The Hijaz scale is one of the oldest and most widely travelled scales in the world, and on the handpan it takes on a quality that is hard to find anywhere else: deeply emotional, cinematically expressive, and in the right hands one of the most iconic sounds the instrument can produce.
MAG Instruments is actively producing two iconic Hijaz tunings: the A Hijaz and the D Hijaz.
This article covers where the Hijaz comes from, how it is built, what it sounds like, and whether it might be the right choice for your next instrument.
Hijaz is the name of both a geographical region (the western coastal strip of the Arabian Peninsula, where Mecca and Medina are located) and a family of scales – maqamat – in Arabic classical music.
In Arabic music theory, a maqam (plural: maqamat) is a modal scale system that defines not just the notes but the characteristic phrases, ornaments, and emotional qualities of a musical tradition.
Maqam Hijaz is built from two groups of notes called ajnas (singular: jins): the lower group, Jins Hijaz, and the upper group, Jins Nahawand. Together they produce the Hijaz scale’s characteristic sound. As the MAG guide to 10 handpan scales explains, this two-part structure – Jins Hijaz and Jins Nahawand, each consisting of 3 to 5 notes – gives the handpan layout its internal logic.
The Hijaz maqam has been central to Arabic, Turkish, Persian, and Andalusian music for centuries. It is the scale behind much of classical Egyptian and Levantine music, and its intervals are immediately recognisable in flamenco.
From a music theory perspective, Hijaz is the fifth mode of the harmonic minor scale – meaning it starts on the fifth degree of a harmonic minor. This is also known as the Phrygian dominant mode, and the two names describe the same thing from different angles: one points to its origin in harmonic minor, the other to its character as a Phrygian scale with a raised third.
The defining feature of the scale is its augmented second interval – the unusually large jump between the second and third degrees. In Western notation, that is a step of three semitones (a minor third), where most scales have a step of one or two. This interval is the source of the Hijaz’s instantly recognisable sound.
In a concrete example, the A Hijaz, one of the two versions MAG offers, the notes are:
A – Bb – C# – D – E – F – G – A
The leap from Bb to C# is that augmented second. In standard Western scales, you would not encounter this. In Maqam Hijaz, it is the entire point.
The D Hijaz follows the same structure transposed down a fourth:
D – Eb – F# – G – A – Bb – C – D
On a handpan, these notes are distributed across the Ding (centre) and the outer circle. The placement of the augmented second early in the outer-circle sequence means it appears frequently in natural playing — it is not buried at the top of the scale, but woven into almost everything you play.
The Hijaz is one of the most emotionally charged handpan scales in existence, and it achieves this through a specific tension: the scale contains both a very dark, minor-feeling foundation and a bright, almost triumphant major chord built on the fifth degree. These two forces pull against each other throughout any piece you play.
Played slowly and melodically, the Hijaz evokes something ancient and vast, desert landscapes, late-night rituals, deep longing. The augmented second creates an expectation of resolution that the scale keeps deferring, producing a sustained emotional tension that does not resolve easily.
Played with rhythmic intensity, it becomes dramatic and almost cinematic. The Hijaz is one of the scales most commonly heard in film music whenever a scene calls for a Middle Eastern, ancient, or mystical atmosphere. Players frequently describe the experience of playing it as unexpectedly emotive, notes arrive with more weight than they anticipate.
Played over a Kurd handpan, which is a natural minor scale, the Hijaz complements it beautifully. As the MAG scales overview notes, the two scales sit well together in ensemble or layered playing, with the Hijaz’s raised seventh and dramatic intervals contrasting against the Kurd’s more resolved minor sound. If you are thinking about what the D Kurd handpan scale sounds like, and find yourself wanting something with more edge, Hijaz is the natural next step.
Part of what makes Hijaz musically rich is that it can be understood (and played) from three different theoretical perspectives, each revealing a different dimension of the scale.
As a harmonic minor mode (Phrygian dominant): The raised seventh degree of harmonic minor is what creates the scale’s major chord on the fifth degree. This gives Hijaz a dramatic harmonic pivot: it feels minor at rest, then suddenly bright and almost triumphant when the fifth is emphasised. This tension, between the dark Phrygian foundation and the bright major chord above it, is the engine of the scale’s expressiveness.
As a flamenco scale: Western music theory often calls this same scale the Phrygian dominant, and it is the foundational scale of flamenco. The half-step at the bottom of the scale (from the root to the flat second) followed immediately by the large augmented-second leap is the characteristic gesture of Andalusian music. When a handpan is tuned to Hijaz, it is also a flamenco instrument.
As Maqam Hijaz: In its original Arabic context, the scale is not merely a note set but a full musical mode with characteristic phrases, ornaments, and emotional associations. The Arabic musical tradition treats the Hijaz maqam as evoking longing, distance, and spiritual searching. Players familiar with Arabic classical music such as the oud, qanun and violin, will find these associations immediately present in the handpan version.
All three readings are valid, and all three are available to you within the same instrument. This theoretical flexibility is unusual. Most handpan scales occupy one clear emotional register; Hijaz occupies three.
The most widely played version of Hijaz on handpans is not the standard form described above, but its most popular variant: the Romanian Hijaz.
As the MAG scales guide explains, the Romanian Hijaz begins on the fourth degree of the standard Hijaz scale, rather than the root. This produces a slightly different note arrangement and a subtly warmer, more folk-influenced character, less purely Arabic, and more resonant with the music of the Balkans, Romania, and Eastern Europe, where the Hijaz intervals have long been part of the folk tradition.
If the standard Hijaz is the desert at midnight, the Romanian Hijaz is a campfire in the mountains. The augmented second is still present and still defining, but the overall feel is less severe, more narrative, and slightly more accessible to players coming from a Western musical background.
The D Kurdis a fully diatonic natural minor scale, familiar, versatile, and approachable. Hijaz is harmonically richer and more dramatic, but harder to play in a neutral, meditative register. Kurd can be introspective or energetic; Hijaz is almost always emotionally intense. If you want a scale that does many things, choose Kurd. If you want a scale that does one thing exceptionally well, dramatic expressiveness, choose the Hijaz.
The Pygmy scale is a pentatonic scale with five notes per octave and almost no dissonance, highly meditative, grounding, and easy to improvise on. Hijaz is a seven-note scale with strong internal tension and a specific cultural identity. The two scales sit at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum: Pygmy is open and timeless, Hijaz is specific and charged.
The Harmonic Minor scale is a close relative. The Hijaz is essentially derived from it. The difference is the starting point: Harmonic Minor begins on the root, while Hijaz begins on the fifth degree, shifting the augmented second to an earlier position in the scale. The resulting character is quite different despite the shared note set.
Hijaz is not the most common recommendation for a first handpan, and the reasons are worth understanding.
The scale’s emotional intensity means that it demands more from the player. Where a D Kurd produces something pleasing almost regardless of how you approach it, the Hijaz requires intentionality. Its drama can feel overwhelming rather than expressive if approached without some sense of phrasing and dynamics. For a player still learning to control touch and timing, this can be frustrating.
There are also fewer instructional resources for Hijaz compared to D Kurd. The vast majority of handpan tutorials, sheet music, and online courses are built around Kurd or Amara. If you plan to learn primarily through structured online material, Hijaz will leave you with fewer options.
That said, if you already play another instrument, have some background in music theory, or are specifically drawn to Middle Eastern or flamenco traditions, Hijaz can be a genuinely powerful choice, even as a first instrument.
The scale rewards a player who already knows how to listen and phrase. And for a second or third handpan, for any player looking to expand beyond the natural minor world, Hijaz is one of the most compelling options available.
As the MAG guide to finding the right handpan type notes, mixed and exotic scales like Hijaz are particularly well suited to players seeking a mystical, dreamlike, and distinctly non-Western sound. If that is your intention, the scale’s learning curve is worth it.
MAG produces Hijaz handpans in two root notes, each with a different character:
The MAG A Hijaz handpan has a warm, grounded quality in the A register — a slightly lower, fuller sound that works well for solo performance and meditative playing. The augmented second sits prominently in the outer-circle sequence, making the scale’s characteristic tension easy to access.
The MAG D Hijaz handpan sits in the same register as the D Kurd — a useful point of comparison for players already familiar with the natural minor sound and wanting to hear what harmonic minor and Phrygian dominant add to it.
A third Hijaz configuration is also on the way: the G2 Hijaz, a deep-register version of the scale, will be joining the MAG lineup soon.
Both instruments are hand-tuned in our workshop in Győr, Hungary, using Ember Steel, and carry MAG’s Lifetime Retuning Warranty: if the instrument ever goes out of tune, we retune it free of charge, for life.
Browse the full range of available instruments in the MAG handpan shop.
Curious how Hijaz compares to the full range of handpan scales? Read this:
Looking for something more meditative? Read this:
New to handpans altogether? Start here:
