Mahur Saz Semaisi

The instrumental piece “Mahur Saz Semaisi” was composed by oud player Refik Talat Alpman (b.1873-d.1946), a Turkish composer from Istanbul. This special piece is one of his best known works among his nine well known compositions; eight saz semaisi and one şarkı. Alpman composed his piece in 10/8 time aksak semai usul in a group of (3+2+2+3), a typical feature of the traditional saz semaisi. He composed the final part in simple 3/4 semai usul. The other feature of this traditional form is that it has four parts referred to as hane and one teslim part. Each four parts, four hanes, contain separate melodies.