Intercultural comparison of Maqām and related phenomena

Two of five meetings of the ICTM Study Group “maqam” carried out in all up to now could take place so to speak “in the field”. After the meeting at Istanbul it has been Samarkand rich in marvelous architectural works of art and pregnant for history with regard to the musical culture of the Muslim world as well which offered an ingenious ambience for the 5th conference. Concerning organization the meeting was connected to the III. International Music Festival “Sharq Taronalari” the objective of which seemed very likely to its main topic “Intercultural Comparison of Maqam and Related Phenomena“. The idea was to plumb more profound the knowledge obtained in the preceding conferences from very different materials on the maqam phenomenon by comparison going beyond several cultural regions. It should be checked to what degree the real concrete phenomena covered by the notion maqam have connections to each other respectively what degree of similarity exists. Such a comparison allows at the one hand to distinguish the profile of the local or regional traditions. On the other hand the time and spatial distance of the traditions to each other can be made distinct. Altogether by the means of comparison the outlines of the creative achievements of its bearers in history may be put more distinct in relief and can make more understandable the processes of development. The conference supplied as can be drawn from the presented studies some interesting contributions to this subject.