Between Longing and Sorrow: The Secrets of Sikah in Maqam Bayati
On this page The fundamental Maqam Bayati rests on the note Re, known in Arabic music as (Duka). Its scale consists of two main blocks: As for the degrees of the scale, they are as follows: As for the tonal dimensions (intervals) between these notes, they are as follows: The structure and intervals of the […]
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But before we sail into the secrets of this maqam and its wondrous ability to express contrasting emotions, we should first answer: “What is Maqam Bayati?”
The fundamental Maqam Bayati rests on the note Re, known in Arabic music as (Duka). Its scale consists of two main blocks:
- The First Block: A Bayati Tetrachord that begins on the note Re (Duka) and ends on the note Sol (Nawa).
- The Second Block: A Nahawand Pentachord that begins on the note Sol (Nawa) and ends on the octave note Re (Muhayyar)
As for the degrees of the scale, they are as follows:
- Re “Duka”: The fundamental resting note (tonic).
- Mi half-flat (lowered by a quarter tone) “Sikah”: The distinguishing note of Bayati, which gives it its unique flavor.
- Fa “Jaharkah” (natural).
- Sol “Nawa” (natural): The common note between the first and second block, and the pivot point for modulating to other branch maqams by altering the second block.
- La “Husseini” (natural).
- Si flat (lowered by a half tone) “Ajam”.
- Do “Kardan” (natural).
- Re “Muhayyar” (natural): The octave of the fundamental resting note.
As for the tonal dimensions (intervals) between these notes, they are as follows:
- Between Re and Mi half-flat: 3/4 tone
- Between Mi half-flat and Fa: 3/4 tone
- Between Fa and Sol: 1 full tone
- Between Sol and La: 1 full tone
- Between La and Si flat: 1/2 tone
- Between Si flat and Do: 1 full tone
- Between Do and Re: 1 full tone
The structure and intervals of the maqam can be summarized in the following illustrative model:
Bayati is the head of a large family of maqams, but the most famous and widely used are the maqams Shory and Husseini. Although both rest on the same tonic note, Re, and share (structurally) the first block (Bayati Tetrachord), each has a completely different tonal identity and melodic path.
Maqam “Shory”
also known as “Qarjighar” – is a melancholic maqam that blends the sorrowful and swaying feeling of the Bayati tetrachord with the emotional brilliance of the Hejaz pentachord, which constitutes the second block of this maqam. Thus, the scale sequence of the maqam is as follows:
- Re “Duka”: The fundamental resting note (tonic).
- Mi half-flat (lowered by a quarter tone) “Sikah”: The distinguishing note.
- Fa “Jaharkah” (natural).
- Sol “Nawa” (natural): The common note between the first and second block.
- La flat (lowered by a half tone) “Hissar”.
- Si “Mahur” (natural).
- Do “Kerdan” (natural).
- Re “Muhayyar” (natural).
The intervals between the notes of the maqam are as follows:
- Between Re and Mi half-flat: 3/4 tone
- Between Mi half-flat and Fa: 3/4 tone
- Between Fa and Sol: 1 full tone
- Between Sol and La flat: 1/2 tone
- Between La flat and Si: 1.5 tones
- Between Si and Do: 1/2 tone
- Between Do and Re: 1 full tone
Melodic Path and Character:
The melody begins by focusing on the Bayati block in the lower and middle registers, then ascends to highlight the sharp and touching intervals of the Hejaz block starting from the Nawa note. It then focuses on a descending motion toward the tonic, blending the flavor of Bayati with the spirit of Hejaz.
Maqam “Husseini
is one of the sober, traditional maqams in Arabic music and Muwashahat. It is a direct derivative and a classical development of the old Maqam Bayati. Its first block consists of a “Bayat” tetrachord resting on “Re,” and its second block is a “Rast” pentachord resting on “Sol.” Thus, the scale sequence is as follows:
- Re “Duka”: The fundamental resting note (tonic).
- Mi half-flat (lowered by a quarter tone) “Sikah”.
- Fa “Jaharkah” (natural).
- Sol “Nawa” (natural): The common note between the first and second block.
- La (natural) “Husseini”.
- Si half-flat (lowered by a quarter tone) “Auj”.
- Do “Kardan” (natural).
- Re “Muhayyar” (natural).
The intervals for this maqam are:
- Between Re and Mi half-flat: 3/4 tone
- Between Mi half-flat and Fa: 3/4 tone
- Between Fa and Sol: 1 full tone
- Between Sol and La (natural): 1 full tone
- Between La (natural) and Si half-flat: 3/4 tone
- Between Si half-flat and Do: 3/4 tone
- Between Do and Re: 1 full tone
It is worth noting that many melodies treat the second block of this maqam as a Bayati tetrachord resting on La “Husseini.” This does not change the key signature, but it gives the maqam a different flavor and may be the reason for its name, as the “La” note becomes the axis of rotation and the station for repeated pauses before the final descent to the Duka.
The Geographical Presence of Maqam Bayati
The geographical footprint of Maqam “Bayati” is vast, spanning the Middle East, the Mediterranean basin, and Central Asia:
The geographical footprint of Maqam “Bayati” is vast, spanning the Middle East, the Mediterranean basin, and Central Asia:
In Egypt: Maqam “Bayat” represents the backbone of classical and popular Egyptian music. We find it in the melodies of the greatest singers like Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, and Mohamed Fawzi. It is the most prominent maqam in religious chants (Tawashih) and the famous Egyptian school of Quranic recitation, represented by legends like Sheikh Mustafa Ismail, Abdul Basit Abdul Samad, and Al-Minshawi. Historically in Egypt, the “Bayati” was tied to undocumented, innate singing; it was used to compose the “Mawal,” the songs of farmers during harvest in the Delta and Upper Egypt, the calls of street vendors, and the Sirah of Bani Hilal (which transitions between Bayati, Rast, and Saba). The first Arab Music Conference held in Cairo in 1932 played a role in standardizing the maqam’s intervals and its position among the primary families of Arabic maqams, establishing Bayati as the fundamental reference for the Duka “Re” note. The conference also emphasized that the “Egyptian Bayati” is characterized by an expressive nature that leans more toward warmth and softness, compared to the Turkish Bayati, which sometimes tends toward sharpness, or the Iraqi Bayati, which is more melancholic.
To understand the unique flavor of Maqam Bayati in Egypt, we can look at one of the most beautiful melodies sung by the Star of the East, Umm Kulthum, composed by Baligh Hamdi. We find Maqam “Bayati” in the following example, transposed from the note Ashiran “La”.
Baligh Hamdi employed Maqam Bayati in the song “Baieed Annak” in a style that combines the sorrow of authentic Tarab with the lightness of modern, graceful phrasing. This can be summarized in the following points:
- The Beginning and Tarab Stability: Baligh composed the main verse (Neseet el noom wa ahlmamo) in Maqam Bayati starting from the note Re (Duka), investing the innate sense of the maqam to express the pain of separation and nostalgia, while providing ample room for Umm Kulthum’s comfortable vocal Tarab.
- Unlike the traditional heavy nature of Maqam Bayati in old poems, Baligh stripped the phrase of complex ornaments, making it a short, circular, and easy-to-memorize phrase supported by lively rhythms that gave Bayati a modern, dancing pulse despite the sadness of the lyrics.
- Regarding maqam modulation, Baligh did not trap the melody inside Maqam Bayati; rather, he used it as a primary anchor to return to, smoothly and gracefully modulating to adjacent maqams (like Nahawand, Saba, and Sikah/Huzam in some couplets like “La noom wala dam’ fi ayni”). This highlighted the emotional contrast between the agony of complaining and the rebellion against torment, before skillfully closing back into the warm stability of the Bayati.
In the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan):
It heavily dominates the Qudud Halabiya, Andalusian Muwashahat, and popular and folk singing such as Dal’ouna, Ataba, Mijana, and Dabke songs. Maqam Bayati in the Levantine school is distinguished by a specific expressive and performative trait that separates it from its performance in the Egyptian or Iraqi schools; the Levantine Bayati tends to combine Sufi solemnity and dignity with sweet folk vitality. The Levantine character of Maqam Bayati manifests in the tuning (value) of the Sikah. The Levantine ear (especially in Aleppo and Damascus) tends to slightly raise the “three-quarters of a tone” interval (the microtone in the Sikah degree) to be closer to a natural note compared to the Egyptian school, giving the Levantine Bayati a brighter, more cohesive touch with less excessive sorrow or brokenness.
Below is an example of one of the most famous works by composer Ziad Rahbani in Maqam Bayati:
In Iraq:
Maqam Bayati holds a firmly established position in the Iraqi music system, specifically within the traditions of the Iraqi Maqam (recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity); it is considered one of the pillars of the musical identity of Mesopotamia. Bayati is not always used in Iraq as an independent primary maqam isolated from its context; rather, it falls under a family locally called “Mawalif Al-Dasht” or structurally overlaps with Maqam “Al-Mukhalif” and the notes of the Hejaz and Rast families in traditional terminology. The word “Bayat” originally traces back to overnight stays, sheltering, or homes (Al-Bayt). It is applied to melodies that suggest familiarity, habitation, and nighttime communion. The word was also used to refer to familiar melodies in folk practice.
Below is an example of the notation style for Maqam Bayati (Al-Dasht) in Taqaseem (improvisations):
From this example, we can observe how the Mi half-flat note is indicated in the key signature with a reversed flat sign. The Iraqi Bayati scale is built on the same known fundamental degrees, but with subtle differences in the feeling of the intervals (microtones). The “Sikah” note in Iraq is distinguished by sometimes being performed with slightly variable dimensions, making it more inclined to descend or express sorrow than it is in the Levantine or Egyptian schools.
In Tunisia:
In traditional Tunisian music (known as Malouf), Maqam Bayati is present with a unique Maghrebi-Andalusian flavor. It occupies a distinct position and differs in name and practice from the Arab East. In Malouf, it is traditionally known primarily as “Taba’ Al-Muhayyar Sikah”. With the spread of modern musical notation after the 1932 Cairo Congress, it also became known as “Maqam Bayati” in Tunisian music institutes. However, the masters of Malouf remain attached to its traditional Andalusian names (Taba’), and Muhayyar Sikah is often considered the direct equivalent to the Eastern Bayati in terms of the first block and the Duka tonic. As for the difference in feeling and performance, the “Mi half-flat” degree in traditional Tunisian playing tends to be variable and depends on natural instinct in instruments like the Tunisian Oud and the Gasba (flute). Tunisian performance is also characterized by frequent, rhythmic bowing on the violin and fast plucking ornaments rather than the slow, extended Tarab style common in the Egyptian school.
In Turkey:
In Ottoman and Turkish music, it is known as Beyâtî, and it has a very wide presence in Sufi music and Turkish folk songs. In the Turkish school, it is classified as a “simple maqam” composed of two blocks. It is considered a sibling to Maqam Uşşak, but with fundamental differences in the melodic path and the resting points of the phrases. The Turks consider the Bayati to begin with a solemn ascending-descending motion, compared to the wildness of Uşşak. Bayati is considered one of the finest maqams for composing major Sufi and Mevlevi chants accompanied by the Turkish Ney. Furthermore, some of the most magnificent instrumental pieces in Ottoman heritage, particularly in the Peşrev and Saz Semaisi forms, were composed in Maqam Bayati. In the modern era, its melodies have descended into Arabesk music and slow, expressive songs, where Turkish violin and clarinet players utilize glissando techniques and broad ornamentation to impart a sad and moving character.
In the Gulf:
Maqam Bayati in the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region represents a cornerstone of the musical consciousness; it is the melody of the sea and the desert, the favored vessel for traditional arts and pearl-diving songs, leading up to the foundation of modern Gulf songs. The common name is known as “Al-Bayat” or “Al-Bayati”, and in some traditional circles, it is referred to by the names of its branches according to the tonic and the cadence. The maqam is often referred to locally by the name of the art form or rhythmic mold in which it is performed, rather than the abstract theoretical term; for example, one might say a “Sawt Bayat” melody, a “Samri Bayat”, or the melodies of the maritime “Nahma”, where the name of the maqam is tied to the environment in which it is practiced. The Sikah note in old Gulf performance (especially in sea songs and Samri) tends to drop slightly, making it heavier and closer to a flat note compared to the Levantine school. This grants the melody a deep sorrow and a clear, earthy bedouin hue.
Conclusion:
Now, having traced Maqam Bayati historically and geographically, we can conclude the secret behind its changing flavor from one place to another despite the similarity, or perhaps identity, in composition and structure. The secret lies in the exact tuning of the “Sikah”—that note which grants this maqam its unique flavor and furthermore creates the distinct difference in its taste from one country to another. Perhaps the question that comes to the reader’s mind now is: “How can I know the exact frequency values of the Sikah note that distinguishes one country from another?” The answer to this question is no longer a dilemma, thanks to the breakthrough provided by School of Oud Online, introducing the 7-layer sheet music which determines the exact frequency values of the Sikah for each piece according to the region or country from which the work originated.
How did RAMY’S 7 Layers Sheet Music give the kiss of life to the Oud instrument
On this page These are many common questions that frequently cross the minds of students of Arabic music in general, and the Oud in particular. The Oud has been played for longer than written history. Before we explore together how RAMY’s 7 Layers Sheet Music cleverly solved this dilemma, These experts sought to adapt the […]
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Saving The Oud With Seven Layer
These are many common questions that frequently cross the minds of students of Arabic music in general, and the Oud in particular.
Although these questions reflect a real problem in the notation of Arabic works for the Oud, they remained without an answer or a serious attempt to find solutions until recently.
Before we look for a solution, let us know the origin and causes of this problem, namely the “poverty that characterizes Arabic musical notation”:
Music can be written down. That is how your kids learn the piano, how orchestras coordinate, and how you can play a song you have never heard performed live—because someone wrote it down in a way that the notation itself carries enough information for you to reproduce it meaningfully. This was not always possible. A monk named Guido invented the system that made it possible for Western music about a thousand years ago. Before Guido, if you wanted to learn a song, you had to find someone who already knew it and have them teach you, over and over, in person. After Guido, you could read it.
However, there is a major problem in attempting to notate for the Oud in the same way as notating for the piano, for example. We cannot compare the technique of the ornaments that reflect the spirit and character of the Oud to the ornaments of an instrument like the piano, nor the tools of nuance (expression). We can have Beethoven’s Fur Elise as an example:
The Oud has been played for longer than written history.
It is the instrument that gave Europe the guitar, the lute, and the musical scale system that underpins Western music. It is one of the most sophisticated instruments ever created. And until Ramy, nobody had ever given it a Guido. The existing attempts—and serious, respected musicians have made them—all had the same problem: they tried to write sheet music for the Oud in a language designed for Western instruments. “Imagine trying to write Arabic in the Roman alphabet”! You can sort of do it, but you lose the sounds that Arabic has and the Roman alphabet doesn’t. You lose the meaning that lives in those sounds. That is what every prior Oud notation system did; it got the notes down, but it lost the feeling, the technique, and the soul.
Before we explore together how RAMY’s 7 Layers Sheet Music cleverly solved this dilemma,
let us sail a little into history to know how the problem began. In 1932, during the reign of King Fouad of Egypt, an official invitation was issued to convene the first Congress of Arab Music with the aim of saving the Arab musical heritage from extinction, modernizing its teaching curricula, and confronting the chaos of performance and improvisation by regulating the maqams and rhythms and unifying musical scales. Prominent European orientalists and musicians (such as Béla Bartók, Paul Hindemith, Baron Rodolphe d’Erlanger, and Robert Lachmann) participated in the conference. They played a pivotal role in audio field documentation by recording hundreds of phonograph records for various modes (maqams), suites (waslat), and muwashshahat from Egypt, the Levant, the Maghreb, and Iraq to preserve them aurally, in addition to transcribing them into Western sheet music. This was done by transferring the oral heritage, inherited through dictation, to the classical musical staff to facilitate its circulation and academic teaching.
These experts sought to adapt the characteristics of Arabic music to fit the tools and templates of Western notation through:
- Equalizing the dimensions of the “quarter tone” (Equal Temperament): They proposed dividing the octave into 24 equal parts to make it easier to write, ignoring the fact that the dimensions of Arabic maqams (such as Rast and Bayati) are naturally unequal in physics and contain minute fractions (commas) that differ from one country to another.
- They also attempted to exclude maqams rich in microtones or modify their notes to match Western scales (Major & Minor) so that they would be easy to play on Western instruments with fixed tuning (like the piano).
- Furthermore, they imposed inaccurate accidental signs and invented artificial lowering and raising signs (half flat and half sharp) to force the Arabic note to fall exactly in the middle of the distance, which stripped the maqam of its original spirit.
- As for rhythm, they tried to notate complex rhythmic cycles with long and irregular times (such as 10/8 or 13/8) within the frameworks of a monotonous Western time signature that lacks the kinesthetic individualization of the riq and percussion player.
These attempts had significant negative impacts on Arabic music,
such as “flattening” the Arabic maqam and stripping it of the microtones that distinguish it from the modified Western scale. It also restricted improvisation and self-expression, as Arabic music has historically relied on listening, ornamentation, and momentary tarab (musical enchantment). The player, with the strict sheet music, turned from an improvising creator into a literal performer adhering to dead letters on paper.
Arabic musical notation has relied on these systems—despite all their drawbacks—until now, when the RAMY’S 7 Layers Sheet Music system came along—created and owned by Ramy
Adly—to offer a radical solution to this problem. To clarify the idea of this system and how it provided ideal solutions to the disadvantages of the traditional notation system, let us review the seven layers included in the musical sheets formatted according to this system:
- 1st layer: The Notes & The Map — You always know exactly what to play and when, so rhythm stops being a guessing game.
- 2nd layer: Downs & Ups — Your picking hand learns the right motion from the first note, instead of building bad habits you will spend years undoing.
- 3rd layer: Fingering Numbers — Your left hand always knows where to go, saving you hours of trial and error.
- 4th layer: Ornamentation — The authentic touches that make the music sound Middle Eastern are written for you, not left to imitation.
- 5th layer: Emotion — You learn where the feeling lives in the melody, so you play with soul and not just accuracy.
- 6th layer: Phrasing — You recognize the style of a passage instantly, which trains your ear and your taste at the same time.
- 7th layer: Positions & Techniques — You gain command of the whole fingerboard, not just the easy first few frets.
To make the idea clearer, we will present a practical example of one of the most famous works of the Egyptian musician Sayed Darwish,
“Shed Al Hezam”. In the first model, we present what traditional notation offers, which is limited to notating the notes with their durations, the time signature, and the key signature.
Now we can move to RAMY’S 7 Layers Sheet Music to see the difference made by adding the new layers to the sheet.
As we can see, this system provides the player with a sheet that answers all their questions and leaves no room for chance or guesswork. This system can scale from the level of a beginner player to a performer, and below we see what the sheet can offer to this level.
The truth is that RAMY’S 7 Layers Sheet Music is not limited only to covering the seven aspects we previously mentioned.
Rather, it goes beyond this to solve more problems facing players, which is the exact value of a note like “Sikah” and some intervals like the one-and-a-half tone interval, whose value differs from one maqam to another and from one country to another.
Before we look for a solution, let us know the origin and causes of this problem, namely the “poverty that characterizes Arabic musical notation”:
Music can be written down. That is how your kids learn the piano, how orchestras coordinate, and how you can play a song you have never heard performed live—because someone wrote it down in a way that the notation itself carries enough information for you to reproduce it meaningfully. This was not always possible. A monk named Guido invented the system that made it possible for Western music about a thousand years ago. Before Guido, if you wanted to learn a song, you had to find someone who already knew it and have them teach you, over and over, in person. After Guido, you could read it.