Reddit reviews The Maqam Book - A Doorway to Arab Scales and Modes

It looks like you're into artists that fall broadly into what we might call Egyptian pop and others who are more West African (Mali) styles. I'm not up on my Egyptian pop, but if you're into Moctar and Anivolla, you should definitely check out Tinariwen and Ali Farka, if you haven't already.

The most important melodic theme all of the you mentioned share is that their sound is based on maqamat, which are simply Arabic scales and modes. If you're looking for literature, I recommend starting with The Maqam Book, by David Mu'Allem. Beware: maqamat are similar in some ways to scales in Western Music, but there are also significant differences. For instance: Western scales are cyclical. They repeat the same intervals in any octave. maqamat are not cyclical, and their intervals may change based on the octave. In modern music, this non-cyclical aspect of maqamat often exchanged for a cyclical approac, as Western music continues to influence modern Arab and Turkish music. Also, maqamat are quartertonal; some (not all) of their intervals are quartertones and 3-quartertones. maqamat on fretted instruments can be tricky. They work great on cellos.

If you just want to get your toe wet for now, you can try noodling around in Phrygian and Phrygian Dominant.

Good luck!

If you actually want to learn it, I have this book on the subject and it's very informative.

If you want to strictly stick within western tonality, try the Minor Harmonic, Major Locrian and Double Harmonic scales. Though to be completely honest, you could probably achieve the same effect to western ears by using basically any "exotic" scale, like the Gypsy scale, Egyptian, etc. etc.

A great book on this topic is this one: https://www.amazon.com/Maqam-Book-Doorway-Scales-Modes/dp/965505053X

It was written by an Iraqi Jew who has promoted Maqam music in Israel and preserved Iraqi music.