Briefly explaining, the Radif of Iranian music is the traditional repertoire of the classical music of Iran that forms the essence of Persian musical culture. More than 250 melodic units, called ‘’gushe,’’ are arranged into cycles, with an underlying modal layer providing the backdrop against which a variety of melodic motifs are set. Although the main performance practice of Iranian traditional music unfolds through improvisation according to the mood of the performer and in response to the audience, musicians spend years learning to master the radif as the set of musical tools for their performances and compositions. (Published in UNESCO.org) Maqam is the music system that is relatively-similar to Dastgah, but it is used in Arabic countries and Turkey and in Arabic/Turkish music. There are similarities in some scales used in Dastgah and Maqam system, but they are very different when it comes to playing and performing. (PS. There also other forms of Radiff and Maqam in Balkan music, Azeri and Uighur music etc.)
In this section, we are going to make a comparison between Dastgahs and Maqams. This post is only for cultural exchange and only comparing the two systems superficially by have a general look over some scales which has been using in Radif and Maqam system.
Dastgahe Shur, Bayati Maqam
First Dastgah that we will look into, is perhaps one of the most important one Shur/Shoor. Shur is specially important becuase there are some singing scales (Avaz) which are based on Shur. The closest relative to Dastgahe Shur is Bayati Maqam. (Abu Ata which is one of the singing scales of Shur, is the one that has the most similar notes with Bayati.) Abu Ata (Avaze Abu Ata) is one of the singing scales of Shur. The 5th in this scale is not changing and that is why it is the most similar one to Bayati scale. This is Shur on Sol (G).Shur is usually a descending scale, for example second,4th and 7th degree of the scale have the tendency to descend back to tonic in the traditional way of playing Shur. Also, the 5th degree note of Shur sometimes can be quarter-tone note instead of a natural one which leads to a mode called "Husseyni".