Nava (Persian: نوا, romanized:Navā) is one of the seven principal Dastgahs (modal systems) of the radif of Persian traditional music. In its intervals Nava is closely related to the dastgah of Shur, and many of its gushehs (constituent pieces) follow the modal scheme of Shur. Together with Rast-Panjgah, it is one of the two least performed dastgahs.
History
The name Nava is old. The navā tetrachord, a whole tone, a semitone and a whole tone, the tetrachord of a minor third, was one of the basic species of the fourth recognized by the medieval "Systematist" theorists of the 13th-15th centuries. The same species survives as the lower pentachord of the modern āvāz of Esfahan, and as the tetrachords called nahāwand or būsalīk in Arabic and Turkish music. A maqam named Nava, whose modal scheme resembles that of the modern dastgah, is described by the medieval music theorist Muhammad ibn Mahmud Nishaburi.
In the radif tradition codified in the 19th century, Nava is regarded as one of the seven dastgahs.
Structure
Scale and degrees
The scale of Nava can be built on the fourth degree of the scale of Shur. The accidentals of Nava are therefore the same as those of Shur. Described in relation to Shur on D, the main melodic area of Nava has these degrees:
E-koron (a quarter tone flat) is the ist (stopping note).
F is the āghāz (starting note) and usually the point where improvisation begins.
G is the forud (finalis), the note on which melodies conclude.
Nava on G thus uses the notes G–A–B♭–C–D–E–F, with no leading note below the tonic.
Status as a dastgah
Twentieth-century musicians have disagreed over whether Nava is an independent dastgah:
Ali-Naqi Vaziri and his student Ruhollah Khaleghi treated Nava as a derivative of Shur, mainly because its scale can be derived from the fourth degree of Shur.
Hormoz Farhat regards this as a personal view. He rejects it on the same grounds on which he rejects treating Bayat-e Esfahan as a mere derivative of Homayun, stressing that Persian modes are conceived around a few nuclear notes rather than around scales.
Farhat notes that few musicians know all the gushehs of Nava and that the reason for its neglect is unclear. Although it shares several pieces with other dastgahs, it also contains gushehs found only in its own repertoire. Iranian music writers have likewise observed that Nava has received little attention in the modern period.
Modulation
Because of its close kinship with Shur, Nava moves easily into Shur and its derivative āvāzes. The gusheh Gavesht, for instance, leads from Nava on G to Shur on G. In morakkab-khani (performance passing through several modes), Nava has served as the starting point for passages into Shur, Bayat-e Tork and Segah.
Gushehs
The most important gushehs of Nava include the following. Degrees are counted from the tonic of Nava.
Daramad
The opening of the dastgah. Its shāhed (dominant note) is the first degree.
Naghmeh and Gardaniyeh
Melodic pieces that follow the daramad and develop the home mode.
Bayat-e Raje'
Its shāhed is the second degree.
Neyshaburak
Its shāhed is the third degree. Its name refers to Nishapur.
Nahoft
One of the most important gushehs of Nava and the main part of its owj (climax); it is often counted among the most beautiful gushehs of the radif. Its shāhed is the fifth degree.
Hoseyni
Originally the name of one of the twelve historical maqams and today a gusheh of the owj of Shur. In Nava it is also performed in the owj, with its shāhed on the fifth degree of Nava (the eighth degree of Shur).
Gavesht
Its shāhed is the second degree; it is used to modulate to Shur on the same tonic.
Other gushehs
Eraq, Khojasteh, Mohayyer, Oshshaq, Hazin, Rohab, Ashur and Bastenegar. In the radif of Musa Ma'rufi, Bastenegar follows Ashur in Nava.
Character
Pieces in Nava are described as neither joyful nor sorrowful. The dastgah is associated with a calm, contemplative mood of stillness and repose.
Nava (Morakkab-khani): an album by Parviz Meshkatian with the singer Mohammad-Reza Shajarian and the Aref Ensemble, released in 1986 (1365 SH). It begins in Nava and continues through gushehs of Shur, Bayat-e Tork and Segah, which is why it is called morakkab-khani. Commentators credit it with showing a wide audience that modulation through several modes could be accessible rather than forbiddingly difficult.
"Nahoft": an instrumental piece from the same album, combining a composition by Saeed Hormozi in triple metre with a chaharmezrab by Abolhassan Saba, arranged by Meshkatian.
Ney-Nava by Hossein Alizadeh, for ney and string orchestra, one of his best-known works.
Nava: an album by the setar player Hossein Inanlou with Pejman Hadadi (2024), comprising a daramad, panj-zarbi, chaharmezrab, Neyshaburak, Nahoft, a return to Nava and a reng.
· starting note F · finalis G