# Turkish makam

The Turkish makam (Turkish: makam pl. makamlar; from the Arabic word maqām مقام) is a system of melody types used in Turkish classical music and Turkish folk music. It provides a complex set of rules for composing and performance. Each makam specifies a unique intervalic structure (cinsler meaning genera) and melodic development (seyir). Whether a fixed composition (beste, şarkı, peşrev, âyin, etc.) or a spontaneous composition (gazel, taksim, recitation of Kuran-ı Kerim, Mevlid, etc.), all attempt to follow the melody type. The rhythmic counterpart of makam in Turkish music is usul.

## Geographic and cultural relations

The Turkish makam system has some corresponding relationships to maqams in Arabic music and echos in Byzantine music. Some theories suggest the origin of the makam to be the city of Mosul in Iraq. "Mula Othman Al-Musili," in reference to his city of origin, is said to have served in the Ottoman Palace in Istanbul and influenced Turkish Ottoman music. More distant modal relatives include those of Central Asian Turkic musics such as Uyghur “muqam” and Uzbek shashmakom. North and South Indian classical raga-based music employs similar modal principles. Some scholars find echoes of Turkish makam in former Ottoman provinces of the Balkans. All of these concepts roughly correspond to mode in Western classical music, although their compositional rules vary.

## Similarities between Turkish classical and folk music

Turkish classical music and Turkish folk music are both based on modal systems. Makam is the name of the scale in classical music, while Ayak (Ayağı) is the name of the scale in folk music. Makam and Ayak are similar; following are some examples:
* Yahyalı Kerem Ayağı: Hüseyni Makamı
* Garip Ayağı: Hicaz Makamı
* Düz Kerem Ayağı: Karcığar Makamı
* Yanık Kerem Ayağı: Nikriz Makamı
* Muhalif Ayağı: Segâh Makamı
* Tatyan Kerem Ayağı: Hüzzam Makamı
* Misket Ayağı: Eviç Makamı
* Bozlak Ayağı: Kürdî Makamı
* Kalenderi Ayağı: Sabâ Makamı
* Müstezat veya Beşirî Ayağı: Mahur Makamı
There are some similarities between the rhythms used in Turkish folk music and Turkish classical music, with respect to their forms, classification, and rhythmic patterns.

## Makam building blocks
### Commas and accidentals

In Turkish music theory, the octave is divided into 53 equal intervals known as commas (koma), specifically the Holdrian comma. Each whole tone is an interval equivalent to nine commas. In practice, only 24 of the 53 commas are used, as highlighted in the figure and table below. The following figure gives the comma values of Turkish accidentals. In the context of the Arab maqam, this system is not of equal temperament. In fact, in the Western system of temperament, C-sharp and D-flat—which are functionally the same tone—are equivalent to 4.5 commas in the Turkish system; thus, they fall directly in the center of the line depicted above.

### Accidentals

Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek notation adds 6 accidentals in addition to Western music theory's 4 accidentals. Note that the commonly used quarter-tone symbols and are used in this system to indicate a tone's adjusting with a koma, not a quarter-tone, like in Arabic maqam and Helmholtz-Ellis notation. Makam Rast is therefore notated in the "same" in Arabic and Turkish music, but Turkish Rast's third is a just major third, not a neutral third.
| Accidental | | | | | |
| Function | 1 koma sharp | 4 komas sharp | 5 komas sharp | 8 komas sharp | 9 komas= whole tone sharp |
| Accidental | | | | | |
| Function | 9 komas= whole tone flat | 8 komas flat | 5 komas flat | 4 komas flat | 1 koma flat |