03 – Maqam (Tarz) Tarz-e Yari or Tarz Yari (“The Yarsan Manner and Method, the Path of the Yarsan”)

Range: C, D, E, F, G, A (and A♭), B (and B♭).

Variable notes: A, B.

Tuning: Panj Dastan or Tarz (C, C, F)

It is one of the tanbur’s kalam (sacred) and spiritual maqams (melodic-modal pieces of the tanbur repertoire), and according to Heydar Kaki it is always performed in the Tarz tuning (Panj Dastan). It should be noted, however, that there are three kinds of Tarz in tanbur music: Tarz-e Yari, Tarz-e Rusam, and Se Tarz or Tarz-e Bala Dastan, which are explained further on.

In this maqam too, chromatic semitones play an important role, and the vibrato on the note B♭ is one of its most important features. According to Heydar Kaki, “This vibrato is so important that at times the note has to be raised by as much as a semitone. Another feature of this maqam is a kind of passage-like ornament (tahrir) moving back and forth, which starts from A♭, continues downward to the note D and, after a short pause, returns, accompanied by the words Pir-e dowran bure-va, meaning ‘O great one of all ages, come back’. The core of this maqam lies on the four notes ‘G, A♭, A and B♭’.” This maqam is not accompanied by hand-clapping; Taher Yarveysi called the maqams that are not accompanied by clapping “Gharachupi”. The Gharachupi maqams are: Hey Dus, Baliha, Babanausi, Tanamiri, Lav Hay Lav.

The poem of this maqam is taken from the Daftar-e Pardivari, also called the Divan-e Gawra (“The Great Divan”) or the Saranjam (“The Conclusion”). In Kurdish, gawr means “great”. This book contains the kalams of the era of Soltan Sahak (675–798 AH / 1277–1396 CE), which were collected in Pardivar. So the poem of this maqam dates back at least to the seventh century AH (13th century CE). Pir Benyamin, who is referred to in the maqam, is the primordial Pir (spiritual elder) of all the Yarsan (the Ahl-e Haqq religious community), who was raised to the rank of Pir by Soltan Sahak. Indeed, whoever is a Pir today in fact performs this duty as Benyamin’s successor. According to Yarsan belief, Benyamin is the first being created after God and the manifestation of Gabriel (Ali is the manifestation of the divine essence). As for Pardivar, it is the name of a place in the village of Sheikhan in Paveh, where Soltan Sahak and his companions lived and where his tomb also lies. Soltan Sahak was born, however, in Halabja in Iraq, and he studied at the Nizamiyya in Baghdad and in Damascus. His place of residence, however, was the village of Sheikhan near the Iran–Iraq border.

The text of the maqam also refers to the haft khan (seven stages) of purification, which means the same as the seven cities, or, in the later Yarsan texts, the “haft jameh” (seven “garments”, i.e. incarnations), or, in the Saranjam, the “haft khan”. As for the “jameh” (garment, i.e. bodily incarnation), it must be said that in the Yarsan faith belief in heaven and hell is disputed, whereas belief in reincarnation is taken as certain by all: they believe in the “indwelling of the soul” and in the human soul “passing from garment to garment” after death, so that in its thousand-and-first garment the soul attains immortality. Interestingly, in the mythical beliefs of the Iranians too, Zahhak is defeated on the thousand-and-first night. The Yarsan also believe that the soul of Shah Ebrahim (one of Soltan Sahak’s companions) dwelt within the garment of Fereydun and defeated Zahhak. Shah Ebrahim also states this explicitly in his poems. The Yarsan even believe that God, too, revealed himself to humankind in seven garments, in the form of the “Haft Tan” (the Seven); the Haft Tan are explained further on. The poem of this maqam is also by Mowlavi Kord.