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Third Millenium Tehran: Music!

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Jean During
Jean During*
Affiliation:
French National Center of Scientific Research (Paris) and presently director of the French Institute of Research in Iran
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Abstract

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Type
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Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 3: Special Issue: Music and Society in Iran , September 2005 , pp. 373 - 398
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 The International Society for Iranian Studies

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Footnotes

His publications include twelve books, over a hundred articles, and over 30 CDs. An accomplished tar and setar player himself, Professor During lived in Iran from 1971 to 1981 and has studied with the best masters.

1

Originally written in French, this article was translated into English by Rudy Steibel and the translation was revised by Wendy DeBano.

References

2 Kiani, Majid, ed., Haft dastgah-e musiqi-e irani (Tehran, 1368/1989), 110Google Scholar.

3 [The Iranians] “point to the clear and starry nights, the fragrant floral scenes in the traditional rose gardens, and the enchanting love songs of the nightingale, and like to think that these have combined to make the Persian people very emotional, poetic and passionately in love with music.” Varzi, Morteza, “Performer-Audience Relationship in the Bazm,” in Cultural Parameters of Iranian Musical Expression, ed., Caton, Margaret and Siegel, Neil (Los Angeles, 1988), 3Google Scholar. Regarding the fundamental relationship between nature and tradition see chapter four of During, Jean, Quelque chose se passe. Le sens de la tradition dans l'Orient musical (Paris, 1994)Google Scholar.

4 In this way, the same post-revolutionary puritanism reigned in communist Vietnam and in Islamic Iran exerting the same type of control over music.

5 Essentially, these limitations are: proscriptions against music judged to be licentious, arousing, or violent (particularly in the genres of hard rock, techno, oriental cabaret, etc.) and the prohibition against men listening to the solo voice of a woman. These measures no longer affect female Iranian singers giving performances abroad. Furthermore, duos of female singers and one woman's voice in a choir are authorized in the country, as are certain solo popular songs. Dance is equally restricted, but one kind that is authorized has a slow and restrained choreography that has been called “measured movement” (harekat-e mowzun). For more history on the situation of music during the revolutionary and post-revolutionary periods, see During, Jean La musique Iranienne, tradition et évolution (Paris, 1984)Google Scholar and “L'oreille islamique. Dix années capitales de la vie musicale en Iran: 1980–1990,” Asian Music, xxiii (1992): 135–164Google Scholar, as well as Adelkha, F., “Michael Jackson ne peut absolument rien faire. Les pratiques musicales en République islamique d'Iran,” C.E.M.O.T.I. xi (1991): 23–40Google Scholar. For a description of cultural politics and official agencies, see chapter four of Youssefzâdeh's, Ameneh Les bardes du Khorassan iranien: le bakhshi et son repertoire (Paris, 2002)Google Scholar.

6 Iran, Anjoman-e Musiqi-e, Musiqi-e navahi-e Iran (Tehran, 1995)Google Scholar.

7 Nur-Mohammadi, M., Khaterati az musiqidanan (Qazvin, Iran, 1997), 115Google Scholar.

8 The institution of the zurkhane has also developed considerably since the revolution. Women have the new right to admire the athletes there, but the latter have since concealed their musculature under tee-shirts.

9 They are also very famous and well-liked in Tajikistan as well as in Bukhara.

10 This question was really only posed during the early years of the revolution. Essentially, the speed of the piece was the criterion deemed likely to cause a state of arousal. Neither Occidental nor other classical music were ever subjected to censorship, probably because they were considered to be boring.

11 Disappointed by the reformists, a large majority of the population abstained from voting while others mobilized for the conservatives who were, paradoxically, in more of a position to bring about change.

12 The theme of love is allowed in music insofar as it can be interpreted as a parable of spiritual love. In the variety genre, these lyrics can only be heard at a base level.

13 The classifications used by Iranian musicologists are provided in chapter two of During's, Jean Quelque chose se passe. Le sens de la tradition dans l'Orient musical (Lagrasse, 1994)Google Scholar.

14 The first jazz cassette was published in 1995 in collaboration with Mr. Eric Fournier, cultural counselor at the French embassy at the time.

15 This tendency is also apparent in the publications and the research subjects of younger academics such as Hooman Asadi, Sasan Fatemi, Amir-Hosein Pourjavady, and Mansureh Sabetzadeh. For the first time, they take a look beyond current borders as well as an interest in different cultures. Of course, priority is given to cultures with a relationship to Iran, but this interest is already a sign of increasing intellectual openness.

16 For years, however, developing sports activities has been the object of all the government's attention.

17 Refer to the CDs realized by and with commentary by During, Jean, Iran, Les maîtres de la musique traditionnelle (Paris, 1991), 2Google Scholar (with Karimi and Musavi) and Le ney de Mohammad Musavi, (Paris, 1996).

18 For an analysis of these styles, see Ja'farzadeh, Kh., “Barresi-e se shive-ye honar-e taknavazi dar musiqi-ye irani, pazhuhesh-e Majid-e Kiani,” Ketab-e Mahur (Tehran, 1993), 3Google Scholar.

19 These old masters officially received the posthumous homage that they deserved, and some, like H. Kasa'i and F. Payvar, were recognized with great jubilees that were organized in their honor.

20 This term is the most appropriate, because it really centers upon music sung in Persian. The notion of “Iranian music” is vaster and evokes a plurality of idioms in the same way that “Iranian languages” do.

21 To be precise here, the radif is not only a canonic repertory like the ones found in Central Asia (maqam, muqam), or in the Maghreb (nuba), but also a model and a reference for composition and improvisation.

22 Tala'i, D., Radif-e Mirza 'Abdollah (Téhran, 1995)Google Scholar.

23 A good many amateurs and even professionals of Occidental classical music play the piano, the guitar, the violin, and the transverse flute.

24 Raja'i, F., Ganj-e sukhte: Pazhuheshi dar musiqi-e ahd-e Qajar (Tehran, 1994)Google Scholar.

25 Mashhun, H., Tarikh-e musiqi-ye Iran (Tehran, 1994)Google Scholar; Binesh, Taqi, Tarikh-e mokhtasar-e musiqi-ye Iran, 1st ed. (Tehran, 1995)Google Scholar; Nasirifar, H., Mardan-e musiqi-e sonnati va novin-e Iran (Tehran, 1990)Google Scholar; Behruzi, Sh., Chehreh-ye musiqi dar iran (Téhran, 1988)Google Scholar; and Khaliqi, Ruhollah, Sargozasht-e musiqi-ye Iran (Tehran, 1954)Google Scholar.

26 Farmer, H. G., A History of Arabian Music to the XIIIth century (London, 1928)Google Scholar.

27 Zonis, E., Classical Persian Music, an Introduction (Cambridge, MA, 1973)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Farhat, H., The Dastgāh Concept in Persian Music (Cambridge, UK, 1989)Google Scholar.

29 One should also cite During, J., Musiqi-e Iran, sonnat va tahavol (Tehran, 2004)Google Scholar based on the translation of La musique Iranienne, tradition et evolution (Paris, 1984) (long since out of print). The author was not convinced of the need to do a version in Persian, even if slightly altered. But in hindsight and owing to a series of unforeseen events, this study ended up assuming the value of historical testimony as to the state of music and problems with the tradition's continuity in the early seventies. It addresses aesthetic questions which have since been forgotten and traces the evolutionary paths that traditional music has followed over the decades, but of which neither the public nor most of the musicians themselves were aware. Another book, important for an understanding of what has changed, is Miller's, Lloyd Music and Song in Persia. The Art of Avaz (Richmond, 1999)Google Scholar. He provides, among other things, keys to the technical links between music and poetry.

30 For about 10 euros, four times less than the price of a student setar.

31 A few works, like Abdollahi's, Reza Setar saz shadravan Javad Chaychi Esfahani (Isfahan, 1994)Google Scholar, and Atrai, 'A., Santur va Nazemi (Tehran, 1985)Google Scholar broach, to a certain extent, the secrets of string-instrument making.

32 If this weren't the case, there would be a standard form for this instrument, yet one finds remarkable specimens with resonating chambers in a great variety of forms and volumes. The tar is a more codified instrument and the santur even more so.

33 Some go as far as to say that the superiority of the great Ahmad ’Ebadi comes from the fact that he had at his disposal a battery of some twenty setars, each giving its best in a specific mode, tuning, and register. For the mode Chahargah he took his Haj Taher, for Shur his ’Eshqi, for Segah his Farajollah.

34 For more on these artificial techniques see During, Jean, “Les musiques d'Iran et du Moyen-Orient face à l'acculturation Occidentale,” Entre l'Iran et l'Occident. Adaptation et assimilation des idées et techniques Occidentales en Iran (Paris, 1989), 195–223Google Scholar.

35 His style is also highly imitated, but he is not a reference for the classics.

36 A challenge to the history of modern music in Iran, conceived in the form of a myth, can be found in During, Jean, “La voix des esprits et la face cachée de la musique. Le parcours du maître Hatam ‘Asgari’,” Le voyage initiatique dans l'islam (Paris, 1997), 335–373Google Scholar.

37 For fifteen years we've been referring to these remarkable works, never played because they are long and difficult to memorize, in the belief that performers would be able to make exceptional use of these scores, thus rescuing them from oblivion. See During, “Les musiques d'Iran et du Moyen-Orient face à l'acculturation Occidentale,” 221. The most traditional of the masters did not dismiss this proposal. In this case, the process is a bit different; the cassette substitutes for the score in its pedagogical function, but shows the same concern for and intention of getting beyond the modes.