Maqam Academy was created from a deep personal connection to Iraqi and Arabic music, and from a desire to make Arabic maqam theory, Ajnas, quarter tones and microtonal music more understandable, accessible and useful to musicians around the world.
For many musicians who come from Western musical backgrounds, maqam theory can initially seem complex. Quarter tones, microtonal intervals, ajnas, melodic structures, different ascending and descending forms, and the relationships between maqamat belong to a musical way of thinking that cannot simply be explained through the major and minor scales of Western music.
My aim with Maqam Academy is to help open that world.
I want students, musicians, composers, teachers, researchers, and curious listeners from every part of the world to be able to explore these maqamat, hear them, play them, study their structures, and gradually understand the musical thinking behind them.
This project is not only about learning scales. It is about understanding a musical language.
I hope that musicians will use this knowledge creatively in their own work, whether in performance, composition, arranging, improvisation, research, or teaching. Maqam should not remain something that can only be understood by those who already grew up inside the tradition. With the right tools and explanations, its principles can be studied, experienced, and appreciated by anyone who approaches the music with curiosity and respect.
At the same time, Maqam Academy comes from an Iraqi musical heritage that is deeply personal to me.
I created this project in honor of my grandfather, Hashim Al-Rajab, my father, Bahir Al-Rajab, and my family. I dedicate Maqam Academy to them and to the musical knowledge, tradition, experience, and love of music that have been passed from one generation to another.
For me, preserving this knowledge does not mean keeping it in the past. It means allowing it to live, develop, and reach new musicians.
Through Maqam Academy, I want to create a bridge between an authentic Iraqi and Arabic musical tradition and musicians throughout the world. My hope is that students who may never have had direct access to this tradition can begin to understand not only which notes belong to a maqam, but why the maqam is structured the way it is, how its intervals function, how its ajnas relate to one another, how modulation works, and how this theoretical thinking connects to musical practice.
The site is therefore both a learning platform and a personal contribution to the continuation of this musical heritage.
If Maqam Academy helps a student understand a quarter tone for the first time, helps a musician discover a new maqam, inspires a composer to use microtonality in a meaningful way, or gives a teacher a clearer way to explain this music to the next generation, then the project has fulfilled an important part of its purpose.
My greatest wish is that this knowledge continues to travel, to be played, taught, questioned, developed, and brought into new music.