Close to Phrygian — modern, emotional, flowing.
Kürdî makam is close to the Phrygian mode: a Kürdî tetrachord on the karar plus a Bûselik pentachord on Neva, resolving on perde Dügâh (A) with a half step directly above the final. It sounds modern, flowing and slightly plaintive.
From perde Dügâh, the Kürdî dizi runs through these degrees across one octave. A degree is labelled with a core perde name where it lands exactly on one, and with its degree number otherwise. The letters are the koma value of each interval: T = tanini (9), K = büyük mücennep (8), S = küçük mücennep (5), B = bakiye (4), A = artık ikili (12). Press play the scale — every perde sounds at its true position in the 53-koma octave, microtonally, not rounded to a piano key.
The dizi lands on these named core perdes: Dügâh, Çârgâh, Nevâ, Hüseynî, Gerdâniye. The degrees in between carry no core perde name and are shown by number.
Turkish music is written for one reference tuning (Bolâhenk); differently sized instruments transpose it down — Süpürde by a whole tone, Kız by ≈ a fourth, Mansur by ≈ a fifth. The written perdes don't change, only the sounding pitch.
The same seven steps drawn against the core perde lines, so you can see the melodic shape and exactly which degrees sit between the piano keys.
Each dot is a degree's true koma height above the karar. Reddish dots don't sit on a core perde — they fall 'between the keys'. Turkish scores write these with the koma / mücennep accidentals.
Kürdî makam is assembled from the Kürdî tetrachord below and the Bûselik pentachord on Neva above, meeting on one shared perde. What defines the makam is not only the scale but its karar (Dügâh), its güçlü (Nevâ), and its seyir (ascending).
Kürdî is ascending and leans on the güçlü Neva. The flattened second degree — a bakiye (4 koma) above the karar — is heard immediately and gives the makam its Phrygian colour. Much modern Turkish pop and arabesk sits in Kürdî.
A minor-sounding scale with a half step right above the final — the Phrygian ♭2.
Close to Phrygian — modern, emotional, flowing.
Heard in: modern Turkish pop and arabesk.
Makams from the same family — they share material and are told apart by seyir and güçlü:
Kürdî makam is close to the Phrygian mode: a Kürdî tetrachord on the karar plus a Bûselik pentachord on Neva, resolving on perde Dügâh (A) with a half step directly above the final. It sounds modern, flowing and slightly plaintive.
In the Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek system the koma steps are 4 + 9 + 9 + 9 + 4 + 9 + 9 — 53 koma in all, one full octave. Named: B – T – T – T – B – T – T.
Kürdî makam resolves on perde Dügâh; its secondary centre of gravity (güçlü) is perde Nevâ. Its seyir (melodic path) is ascending.
A minor-sounding scale with a half step right above the final — the Phrygian ♭2.
Kürdî is grouped here under "Resolving on Dügâh", and shares material with Bûselik, Uşşâk, Hüseynî, Nevâ, Karcığar, Bayati. These are told apart not by their scale but by their seyir and güçlü.
This scale is given in its standard Arel-Ezgi-Uzdilek / conservatory form and is checked to close the octave at 53 commas. There is always a small gap between what the theory writes and what a performer plays.
Back to the Turkish Makam tool for all seven çeşni, the perde ruler and the 20 makams; for the history of makam and maqam see the Middle Eastern Music lesson; for Western scales, the Scale Library.