Zirgüle

Zirgüle comes from the Persian word zengûle, meaning "small bell, chime." In the old twelve cycles it appears under the name Zengûle. Today the zirgüleli hicaz makam, which belongs to the Hicaz family, comes to rest on dügâh; its dominant is hüseynî. It takes its name from the nîm-zirgüle pitch, pressed just below the final. We could not find a source that traces, step by step, the link between this present-day makam and the old Zengûle.

In the account attributed to Safiyyüddin, Zengûle is "the mode of sleep"; the list attributed to Fârâbî also gives sleep to Zirgüle. Şuûrî writes that it gladdens the heart and quickens the spirit. For its time, Şuûrî points to the evening after sunset, while Şirvânî's list points to midday. Its sign is Virgo. Evliya Çelebi says that in the Edirne hospital, Zengüle and Bûselik were nourishment for the souls of the sick.

Sources: Word and scale: Özkan, "Zirgüleli Hicaz", TDV İA, XLIV, 457-458 (2013). Twelve cycles: Özkan, "Makam", TDV İA. Sleep: Akdoğan, AÜİFD XLVIII/1, 80; Kalender, AÜİFD XXIX, 362. Gladness, time, sign: Şuûrî, Turabi edition, 163-166. Şirvânî's time: Akdoğan, 81; Kalender, 365. Hospital: Health Museum, "Evliya Çelebi".