Author: Martyna Kosecka
Contemporary music in Iran is an organism that is constantly changing. Its heart is a community of musicians who pursue their calling, passion and artistic vision, regardless of the adversity of fate and the place where they are.
I hurry towards the taxi station under the Seyed Khandan Bridge. “Sabalan! Sabalan!” the taxi driver shouts. “Tajrish, one person!” – “Vanak!” – “Sabalan! Sabalan!” – “Valiasr!”. In this pleasantly sounding cacophony of directions, I find a taxi heading towards Meydan-e Enghelab. We set off. The overture of shouts smoothly turns into a symphony of horns; the roar of passing motorcycle engines cuts the ears like a whip, and the sounds of cars, radio news, attacking pop songs with their beats, mournful phrases of a string orchestra and many other unrelated sounds pouring through the open windows bring to mind John Cage’s famous Radio Music. This is my Tehran. My Iran – a country where sounds get lost, only to be found again.
Contemporary music in Iran is one of those lost areas that only a few – musicians or enthusiasts of the genre – know about. It is a niche that is doing relatively well in larger cities but is almost non-existent in smaller cities and in rural areas. The beginnings of music in the sense of traditions brought from the West can be traced back to the second half of the 19th century. On the orders of Naser ad-Din Shah Qajar (1831–1896), French emissaries began teaching Western music in order to create a military band. New, previously unknown instruments, a different philosophy and attire appeared, which did not resemble in any way the traditional music of Iran, called radif or dastgah. It is based on melodies in 12 main tonal systems, which are the basis for improvisation and interpretation. In less than 200 years, local classical music gained an extremely dangerous competitor in the form of Western classical music. Currently, there is a boom in Iranian composers and artists all over the world: in traditional, classical, contemporary, film, and even popular music. This applies to artists living both in the country and in the diaspora, which is numerous in various corners of the globe. Probably every fan of George RR Martin’s books can hum the famous theme from the opening credits of the series Game of Thrones by the Iranian-German composer Ramin Djawadi (#1974), inspired by a traditional melody for the Afghan rubab. People interested in world music are familiar with the figure of Hossein Alizadeh (#1951), a composer, virtuoso of Iranian instruments and master of radif music, author of the timeless composition Neynava for ney (Persian recorder) and string orchestra. On the other hand, Boro Boro by Iranian-Swedish singer Arash (#1977) has certainly sounded at many a Polish wedding reception… Local traditions and Western music constantly interpenetrate, creating a specific relationship that has shaped Iranian music into a surprising blend of Oriental and Occidental sounds.
Returning to the origins, Iran owes much to Colonel Ali-Naghi Waziri (1887–1979), the first Iranian musician educated in the West.
Waziri not only had knowledge of playing Western instruments, the art of composition and music theory, but was also a virtuoso of the taru (Persian stringed instrument) and an expert in the traditional music of his country. He revolutionized the musical system by creating the first transcription of the radif system, previously transmitted orally, and translated Western musical nomenclature into Persian. In 1923, he founded a school that allowed students to learn both traditional and Western music. He also led to the establishment of female classes (until then only men could participate in music education!). Such rapid changes in education were reflected in the overall development of culture and social changes. During the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty, Iran radically promoted contemporary art and sought to adopt cultural, economic and political patterns from Western Europe and the United States. Unfortunately, these activities did not coincide with the model of Iranian society at that time – based on traditional values, strongly rooted in religion and with dominant customary social roles. The organization of the famous Shiraz Arts Festival (Persepolis), which became the cradle of the avant-garde in the country and a bridgehead for all experimental artists of the 1960s and 1970s worldwide, did not help. Oppositionists often called it an expensive whim of the art-loving third wife of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Farah Pahlavi (#1938). Although the Festival was a feast for connoisseurs, the Iranian elite and the educated middle class, it was met with incomprehension from the uneducated and traditionally raised, but dominant part of society. The citizens were divided, the gap between two competing cultural patterns, dissatisfaction with the Shah’s rule and the rising power of the Shiite clerical faction were to change the face of the country forever. The Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the sudden outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980-1988 radically put an end to the Westernization of Persian culture. For music, they meant, in particular, the complete destruction of previously built traditions: the closure of music schools and universities, the ban on playing instruments, performing Western music and solo female singing, and the suspension of all bands. These are just a few of the changes dictated by the revolution in the cultural sector. The end of the 1980s saw a return to the beginnings – the laborious reconstruction of the entire system of music in Iran.
Bitter, or a Thing About Numbers
Music had to win back the favor of society – in the new religious and political situation, in accordance with the standards imposed by Islam and after a period of wars, it was slowly emerging from the underground. In 1988, the Department of Music was reopened at the University of Tehran, and in 1990 the Tehran Symphony Orchestra resumed its repertoire activity. However, an eight-year break in cultural activity meant that music education in Iran is still limping and does not resemble the models developed until the end of the 1970s. Currently, for a population of over 80 million, there are only six general music schools (Persian: Honarestan-e musiqi): two in Tehran, two in Isfahan and two in Tabriz (separately for women and men). Those who failed to get into one of them have two options left – enrolling in classes at an institution called Amuzeshgah-e Musiqi (private, paid equivalents of music centers in Poland) or individual classes with a dream teacher of an instrument or specific musical subjects – composition, conducting or harmony. Classes at Amuzeshgah-e Musiqi, centers that are springing up all over the country like mushrooms after rain, are the simplest form of maintaining constant contact with music as a hobby. Private classes are intended for people who want to link their professional future with this field. They often take the form of a talk with a professor or master (
ostad or
morshed in Persian , depending on the prestige and experience of the person), which aims to simultaneously develop musical knowledge and the skills of the student. The very fact of getting into a group of private students of a famous artist is a great honor and often opens many doors to a musical career in Iran.
Higher music education is a department-sized organization, with the most prestigious music department, at the University of Tehran, having just 10 lecture and practice rooms, including a concert hall in an adjacent building.
Another possibility is institutions such as Daneshgah-e Jam’e Elmi Karbordi, which can be described as Higher Vocational Schools. Elmi Karbordi with musical profiles began operating about 20 years ago, as a chance for all ambitious people whose results in the matriculation exams (Persian:
konkour ) and entrance exams to university music studies were not high enough (only about four candidates per year get into the music department of the University of Tehran!). Unfortunately, the idea of very promising schools was distorted due to changes in the education system and the corruption embedded in it – entrance exams to music departments were abolished because too many people failed them; people without previous experience were allowed to enroll. Lecturers who opposed the simplification of the system and lowering of education standards were dismissed; others left out of desperation. Ultimately, ambitious young people are left with studying abroad. They enjoy great prestige among Iranians, although even the support of a wealthy family does not always help them realize this plan. Holding an Iranian passport can destroy the dreams of many a young musician. Difficulties in traveling and access to international banking, visa cases that often take years, financial and language requirements are just the tip of the iceberg of the challenges and formalities that Iranians face. Is it possible to think about art when two days before the entrance exam to a foreign music school there is still no information about the visa obtained, even though the application was submitted to the embassy over a year earlier? It does not seem that this unpleasant reality will change in the coming years.
The presence of new music in the education system is related to the activity of individual artists on the Iranian music scene. In order to become a student of the pioneer of contemporary music Alireza Mashayekhi (#1940), at the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century, one had to wait several years for the master’s consent. Mashayekhi, a composer and philosopher who became a symbol of the avant-garde in the 1960s, is one of the first creators of electronic and electroacoustic music in Iran. I can say with certainty that if he had not decided to stay in Iran after the outbreak of the revolution in 1979 and to continue teaching at the University of Tehran after the reopening of the Faculty of Music in 1988, contemporary music might not have been reborn in this country.
Iranian musicians can be divided into two categories – those open to new solutions in art and those extremely conservative, who do not agree to change and do not accept different thinking. Representatives of the second group are mainly performers associated with Persian traditional and folk music. Raised according to the master-disciple model, which requires faithful reproduction from memory of all possible musical structures of the dastgah modal system, they cannot function outside of the learned scheme. The younger generation of traditional performers is slowly moving away from this stereotype. For example, Yasamin Shah-Hosseini (#1992), who plays the Persian lute, has linked her career with performing experimental, contemporary music and with an ambitious reinterpretation of the dastgah system. An interesting example of this activity was a concert realized together with Ensemble Musikfabrik, where the famous ensemble together with a lutenist premiered compositions by Iranians Karen Keyhani (#1979), Sara Abazari (#1976), Arshii Samsaminii (#1989) and the German composer Joachim Heintz (#1961), who is associated with the Iranian music scene. The authors of this extraordinary undertaking are also the brothers Keyvan and Bijan Chemirani, virtuosos of Persian percussion instruments, who permanently live in Europe. In cooperation with the lyrist Sokratis Sinopoulos and the composer Yannis Kyriakides, they combined traditional Persian music with contemporary, as well as with European baroque and improvisation. This graceful and eloquent synthesis of tradition and modernity shows an endless kaleidoscope of sound possibilities and the enormous potential that lies in using tradition in multi-genre projects. Iranian modal music is heard in its full glory in the compositions of Reza Vali (#1952), who settled in the United States. His starting point for his research was the relationship between Iranian folklore and traditional music with contemporary performance techniques and developed microtonality. Vali willingly uses retuning or unequally tempered systems based on Persian scales, often incorporating traditional instruments into orchestral compositions.
Iranian musicians associated with the avant-garde also include Tehran-based Nader Mashayekhi (#1958), a composer and conductor who has gathered around him a huge group of enthusiasts of John Cage’s music and experimental thought in contemporary music. Together with Inter-Orchestra, founded in 2017, he focuses on happenings, open forms, interpretation of graphic scores and the phenomenon of chance in music according to the concept of bricolage. Similar explorations have also resulted in such projects as Ensemble Dream House, a composers’ collective specializing in experiment, playing by chance, performance and improvisation. In the same circle is Music For Everyone, one of the projects initiated by composer and conductor Navid Gohari (#1984), who advocates for the passion for music – even contemporary music – and its performance to be accessible to all, even uneducated enthusiasts. He places the greatest emphasis on intuition, freeing instinct while experimenting with sound and experiencing music in groups of people with and without musical education.
For Iranians, whose path of musical education is so narrow and difficult to follow, the idea of Music For Everyone is an incentive to have fun together; therefore, it finds many supporters.
The Pars Contemporary Music Orchestra, founded in 2011 by composer and conductor Ali Rademan (#1974), is an interesting example of dialogue between Western classical music, Iranian traditional music, and American experimental and avant-garde. Consisting of musicians playing Persian and European instruments, the ensemble is the only initiative of its kind in southern Shiraz. Speaking of orchestras and contemporary music, one cannot forget the Tehran-based Nilper Orchestra, led by the aforementioned Gohari, a special-purpose ensemble that has given a number of premieres of new Iranian music. It also does not shy away from improvisation and performance. The orchestra, founded in 2004 and with a string section at its core, is one of the best in the country in performing contemporary music. Unfortunately, the list of Iranian ensembles associated with this area is starting to shrink dramatically, especially in Iran itself. It is worth mentioning: the sisters Golriz and Zhabiz Zarbakhsh (or Nivak Ensemble: violin-cello duo) or the pianist Motahar Hosseini. However, it is the composition that has stolen the hearts of many musicians in a special way and it can be safely said that the country boasts a huge number of creators with an original language. It is worth looking at the interesting situation of the Iranian diaspora in Europe and mentioning the generation of young authors born in Iran, working outside its borders, whose research focuses on microintervals, sound physics, natural tuning or the use of psychoacoustic phenomena in the sphere of sound perception. Many of them use Persian modal scales, various ways of intonation and medieval rules of tuning instruments according to preserved treatises from the regions of the broadly understood Middle East or historical Persia. I dare say that Elnaz Seyedi (Germany, #1982), Saman Samadi (USA, UK, #1984), Arash Yazdani (Estonia, #1985), Arshia Samsaminia (Greece, #1989) and Idin Samimi Mofakham (Norway, #1982) have created something like an Iranian school of composition, and their music is characterized by originality, ruthlessness, strength of expression and the musical heritage of their country of origin shining through the sounds.
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