51 – Chel Tan Chelana 1 (“The Forty, All Forty of Them”)

Range:

Chel Tan Chelana 1 and 2: C, D, E, F, G, A♭.

Time signatures in the metric sections:

Chel Tan Chelana 1: 2/4.

Chel Tan Chelana 2: 5/4, 10/4, 12/4, 13/4, 8/4.

Tuning: Haft Dastan or Barz (C, C, G)

First maqam: Cheltan chelanan chelana / shashan mehmana chelana

Both are kalam maqams (sacred melodic-modal pieces of the tanbur repertoire, set to Yarsan religious verse) and, as their names suggest, praise and describe the Chehel Tan (the Forty); their texts are transmitted from the Daftar-e Chehel Tan (“The Book of the Forty”). “Dowreh-ye Chehel Tan” (“The Period of the Forty”), from which the poem of the maqam is taken, is the name of one of the chapters of the book Saranjam (“The Conclusion”); it concerns the creation of the Forty from among the angels, who were created from pre-eternity to keep the secret, and whose spirits, in the “eighth century AH” (14th century CE), became manifest in the bodies of forty persons: forty persons who called people to the worship of the One God and to divine unity. The names of these Forty and their sayings are given in the Saranjam: for example Soltan Sahak, Pir Benyamin, Pir Davud, Pir Musi, Khatun Ramzbar (Soltan Sahak’s mother) and lesser-known figures such as Ghamus, Azhdar, Anvar and others. Note that these Forty are distinct from the Forty of Aseyed Heydar Barakeh, mentioned earlier.

According to Heydar Kaki, the difference between them is that the first maqam begins on the open-string C, whereas the second begins on the note G; they also differ from each other in melodic progression and metre. The first maqam is in a simple 2-beat metre, with 10 beats (6+4) in each hemistich, while the second maqam, which has a more complex rhythm, has 48 beats in each couplet (which contains the whole refrain), heard as follows: (8+13+12+10+5); and with each couplet, words such as “O dear one and friend” are sung. Such rhythms are not to be found in today’s music. Because of its particular complexity, performing this maqam is a difficult task for musicians. Heydar Kaki gives the refrains of these two maqams as follows:

First maqam: Cheltan chelanan chelana / shashan mehmana chelana

Second maqam: Ey Cheltan chelanan aziz yar / shashan mehmana chelana

The Forty and the forty-fold are among those who partake of the pure essence of God Most High.