mugham

plural mughams · alternative mugam

1. countableuncountableA musical composition of Azerbaijan in a complex form that blends classical poetry and musical improvisation.

   1 more example

   But the more complicated issue was that the sections composed for orchestra and chorus, in the style of a 19th-century Italian opera, seemed entirely separate from the mugham sections, long improvisations in which Mr. Qasimov interprets the plight of Majnun using one of the 24 different mughams specified by Hajibeyov.

   2009 March 1, Meline Toumani, “For the Love of Layla”, in New York Times