The Doors of Melody: The Iraqi Maqām as a Tradition of Process

The current practice of the Iraqi maqām (Ar. maqām al-ʿirāqī), the urban art song of Iraq, is a historical product of the lived experiences of its performers, who have been accumulating its components and implementing their aesthetic principles in a genealogical format since at least the 10th century AH (17th century AD). In this article, I survey recent Iraqi historiographical literature to reveal the ways in which Iraqi scholars conceive of the Iraqi maqām tradition and its transmission. By analyzing a selection of performances, I argue that the Iraqi maqām is best understood as a cumulative and iterative tradition in process rather than in progress.