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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 January 2022
Although contemporary Persian folk poetry does not receive much scientific attention presently, this is not necessarily a sign that it is of little importance among renown arts in Iran. In fact, folk poetry seems to be quite alive and thriving in tents and behind mud walls—still alive, one probably has to caution, in spite of the rapidly changing channels of creativity in Iran. The ephemeral folk songs and poems can, indeed, be found everywhere, in cities as well as in camps and villages. However, it is in the countryside where they often take on special significance as the only truly “popular” art, the only means for many people to be, as we say, artistically expressive.
In Boir Ahmad, a tribal area in the Southwest, for example, a student of folk art finds himself in a void, after his initial rapture over spectacular tribal rugs has calmed. The Boir Ahmadi do not paint, do not draw, do not carve, do not play musical instruments, do not mold pots, do not embellish their tools, and rarely dance.
1. The anthropological fieldwork during which the songs were collected was carried out in Sisakht, northern Boir Ahmad, in southwest Iran, and was supported by grants from the Social Science Research Council, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
2. They are called “beit.” In Sisakht alone I collected over 900 between 1969 and 1971. Most of them are love songs.
3. For a thematic analysis of all songs, see Friedl, Erika “Folksongs from Boir Ahmad,” in Mardomshenasi, Vol. 2 (1978).Google Scholar
4. Luri is a non-written Persian dialect. It is here transcribed like Farsi, except ḍ - voiced dental alveolar, a very soft “d” that tends to get lost in rapid speech. The Sisakhti’ rhymes are often crude; so are the translations too, we are afraid. We had fine fun while we were at it, albeit our qualifications are only those of spare-time poets.