A bayati consists of four lines, each of which has seven syllables.
Anonymous bayati have been collected as folk wisdom in editions such as Azerbaijani: Xalqimizin deyimlari va duyumlari (Our people's sayings and feelings).
[1] Some folklorists associate the bayati with women's folk creativity, but male ashigs compose bayati as well.
Intriguingly, some scholars argue that the bayati dastan are from a lost repertoire of women's dastan, but so far there is no firm evidence to support this theory.
In the Zagatala region of northern Azerbaijan, male and female ashiqs who play the tanbur sing poetry composed only in the bayati meter.