Very well organized and informative. Great tool for learning Makams and Usuls. Audio library is excellent. This book will require some degree of music theory knowledge. Not for beginners.

The premise of this book is that you cant teach Turkish maqams by explaining it through music theory and that you can only learn it by hearing it. The example used in the book is that its like you can learn to cook with spices in food without tasting the spices yourself. OK, so imagine I want to teach you want a C#m7b5#9 chord is, but I dont tell you anything about major or minor scales are, I just play this chord for you, and then you are supposed to get the 'flavor' of it and automatically be able to play it in music. Thats what this book is, it shows the notes of the scale using the western treble staff. Bear in mind that a whole step in Turkish music is broken into 9 comas (microtones), but you are expected to figure out where these comas are in relation to the western tempered scale. Maybe the author is not aware, but the Turkish comas are not tempored but are exact pitch intervals. And since we now have electronic guitar tuners that can give exact frequencies, maybe it would be a good idea to give each note of a maqam in an exact pitch frequency so we can see how these notes relate exactly to the octave. Or....you could just keep teaching Turkish music in relation to the western diatonic scale which will keep diluting Turkish music till it is no longer a musical system of its own but a hybrid of western music.

The book is printed in grayscale and contains 2 CDs. Besides the actual content of the book, beautiful pictures and motifs have been incorporated.

Unfortunately, my copy looks used, has scattered stains and creases. For $40 a bit oppressive after all.

The content of the book nevertheless is legendary and deserves full recognition.

This guide is jam packed with music instruction.no fluff or needless info. For serious musicians only.

Sala has always been prompt with delivery, and their instruments are of good quality.
I am very pleased with this book. Not only does it clearly define lots of makams, but the recordings are so much more than a simple audio clip! They are actual tunes exemplifying each makam, played by a single instrument in a clear recording. I would recommend this book!