50 – Khwajay Gholaman (“Lord of the Servants”)

Range: C, D, E, F, G, A♭.

Time signatures in the metric sections: 6/4.

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

This is one of the kalam maqams (sacred melodic-modal pieces of the tanbur repertoire, set to Yarsan religious verse), and according to Heydar Kaki its rhythm is a simple 3-beat pattern, with 12 beats in each hemistich, making 24 beats in all. This maqam is performed collectively during the pilgrimages of the Yarsan (Ahl-e Haqq) people to holy sites, and its refrain (sarband) is the first couplet itself:

Gyan khwajay gholaman hey hey kavam

Gyan yar Davu ama hu bali

The lord and chief of the servants, Master Yar Davud, is arriving.

According to Ali Akbar Moradi, this maqam probably relates to the time when Davud addressed His Holiness the Soltan with the words “O master and great one of the servants”, and His Holiness Soltan Sahak answered him with the words “dear Davud”.