Intorno alla musica d'arte (muqam) degli uiguri

Despite the recent nomination of the muqam as Intangible Heritage of China, the term refers in itself to the Art music traditions of the vast Arab-Persian and Central Asian world called, with an Arab term, maqām. After a geo-cultural and musicological analysis of the Uyghur muqam, the article takes into exam some of its distinctive components, beginning with the subtle commonalities between the world of muqam and Chinese art music; it moves, then, to the key figure of Uyghur queen Āmānnisā Khān Nāfisi (1526-1560) and to the cultural and musical route connecting Herat-Bukhara-Samarkand-Kashgar in sixteenth century. Finally, the paper focuses on a particular convivial meeting with music called mashrab, possibly influenced by Sufism.