Mugam is a tonal system, the twelve tone system of Azeri folk-improvisational music for voice and stringed instruments, and can be traced back to the 13th--14th centuries.
    It is considered to be the most perfect of the styles in the music of the Eastern Renaissance for its melodious development.
    There are now only sevel classical mugams left out of twelve.
    The mugam is an inseparable part of the spiritual and civil music of Islam (mournful psalms, ritual, and prayer music).

    The scale of the mugam Bayati--Shiraz (which means The Song of Shiraz) coincides with the  European harmonic minor, and there is a remarkable similarity with the theme of  Bach's famous Toccata in D Minor for organ.

    Bayati--Shiraz forms a central theme of  Mirzoyev's Organ Symphony in Homage to Bach.
    In the slow parts of his Sonata  for Piano and String Quartet, Mirzoyev wrote directly in the folk modes of  the rast and the chargyakh.
    The Theme and Improvisation, written in memory of Vagif Mustafa-Zade, and outstanding jazz pianist from Azerbaijan, was called Mugam Shur, further revealing the close ties between Mirzoyev's work and the mugam.