oudalally
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Hijaz vs Phrygian
Hello all,
I've been listening to a superb piece played by Maria Magdalena Wiesmaier (cello) and Nabil Hilaneh (oud) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBeB0TAcDj8
It's quite beautifully performed, but I'm finding myself slightly confused by how Hijaz actually works.
To my ear (not a very well trained one), it sounds like you could solo in phrygian over the top of hijaz, but that doesn't seem to work when I've
tried it. I can't quite explain why, it just doesn't sound quite right.
Is anybody able to explain what the connection is between hijaz and phrygian, if indeed there is one....
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DavidJE
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I guess it depends on which Phrygian mode you're talking about, but neither match the Hidjaz/Hicaz scale.
According to Wikipedia the ancient Greek version is D E F G A B C D. That's not Hidjaz/Hicaz. Hidjaz on D would roughly be D Eb F# G A B C D. At
least in the Turkish tradition sometimes that B would be a Bb. Also, the Eb, F#, and B will not exactly correspond to the western notes.
Wikipedia lists the "Modern Phrygian Mode" as E F G A B C D E. I didn't realize there was an ancient Greek and a modern version, and this "modern"
one is the one I am familiar with. Anyway, this is also not Hidjaz. Hidjaz on E would be E F G# A B C# D E. Sometimes that C# would be played as C,
and again, the F, G#, and C# would not be identical to their western counterparts.
I haven't watched the video you linked to...so not sure what they are using. But if it sounds like Hidjaz it could be the "Phrygian Dominant" or
"Spanish Gypsy Scale"...E F G# A B C D E. That would be like the Hidjaz scale more or less, with the exception of the C sometimes being sharp. I
think in Hicaz Humayun (Turkish makam) the C is not sharpened. So it seems the Phrygian Dominant uses basically the same scale as Hicaz Humayun.
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Jody Stecher
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OK... where to begin?....
Based on the first few minutes of the video: The duo is playing from C. They are not playing Hijaz from C. They are playing what is apparently free
improvisation based on the maqam called Hijazkar.
Leaving aside any mention of microtonal coloring and leaving aside the more accurate description that would result from discussing maqam music in
terms of tetrachords rather than in terms of scales, the pitches of Hijaz from C, Hijazkar from C, and Phrygian mode from C, each expressed as a
*scale* are as follows.
C Db E F G Ab Bb C/ Hijaz . (let's call this version "piano hijaz)
C Db E G G Ab B C/ Hijazkar. the b is natural, not flat
C Db Eb F G Ab Bb C/ Phrigian. E is also flat here.
So to answer your question about the relationship between Hijaz and Phrygian the difference..... in theory......is that Phrygian has a flat third
whereas Hijaz has a major third. In practice there are more differences. I'll mention three of them here.
1) Hijaz maqam has Hijaz as its primary jins (tetrachord) but the higher jins (taken from the fourth note) may be Rast instead of Nahawand as "piano
Hijaz" would suggest. In Hijaz from C this would mean that the A (la) would be somewhere between A natural and A flat, the precise placement
depending on context.
2) Hijaz is more usually played from D (re) than from C. C is the typical place to find Hijazkar.
3) Phrygian mode exists only as a theoretical construct. Hijaz exists as both an idea and as living music and there are several varieties. One often
hears the 2nd and 3rd degree closer to each other than in "piano hijaz". From C this means that the E is lower than E natural and the D is higher
than D flat.
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Jody Stecher
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Maybe I have a better reply than my first attempt. If you play Hijaz as a scale in C, the notes G, Ab, Bb, C are the first four notes of the Phrygian
scale.
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Jody Stecher
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I mean Phrygian starting at G.
Phrygian mode is two consecutive tetrachords of Kurd jins.
So you could say.... theoretically.....that that first four notes of maqam Hijaz (when expressed as a scale) are Hijaz jins and the second four notes
(G Ab Bb C) are "Phrygian jins".
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