This is a further exploration of a minimalistic maqam system which tries to eke out maqam genera from very small supersets of a 7 tone paradigm.
The most minimalistic superset in this system is the 7 tone paradigm itself, which on the surface looks trivial, bordering on comical, but in actual practice, it’s possible to capture a sense of maqams Rast and Bayati through melodic contour alone in 7-tone equal temperament. Things get much more interesting in paradigms just above 7 tones. The 10-tone paradigm is the smallest paradigm in which common maqam genera are close to distinguishable — it has genera that could, in 10-tone equal temperament, pass for Rast/Sazkar and Hijaz/Sikah with a little mental squinting. In this document I get more exploratory and think of “Mohajira” (really building up from a kind of Hijazkar) and “Rast” as abstract templates taken from a 10 tone paradigm instantiated as a 10 tone scale, meant to be set up on a harp or a lute with movable frets (like a tanbur, buzuq or baglama). The actual sound will sometimes be new and sometimes evocative of older Perso-Arabic genera (from the Middle Ages).
10 tone scales I consider include the harmonic and subharmonic diaphonic cycles (the former reminiscent of Dariush Talai’s Chahargah mode), as well as some scales that are based on interlocking 5-tone diaphonic sets. Many of these echo genera by Ibn Sina and Qutb al-Din Shirazi. In addition, scales 13 and 14 are inspired by Qutb al-Din Shirazi’s Hisar mode.
