The long-lasting old tunes of our ancestral heritage finally came to give rise to 7 Dastgahs and 5 Avaz's in the hand of a number of masters in Qajar period, the fact that has its own history and account. In the classification just mentioned, the end of each Dastgah is identified with pieces of 2/4, and 6/8 meters all called as "Reng". Therefore, we could observe: 1. the Rengs of Shahrashub, Zarb usul, Hashtari, and Gerily for Segah; 2. The Rengs of Delgosha for Segah 3. the Rengs of Shahrashub, Shalkhu, Matn va Hashiye for Chahargah; 4. the Rengs of Shahrashub and Harbi for Mahur; 5 & 6. the Rengs of Shahrashub and Farah for Homayun and Rastpanjgah; and 7. the Reng of Nastari for Nava. Also, the Reng of Farahangiz was added to the Avaz of Esfahan too.
This form of Iranian traditional music has obtained much popularity amongst ordinary people since then due to its exhilarating character and quality, but has gone through so many changes and manipulations out of being transferred through the word of mouth. Moreover, because of its common association with such other pre-established dances as Raqs-e zang, Raqs-e Shamdan, and Raqs-e Suzan, etc. this form turned into another, typical of festivities and consequently divided into a number of sub-types because of the taste and manner of the performers. In common language, it is called as Ruhowzi music.
The collection of Rengs in "Shahrashub", introduced by Ostad Faramarz Payvar in June 1984, contains 32 pieces in Shur and its dependencies that were presented masterfully with full regard to Santur characteristic beaters' striking. As the miscellaneous works of Ostad Payvar have so far been concerned with various forms of the Iranian traditional and national music, the examples of which are Radif, Pishdaramad, Tasnif, Chaharmezrab, Reng, Qate, ensemble playing as well as arrangement and compilation of former masters creations for solo and ensemble, to see Ostad Payvar's investigative and scholarly attitude along his loyalty toward protection of original tunes that are about to fall into oblivion, it seemed quite necessary to publish the audio picture of a portion of such studies over various forms of popular festivity music, the job already undertaken by Ostad Abolhasan Saba on popular tunes that undoubtedly made them eternal (the Reng of Raqs Chubi in Afshari and Chaharmezrab in Shur in the third book for violin and...).
It is also worth noting that, as with many old Tasnif's, Reng's too do not commence with the Daramad of a Dastgah and Avaz and the principal theme of the tune is restricted to one tetrachord and the passage happens from the peripheral notes of tetrachord, a fact that demonstrates the maqami character of Iranian traditional music. These whole maqams altogether, each today called as gushe, have come to lie within the classification of Dastgah's and Avaz's.
The collection at hand demonstrates numerous instance of these pieces, particularly typical of this form of Iranian traditional music, in 23 tracks. At start, there are 11 movements of "Haftpeykar" grounded on a ballad with the same title by the Iranian renowned poet Nezami Ganjavi (11th century B.C) performed by the national Ensemble Group directed by Ostad Payvar. This work has had a number of performance accompanied by dance, duly choreographed for the story, in the Vahdat (Rudaki) concert hall. Then, in the remains, there come the performance of certain traditional Rengs arranged for Santur, Tombak, and violin respectively by Ostad Payvar, Ostad Mohammad Esmaili, and Hosseyn Farhad Pour (now departed). We hope that these will hold against any further alterations and misrepresentations. ...