Qoutayba Neaimi’s Microtonal Polyphonic Maqam System
The Microtonal Polyphonic Maqam System
Each year, Abu Dhabi Festival supports practitioners of Arab origin to create new works, publications and recordings through the Festival’s Composers’ Platform. The work of gifted musicians and composers – past, present and future – are produced and released to build new audiences for Arab music.
Through a series of exciting activations, Abu Dhabi Festival is supporting Belgian-Iraqi composer and researcher Qoutayba Neaimi’s revolutionary new musical innovation that will change the way musicians throughout the world understand Arab music. Al Neaimi’s new system allows musicians in the Arab world to finally play polyphonic maqam and gives musicians everywhere the opportunity to create completely new sounds, form new melodic structures and produce new orchestral sonorities.
Transcending borders and cultural differences, the Polyphonic Maqam System allows international ensembles of musicians from the Middle East and musicians around the world to play polyphonic maqam repertoires together. This is an important part of Abu Dhabi Festival’s continued investment in creativity in all forms, and its mission to cultivate Arab musical heritage and build bridges between different cultures through the arts.
