Tuning in to Iran’s lyrical legacy : The Tribune India

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India’s cultural cousin resounds with soulful music

Tuning in to Iran’s lyrical legacy

While she shared a boundary with India until a few decades ago, her cultural and trade ties go back in time.

Tuning in to Iran’s lyrical legacy

Iranian musicians with their traditional instruments tonbak, taar and santoor Photos by the writer



Krishnaraj Iyengar

While she shared a boundary with India until a few decades ago, her cultural and trade ties go back in time. Right from the era of the lofty Zoroastrian kings that her national epic, Shahnama, glorifies, Iran and India have shared a cultural brotherhood. While ancient Persian and Sanskrit are often called sister languages, modern Persian still employs several Sanskrit words and numbers.

Music being an indispensable part of her culture, the soul of the country resounds in its ancient musical forms. Dating back to her pre-Islamic era of Zoroastrianism, Iran boasts of a rich repertoire of rhythm and melody. Though many ancient documents were destroyed, many have not been investigated in detail. However, many of these have been recently translated and published for research. The most ancient manuscript of Persian music is a postage stamp with the depiction of a music ensemble comprising a harpist and a drummer.

Iranian melodic music mainly comprises classical radif repertoire, which is a collection of traditional dastgah, modal configurations of small melodic pieces called gusheh. Big dastgahs, seven in all, include Shur, Mahour, Homayoun, Nava, Rastpanjgah, Chargah and Segah and the smaller ones are Bayat-e-Tork, Bayat-e-Esfahan, Abuata, Dashti and Afshari. These are also called Avaz. In every dastgah, some rhythmic compositions are played. Some of these are traditional while some of these have been composed recently.

Persian music is rich in rhythmic vocal compositions such as tasnif, and taraneh. There are also different kinds of rhythmic instrumental compositions that are generally called zarbi and three important zarbi forms are pishdaramad, charmezrab and the lighter reng.

The history of most Iranian musical instruments is disputed, though it is known that some of them such as chang (Persian harp), barbat (lute), sorna (oboe), tanbour (long-necked lute), tonbak (goblet drum) and the deep, basal daf (Persian frame drum) belong to the pre-Islamic era. Other traditional instruments include the soul-stirring ney (reed flute), santoor (hammered dulcimer), taar (long-necked lute), and the ethereal kamancheh (spike fiddle) to name a few. The tonbak, besides its classical use, is also employed in the zurkhaneh (traditional Persian gymnasium) especially during wrestling matches.

Iran’s highly diverse folk repertoire has its story to tell. With different ethnic groups residing within its mosaic, Iranian folk music varies with region. Some of its fascinating folk forms include North and South-Khorasani, Baluchi, Systani, Turkmani, Katuli, Mazandarani, Gilaki, Taleshi, Azerbaijani, Kermanshahi, Kurdish, Lori, Bakhtiari, Bushehri, Khuzestani and Bandari. Colourfully dressed folk musicians charm the spirit with their unpretentious, earthy renditions. Although modern music like pop and hip-hop are popular with the youth, Iran’s classical and folk streams still have an endearing audience.

Like India’s guru-shishya parampara, Iranian music too is passed on through the ustad-shagird tradition. Just as different classical music gharanas are named after Indian cities, Iranian music thrives through maktabs. For dastgah music, there are considered to be three principles maktab’s — Tehran, Isfahan and Tabriz, all names of Iranian cities. Many dastgahs even share similarities with India ragas, not to forget many common rhythms.

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