Emotional and flowing; a favourite of the 20th-century şarkı form, common in the radio and recording repertoire.
Kürdîlihicazkâr is the şed (transposed) form of Kürdî, carrying the same Phrygian-flavoured intervals up to perde Rast. It joins a Kürdî tetrachord on the karar to a Bûselik pentachord on Çârgâh, resolving on perde Rast (G) with its güçlü on Çârgâh. One of the most popular makams of the 20th-century şarkı repertoire.
From perde Rast, the Kürdîlihicazkâr 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: Rast, Çârgâh, Nevâ, 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.
Kürdîlihicazkâr makam is assembled from the Kürdî tetrachord on Rast below and the Bûselik pentachord on Çârgâh above, meeting on one shared perde. What defines the makam is not only the scale but its karar (Rast), its güçlü (Çârgâh), and its seyir (descending).
Kürdîlihicazkâr has a descending seyir, typically opening high and working down through the Bûselik pentachord to the güçlü Çârgâh, then through the flattened-second Kürdî tetrachord to rest on Rast.
Kürdî's flattened-second colour, transposed up to Rast and approached from the top down.
Emotional and flowing; a favourite of the 20th-century şarkı form, common in the radio and recording repertoire.
Heard in: the Kürdîlihicazkâr works of the 20th-century şarkı repertoire.
Makams from the same family — they share material and are told apart by seyir and güçlü:
Kürdîlihicazkâr is the şed (transposed) form of Kürdî, carrying the same Phrygian-flavoured intervals up to perde Rast. It joins a Kürdî tetrachord on the karar to a Bûselik pentachord on Çârgâh, resolving on perde Rast (G) with its güçlü on Çârgâh. One of the most popular makams of the 20th-century şarkı repertoire.
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.
Kürdîlihicazkâr makam resolves on perde Rast; its secondary centre of gravity (güçlü) is perde Çârgâh. Its seyir (melodic path) is descending.
Kürdî's flattened-second colour, transposed up to Rast and approached from the top down.
Kürdîlihicazkâr is grouped here under "Built on Rast", and shares material with Rast, Nihâvend, Nikrîz, Sûzinâk, Mâhur. 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.