Claim reviewed: The Ottoman music tradition held that makams affect the mind and mood.
A traditional or spiritual practice, not a scientific claim.
What do we know?
Safi al-Din al-Urmawi's twelve modes were matched to the zodiac signs and his four branches to the four elements. Ottoman physicians such as Şuuri Hasan Efendi and Gevrekzade Hasan Efendi wrote about the effects of makams on emotions. At the Bayezid II Darüşşifa in Edirne, music is mentioned as an experimental practice alongside the traditional medicine of the period.
What don't we know?
These mappings are historical accounts: with no research showing their validity and reliability, they have no clinical value today. No specific effect of listening to a makam has been shown scientifically.
Wording we use in the app: A makam is a melodic system of Turkish music; its effect on mood is a historical account, not a scientific claim.
Sources (3)
Çoban 2012 · Review
The author, a psychiatrist and performer of classical Turkish music, reports that the link between makam and body is said to go back to al-Farabi and that Ottoman physicians such as Şuuri Hasan Efendi and Gevrekzade Hasan Efendi wrote about the effects of makams on emotions. In his view this remains historical information: with no research showing its validity and reliability, it has no clinical value today.
A magazine article, not peer-reviewed research (Spring 2012). It contains other views on music that are not used here; only the section on the historical nature of the makam tradition (p. 69) is relied on.
Çoban A. Hoş sedanın gücü: Müzikoterapi. SD dergisi. 2012(22):68-71. Go to source
Kıranlar ve Koçak 2017 · Review
A short note on the silhouette of the Bayezid II Darüşşifa in the Trakya University medical journal's logo. It notes that the hospital offered "experimental practices" such as music and occupation alongside the traditional medicine of the period, and that the building has presented this past as a medicine and health museum since 1997.
A short note, not a peer-reviewed study; it gives no specific makam or time-of-day mapping.
Kıranlar Ö, Koçak Z. A Short Note About the Reconsideration of the Image of Bayezid II Darüşşifa. Balkan Med J. 2017;34(3):187. doi:10.4274/balkanmedj.2017.3.0001 PMID 28559219 Go to source
Özkan 2003 · Institutional page
Entry "Makam": Safi al-Din al-Urmawi's Kitab al-Adwar describes twelve modes (uşşak, neva, buselik, rast, ırak, ısfahan, zirefkend, büzürg, zengule, rahevi, hüseyni, hicazi); in this system the twelve modes were matched to the twelve zodiac signs and the four branches to the four elements.
The page gives 2003 as the print date.
Özkan İH. Makam. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi; 2003. Go to source
Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · Next review: 3 April 2027