Rast (maqam)

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This article is about an Arabic musical mode. For the city in Romania, see Rast.

Rast is the name of a maqam (musical mode) in Arabic and related systems of music.

Rast is a Persian word meaning "right" or "direct". Rast is regarded as the basic maqam in Iranian as well as in Arabic music, in the same way as the major scale in Western music, though it is different from the major scale in detail (the major scale is in fact more like maqam Ajam). Rast features a half-flat third and a half-flat seventh scale degrees.