Learn 3 essential modulations (and you only have to learn 1 song)

You can learn 3 essential modulations in Arabic music from only 1 easy Oud song.

The song “Ya Mal Al-Sham” is a well-known song throughout the Arab world. I chose this song to go into my new course “Easy Oud Songs” because the melodic phrases are short and easy to comprehend.

What makes this song extra powerful is that it features 3 modulations.

The main part of this song is in Maqam Rast. You can derive many modulations from Maqam Rast, and I like to think about Maqam Rast like the mother of all maqamat. It’s like a super highway-interchange.

3 modulations

Maqam Rast to Maqam Jiharkah
Maqam Jiharkah to Maqam Dalanshin
Maqam Dalanshin to Maqam Rast

The link between these different maqamat are the root of Maqam Rast, the note C.

Pay close attention to the notes. You’ll see that the ‘E’ / ‘Mi’ in Jiharkah is slightly flattened. That’s an important feature of this maqam. This note is often ornamented with thick vibrato to bring out the right nuance. You can also trill on notes ‘E’ and ‘F’ to bring this nuance out. The ‘F’ note in Jiharkah is also slightly flat.

Dalanshin is essentially Maqam Saba transposed to the ‘A’ note. The ‘D’ flat and ‘E’ natural you have creates the jins hijaz on ‘C’, but the melody eventually returns to the seat of Saba on ‘A’.

Finally we have a return to Maqam Rast. The melody below reiterates the seat of Rast on ‘C’.