him whether he’s unshaved, or with longer hair, of with contact lenses, he still be John with no doubt so, recognition comes from a general behaviour and if some characteristics are not the same every time, that doesn’t change the subject the one Seyir implements what Bingol suggests as the fundamental features of Hicaz Zirgule and Gurmeric does the same, but some things are different but for an experienced listener both Seyirs are immediately distinguished as Hicaz Zirgule the fact that one concludes with Sol natural while the other with Sol sharp or one uses a short modulation to F#, which is not strange to Hicaz Zirgule by the way that’s fine, let’s say John decided to put on a peculiar scarf that day, but that doesn’t change the nature of him