• Ajam – happy, joyful, victorious, powerful

    • Hijaz – longing, sounds Arabian, snake charming

    • Nahawand: feeling, emotional, often love themed

    • Bayat: powerful, uplifting, uses one-quarter tone, the essence of Arabic music

  • Rast: “the maqam of tarab”, 2 quarter tones, popular with instrumental and vocal soloists.

  • Kurd: airy, spacious, freedom, common in modern Arabic music

  • Sika: youth, strength, used in traditional songs, starts and ends with a quarter tone 

  • Saba: bluesy, sad when played slow, fast is danceable