Asheq Hasan, a great Azeri bard from Tabriz, in northwestern Iran, sings a ghazal, a traditional Persian poetic form, accompanying himself on the saz, a long-necked lute, and joined by a frame drum (qaval) and a balaban. The social role of the Azeri ashiqs is similar to that of Central Asian bards, but their musical style is quite different. Azeri trios like this one, consisting of voice & lute, a wind instrument, and percussion, have an urban sensibility with rhythmic references to art music and its system of melodic modes, which Azeri bards call hava, rather than maqam. (During, Levin 2001)