„Сладката музика” (Български музиканти за понятието макам)
The “Sweet Music” (Bulgarian Musicians About Makam)

Summary/Abstract: The article investigates similarities and differences in various understandings of the term makam. Its uses and explanations attributed to folk singers and music players, authors and performers of ethnopop songs, as well as of Roma musicians are advocated to differ substantially from the high culture ones and are assumed to be endowed with meanings relevant to melody and interpretation rather than to being informed by structural peculiarities of makams. Thus folk singers and musicians use the word makam to mark specific mode organization, as well as a particular way of performing, while ethnopop singers tend to claim that it reveals Balkan or Oriental features together with a definite style and manner of interpretation, and Roma musicians understand makam as meaning “sweet music”, quality of performing capable of expressing the deepest feelings of the performer in sounds. Thus, the grassroot professional discourse about makam is affirmed to be characterized by only a background notion of makam’s structural peculiarities and as putting the accent on its comprehension as a characteristic feature of the musician and his audience and of their deepest perceptions and feelings.

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