Further reading for Arabic music

There are some variations in the details of how maqams are grouped, despite agreement of grouping maqams related through common lower tetra chords or by modulation. There are also some inconsistencies, even within the same texts, on how key signatures for a particular maqam should be specified. However, it is common to use a key signature per ‘group’ of maqams instead of individual key signatures for each maqam separately.

• The music of the Arabs by Habib Hassan Touma [Amadeus Press, 1996], contains a discussion of maqams and their method of groupings.
• There are also some web sites that explain maqams and even provide audio examples:
  • https://www.maqamworld.com/
  • https://www.turath.org/
• Method books by the following authors for the oud (the Arabic lute) contain examples of mainly Turkish and Arabic compositions.
  • Charbel Rouhana
  • George Farah
  • Ibrahim Ali Darwish Al-masri