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 Classical Persian music is an ancient art form and one of the
earliest musical traditions known today. Because of the geographic location and
sociopolitical role of the ancient Persian empire, Persian music and culture has
contributed enormously to the foundation of many other musical traditions in
Central Asia, Asia Minor, China and North India. Since becoming associated with
Islamic culture after the Arab invasion (7th century AD), it has traveled
throughout the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean.
The classical music of Iran is in some ways similar and analogous to the
classical musics of the Arabic world, Turkey and even India, but it is also a
self-contained system more or less independent of its neighbors. In the twelfth
century, a second system, that of Western classical music, has grown up parallel
to that of the Persian art , and today the two coexist, largely leaving each
other alone but in various ways cross-fertilizing each other.
The term "maqam,"
as a modal entity, for the first time appeared in a Persian musical treatise,
i.e. the music section of
Durrat al-Taj by Qutb al-Din Shirazi, in the 13th century. This concept with its
nominal variants (maqam, makam, maqom, mugham, etc.) has dominated many musical
cultures in the Islamic world, from Chinese Turkistan and Kashmir to Turkey and
the Arab world. Although it has been the main modal concept (along with other
modal entities such as avaza/avaze and shu'ba/sho'be and later gushe) in Persian
music for a long time, seemingly around the late Safavid period (ruled
1502-1736) and afterwards gradually a new concept, the dastgah, was introduced
to Iranian music.
The history of Persian music in the twentieth century has seen
the development of strategies for survival in the face of Western music, and
these strategies often involved borrowing from those elements in which Western
music is strong. For example, Western notation has been adapted to Persian music
and while it has done its share to change the character of Persian music, it has
also increased the degree to which Iranian music students are willing to learn
their tradition.
Persian music is mainly melodic. It makes almost no use of
harmony, and its performance is most typically solo, although sometimes a
soloist is accompanied by an instrument which echoes and recapitulates each
phrase as the artist performs it, a technique also widely used in Arabic,
Turkish and Indian music. Its essence is neither the dramatic nor is it the
intellectual or cerebral, but rather its quality is mystical and contemplative.
Persian musicians recognize this, for in speaking of their music they never fail
to relate it to the great lyrical tradition of Persian literature and to Sufism,
the mystical movement of Islam whose special home is Iran.
Much of the music has no meter, no beat, but proceeds with a rhythm akin to that
of speech. Its rhythmic structure is surely related to the rhythms of Persian
poetry. Nevertheless, there is also a great deal of metric music, and this,
normally accompanied by a drum.
Improvisation is the most important tenet of classical music of Iran. The
musician creates in the moment and simultaneously performs for the audience. The
presence and spirit of the audience plays an important role in the feeling and
the creative process of the improvisation. The improviser combines creativity
and technique with the internalized melodies and rhythms to express his or her
individual feelings. To become an improviser is to reach the ultimate stage in
the musician's creative development. To reach such a level of mastery the
musician must be rich in technique, emotions, innovation, experience and
knowledge. The musician becomes a master once he or she has achieved such a
level of virtuosity and has cultivated the art of performance and teaching.
The collection of melodies in Persian classical music called Radif is
organized into twelve modes. Seven larger ones called dastgahs (Mahour,
Shour, Nava, Rast Panj-gah, Homayoun, Segah, Chahargah) and five smaller
sub-sets to these called avaz or maqam (Abu-Ata, Bayat-E-Zand or
Bayat-E-Tork, Dashti, Afshari, Bayat-E-Isfahan). Each of these modes are divided
into smaller melodic forms called gushehs, which vary in terms of meter,
length, expression and importance.
Each dastgah is thought to have a specific character and
mood. The material of the dastagh is, then, the basis for actual
performance. During the early part of the twentieth century, a model for what
might be called a complete performance evolved. It consists of five parts, all
cast in one dastgah, but, in fact, not all of them need appear and it is
quite common to hear one or two of them used alone. These five pieces are:
pishdaramad, chahar mezrab, avaz, tasnif, and reng.
The Radif is memorized by musicians and students, which is how the repertoire
has been preserved throughout the ages. The Radif also serves as a musical
vehicle to teach, and as a reference point for improvisation.
[This article is partially based on texts by the World Music Institute in New
York and Hooman Asadi, Lecturer in Ethnomusicology, Director of the
Ethnomusicology Program, Music Department, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of
Tehran].Musicians:
To find out more about musicians who perform Persian music, click on
Persian.
Recommended recordings:
Bibliography:
Books:
Classical Persian Music (Radif) (Paperback) by Freydoon Arbabi.
Publisher: Freydoon Arbabi (December 12, 2000).
ISBN: 0971840806.
Traditional Persian Art Music: The Radif of Mirza Abdullah
(Bibliotheca Iranica - Performing Arts Series , No 3) (Hardcover) by Dariush
Tala'I. Bibliotheca Persica; Bk&CD edition (August 1, 1999). ISBN: 1568590393.
Classical Persian Music: An Introduction (Hardcover) by Ella Zonis.
Harvard University Press (January 1, 1973).
ISBN: 0674134354.
Music and Song in Persia: The Art of Avaz (Persian Art and Culture)
(Hardcover) by Lloyd Miller. University of Utah Press (October 1999). ISBN:
0874806143. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Annemarie Schimmel. University of North Carolina Press (June 1975). ISBN: 0807812714.
Papers:
1. Asadi, Hooman. "From Maqam to Dastgah: The Origin and Structure of the
Radif of Persian Classical Music," Symposium on the Rebirth of Traditional
Arts in Asia-Pacific Region, Taipei National University, October 4-15, 2000.
(published in the proceedings)
2.Asadi, Hooman."Az maqam ta dastgah: negahi musiqi-shenakhti be janbeha'i az
seyr-e tahavvol-e nezam-e musiqi-ye klasik-e Iran" [From Maqam to Dastgah: A
Musicological Approach], Mahoor Music Quarterly, Vol. 4,
No. 11, Spring 2001: 59-75. (in Persian)
3. Asadi, Hooman."Towards the Formation of the Dastgah Concept: A Study in
the History of Persian Music," The 5th Meeting of the Study Group Maqam of
the ICTM. Samarqand, August 25-31, 2001. (in press)
4. Asadi, Hooman."The Concept of Dastgah in Persian Music: The Case of
Chahargah," Asia-Pacific Traditional Wind-Percussion Music Forum: Cultural
Creative Industry. The International Organization of Folk Art and National
Center for Traditional Art, Taiwan, October 3-12, 2003.(published in
proceedings)
5. Asadi, Hooman."Bonyad-ha-ye nazari-ye musiqi-ye klasik-e Iran: dastgah be
'onvan-e majmu'iy chandmodi" [Theoretical Foundations of Persian Classical
Music: Dastgah as a Multi-Modal Cycle], Mahoor Music Quarterly, Vol. 6, No. 22,
Winter 2004: 43-56. (in Persian)
Articles:
Persian instruments:
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