Mugam

(1) The word for mode in Azerbaijani folk music. There are more than 70 mugam modes, each with its own special features and name. The principal modes are the rast, shur, and segiakh. The scales of some mugams include augmented seconds; many span more than an octave, so that certain steps of the scale are represented by different notes in neighboring octaves—for example, C in the lower octave corresponds to C-flat in the upper octave.

(2) A genre of folk and professional music in Azerbaijan and Nagornyi Karabakh. It is a vocal and instrumental piece in one of the mugam modes, from which it derives its name (rast, shur). Mugams have improvisational, dance, and vocal sections. A number of mugams have been arranged for orchestra by A. G. Ter-Gevondian, F. Amirov, Niiazi, S. E. Aleskerov, and other composers.