DASTĀN, a term used in three different contexts in Persian music. Melody. Bārbad, the minstrel of the Sasanian king Ḵosrow…

ŠUR (شور), a modal system (dastgāh) in the traditional music in Iran. Technical description. In the learned musical tradition established around…

ʿERĀQ, musical mode mentioned for the first time in the 11th century by Kaykāvūs b. Eskandar (p. 196) among some…

ELĀHĪ, ḤĀjj NŪR ʿALĪ (or ʿAlīšāh; 1895-1974; Plate I), innovative and charismatic leader of one branch of the Ahl-e Ḥaqq…

ʿEBĀDĪ, AḤMAD (b. Tehran, 1305/1906, d. 1371 Š./1993; Plate LVI), one of the outstanding modern masters of Persian music. He…

DRUMS, large group of percussion instruments. Structure. Persian drums can be classified in three families, according to structure. The first…

DOTĀR, long-necked lute of the tanbūr family, usually with two strings (do tār). Several different types are current in the…

DOZĀLA,kind of flute consisting of two parallel pipes pierced with holes and fitted with a removable vibrating mouthpiece made by…

DEYLAMĀN, melody (gūša) incorporated into the radīf of Āvāz-e Daštī by Abu’l-Ḥasan Ṣabā (d. 1336 Š./1957), who borrowed it from…

DELKAŠ, an important modal unit (šāh gūša) linked to the dastgāh (q.v.) Māhūr, constituting one of its four main modulations,…

DAWR (Ar. and Pers. “circle”), a term applied to scales and also to rhythmic cycles, both commonly diagramed as circles…

DAŠTĪ, one of the twelve modal systems in the repertoire of traditional music (radīf); it is an āvāz, or auxiliary…

DASTGĀH (دستگاه), modal system in Persian music, representing a level of organization at which a certain number of melodic types (gūšas)…

DASTĀN, a term used in two different contexts in Persian music. Melody. Bārbad, the minstrel of the Sasanian king Ḵosrow…

DASĀTĪN (Ar. pl. of Pers. dastān), the term for modes in early musical theory, translated into Arabic as aṣābeʿ (fingers)…

DARĀMAD (lit., “introduction”), an episode in the course of a musical performance, the nature and length of which vary with…

DAF(F) AND DĀYERA (daf < Ar. daff, duff “tambourine”; E. W. Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon III, London, 1867, p. 888;...

DĀD, a vocal and instrumental gūša (motif), in reality more of a melodic type than a modal structure. It is…

ČOḠŪR (also čoḡor, čogūr, more commonly called sāz in former Soviet Azerbaijan), is the typical pyriform lute of the ʿāšeq,…

ČAHĀRTĀR (lit. four-strings), a musical instrument belonging to the family of long-necked lutes. It is a variant of the modern…

ČAHĀRMEŻRĀB, a genre of traditional rhythmic instrumental music. Its name suggests four (čahār) consecutive strokes of the plectrum (meżrāb) on…

BOZORG, one of the modes in traditional Iranian and Arabic music, mentioned for the first time by Ṣafī-al-Dīn ʿOrmavī among…

BOḤŪR AL-ALḤĀN (Meters of melodies), a treatise on Persian music and prosody by Sayyed Mīrzā Moḥammad-Naṣīr Forṣat Šīrāzī (1271-­1339/1855-1920), first…

HORMOZI, SAʿID, setār and tār virtuoso (b. Tehran, 1907; d. Tehran, 1976; Figure 1). He was a student of Darviš…

HOMĀYUN (lit. “auspicious”), an important modal system (dastgāh, q.v.) in traditional Persian music in a typical scale centered on G:…

ḤESĀR, in Persian music, an important section (šāh-guša, see GUŠA) in the Persian and Azeri radifs, its name probably originating…

ḤEJĀZ, an important modal type (šāh-guša) of the Persian radif, constituting the second half of the āvāz Abu ʿAtā (q.v.;…

ḤAZIN, a small guša (melodic type) of the Persian classical model repertoire radif, placed at the end of a sequence…

ḤĀL (lit. condition, state). In its general sense, ḥāl refers to a modality of the instant, and in its particular…

GUŠA (lit.,corner or part), a term in Persian music designating a unit of melody of variable importance, which occupies a…

ḠĀVĀL (also known as daf, q.v.), the most widespread percussion instrument in the Republic of Azerbaijan, played as much in…

FORUTAN, YŪSOF, a master of Persian music. Born in Tehran to a family of educated aristocrats, he developed a sharp…

FORŪD (lit. descent;Forūvard in Bukharian tradition, Ayaq in Azeri moqām), general designation of the concluding motif of a melodic sequence…