Music of Iran

The music of Iran includes the classical, regional, folk and popular music made by the peoples of Iran. Iran has many languages and cultural regions, so its music has many different sounds and traditions. Iranian musicians also perform pop, rock, jazz, hip hop and Western classical music.

Poetry is important in Iranian music. Singers often use poems by writers such as Rumi, Hafez, Saadi and Ferdowsi. In some styles, the singer and musicians change or develop the melody while they are performing.

History

Music has been part of Iranian culture since ancient times. Images and written sources show musicians playing at ceremonies, royal courts and public celebrations. Harps, lutes, drums and wind instruments appeared in ancient Iranian art.

One of the best-known musicians of the Sasanian Empire was Barbad. He was a poet, singer and lute player at the court of Khosrow II during the 7th century. Later Persian writers described him as a composer of many songs and musical modes.

During the medieval period, writers such as Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Safi al-Din al-Urmawi and Qutb al-Din Shirazi wrote about music, sound and musical intervals. Iranian musical ideas also travelled to neighbouring regions.

The modern system of Persian classical music was organised mainly during the 19th century. Musicians collected older melodies and taught them as a set called the radif.

Persian classical music

Persian classical music is often called traditional, classical or dastgahi music. It is based on the radif, a collection of more than 250 short melodies called gushehs. These melodies are grouped into larger musical systems called dastgahs and avazes.

Students traditionally learn the radif directly from a teacher. They memorise its melodies and later use them in performance and composition. Improvisation is important: performers can shape the music according to the poem, the mood and the audience.

The seven main dastgahs are Shur, Mahur, Homayun, Segah, Chahargah, Nava and Rast-Panjgah. Shur is often described as the most important because several related avazes come from it.

Classical singing is known as avaz. A singer may perform lines from classical Persian poetry without a fixed beat. The voice can be joined by one instrument or a small group.

Folk and regional music

Iranian folk music differs from one region to another. Kurdish, Azerbaijani, Baluchi, Gilaki, Mazandarani, Luri, Turkmen, Khorasani and southern Iranian communities have their own songs, rhythms and instruments.

Folk songs may be used for weddings, work, harvests, storytelling, celebrations and lullabies. Some musicians sing epic or historical stories. In parts of Khorasan, musicians called bakhshis sing stories while playing the dotar, a long-necked instrument with two strings.

Iranian regional music has been recorded and studied by organisations such as Smithsonian Folkways. Its collections include Kurdish music, Persian classical music and folk songs from different parts of Iran.

Musical instruments

Traditional Iranian instruments can be placed into several groups.

Popular music

Modern Iranian popular music developed through radio, records and cinema during the 20th century. By the 1950s, Iranian singers and composers were combining Persian melodies and poetry with instruments such as the guitar, piano and violin.

Vigen was one of the early stars of Iranian pop and jazz. His use of the guitar helped create a new popular sound, and he became known as the “Sultan of Iranian pop music”.

Other well-known popular singers have included Googoosh, Hayedeh, Mahasti, Dariush, Ebi, Farhad Mehrad and Faramarz Aslani. Later Iranian musicians also worked in rock, electronic music, hip hop, jazz and fusion styles.

Classical and orchestral music

Western classical music became an important part of music education in Iran during the 20th century. Iranian composers began writing music for orchestras while also using Persian melodies, poetry and instruments.

The Tehran Symphony Orchestra is one of Iran's main orchestras. Iranian conductors and composers in the orchestral tradition have included Loris Tjeknavorian, Heshmat Sanjari, Farhad Fakhreddini, Ali Rahbari and Shardad Rohani.

Important musicians

Mohammad-Reza Shajarian was one of the best-known singers of Persian classical music. He studied and performed the radif and became known internationally for his singing. UNESCO awarded him its Picasso and Mozart medals.

Other important performers and composers of traditional music have included Abolhasan Saba, Ruhollah Khaleqi, Jalil Shahnaz, Faramarz Payvar, Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, Parviz Meshkatian, Hossein Alizadeh, Shahram Nazeri and Kayhan Kalhor.

Cultural heritage

UNESCO added the radif of Iranian music to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. The skills of making and playing the kamancheh were added in 2017, and the skills of making and playing the dotar were added in 2019.

See also

• Culture of Iran
• Music festival
• Fajr International Music Festival

References

Other websites

• UNESCO: Radif of Iranian music
• Iranian music at Smithsonian Folkways
• Music of Iran on Wikimedia Commons
• English Wikipedia article