Ajnas (أجناس)

Ajnas (أجناس)

The most important ajnas are listed below according to their usual 'base' note, although this may vary depending on where they appear in the structure of the maqam.

Ajam (عجم)

A trichord/tetrachord/pentachord based on B flat (ajam ushayran):

Musta'ar (مستعار)

A very rare trichord based on B half-flat (iraq):

Awj Ara (أوج آرا)

A very rare tetrachord based on B half-flat (iraq) that has two slightly different forms:

Nahawand (نهاوند)

A tetrachord/pentachord based on C (rast):

A variant of this is Busalik (بوسليك) or Ushaq (عشاق) jins, which is usually based on D (dukah) and has a slightly flattened third note compared with Nahawand jins:

Rast (راست)

A tetrachord/pentachord based on C (rast):

Nawa Athar (نوى أثر)

Also known as Nikriz, this is a pentachord based on C (rast):

When based on D (dukah), this jins is generally known as Hisar (حصار):

Saz Kar (ساز كار)

A very rare tetrachord/pentachord based on C (rast):

Kurd (كرد)

A tetrachord/pentachord based on D (dukah):

Hijaz (حجاز)

A tetrachord/pentachord based on D (dukah):

Bayati (بياتي)

A tetrachord/pentachord based on D (dukah):

Saba (صبا)

A pentachord based on Dukah D (dukah):

Sikah (سيكاه)

This is generally seen as a trichord based on E half-flat (sikah):

There are three different ways that it can be extended to a tetrachord, depending on whether the following interval is a half tone, three-quarter tone or full tone, and these are labelled as Sikah (سيكاه), Huzam (هزام) and Iraq (عراق) tetrachords, respectively:

Jiharkah (جهاركاه)

A tetrachord/pentachord based on F (jiharkah):