Nevâ

Nevâ is the name both of a pitch and of one of the oldest simple makams, whose maker no one knows; it is among the twelve cycles. It comes to rest on dügâh. Its dominant is the nevâ pitch from which it takes its name, and there it makes a half-cadence of its own with a rast flavor. Its path both descends and ascends; its air is lyrical, devotional and Sufi.

In the list attributed to Fârâbî, Nevâ is given delight and ease; in the account attributed to Safiyyüddin it is "the pitch of courage." Şirvânî counts it, together with Uşşâk and Bûselik, among the makams that give strength, courage and complete ease, and finds it suited to the nature of the Turks and the mountain folk. Şuûrî writes that it sets disordered thought right and brings joy to the heart, and he links it to the sign of Aquarius. In the list of hours that Şirvânî attributes to Ibn Sina, Nevâ is the makam of evening. When Evliya Çelebi lists the makams played at the hospital in Edirne, it is the first he names.

Sources: Scale and character: Özkan, "Nevâ", TDV İA, XXXIII, 27-28 (2007). Delight and ease: Kalender, AÜİFD XXIX, 362. Courage, strength, evening: Akdoğan, AÜİFD XLVIII/1, 79-81. Thought and zodiac sign: Şuûrî, Turabi edition, 164-165. Hospital: Health Museum, "Evliya Çelebi".