Genre, form and theory analysis of the Maqam Şevkutarab

In this study (theses), not only the meaning and historical evolution of the word "maqam" is studied in various dimensions but also what it means for many musicologists from the past until today is described in brief. Meanwhile, efforts of those musicologists' and musicians' compositions -that were created in such a huge geography- are also studied roughly and those compositions are also evaluated to study how they evolved in time. In addition to above, core aspects of the term "maqam" are described and the truth in this core is revealed in detail. This truth is a simple representation of the fact that music and maqam do not only represent a sequence of sounds and repititions and habits that one's ear is used to hear. It is quite astonishing to find vivid similarities yet connections in between this specific music culture and astrology. This, in many ways, justifies why many philosophers from the ancient times are called "philosophers of nature". By understanding the fact that nature, in many ways, are connected to each other, inevitably pushes man to adjust himself to the nature itself as it evolves and changes. These changes can mostly be reasonable and sometimes unrecognizable to prevent us to not to shake us out from our everyday lives however, during the times of uncertainty and chaos in nature, it truly mesmerizes how it also pushes us to our limits of patience and endurance. Not having the ability to recognize how nature speaks and gives signals to us may most probably hinder us to make necessary adjustments to our everyday lives. First and second type of the maqam Şevkutarab were analyzed in detail in this study with clear evidences of the evolution of the maqam by time and geography which also caused erosions to the purity of its nature. The reason why TRT Turkish Classical Music Repetoire is chosen as the one and only source is because of its officially approved legitimacy and commonly acceptance from the masses. In this study, composers' choice of interpreting this maqam in his own methods and transitions in between are presented in graphics to represent how well the maqam Şevkutarab was understood. In this research all revisions of maqam Şevkutarab were studied from the archives of TRT Turkish Classical Music Repertoire. By this means, major mistakes in interpretations whilst making of this achieve are shed to light in brief.