ʿĀŠEQ HAWĀSĪ “melody of the ʿāšeq,” term referring to (1) a type of poem often sung by ʿāšeqs in Iranian Azerbaijan and (2) the typical manner of singing the poem and the manner of accompanying it on the sāz (musical instrument).
1. The ʿāšeq hawāsī poem is most often composed in quatrains three to five stanzas in length. Each line contains eleven syllables which may be grouped into phrases of 6 + 5 syllables of 4 + 4 + 3 syllables. The rhyme scheme can be:
abab-cccb-dddb or
abcb-dddb-eeeb.
In Azerbaijan S.S.R where ʿāšeqs also compose and perform these poems, they are called qošmā; in Turkey they are known as kos…ma.
2. In performance the ʿāšeq usually sings these poems in a narrow tessitura, emphasizing one or two main pitches. The sāz only plays the hawā melody before the poem and in between quatrains.
For a music sample, see ʿĀšeq Jonun.
For a music sample, see Tajnis.
(C. F. Albright)
Originally Published: December 15, 1987
Last Updated: August 16, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. II, Fasc. 7, p. 743
C. F. Albright, “ʿĀŠEQ HAWĀSĪ,” Encyclopaedia Iranica, II/7, p. 743, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aseq-hawasi (accessed on 30 December 2012).
