AN INTRODUCTION TO PERSIAN MUSIC
By Professor Hormoz Farhat

The artistic gift of the Persian people has produced a staggering literary heritage, an exquisite tradition of decorative arts and handicrafts, a superb legacy in architecture, and a refined musical culture whose influence is evidence as far away as Spain and Japan.

Historic Retrospective

The history of musical development in Iran [Persia] dates back to the prehistoric era. The great legendary king, Jamshid, is credited with the Invention of music. Fragmentary documents from various periods of the country's history establish that the ancient Persians possessed an elaborate musical culture. The Sassanian period (A.D. 226-651), in particular, has left us ample evidence pointing to the existence of a lively musical life in Persia. The names of some important musicians such as Barbod, Nakissa and Ramtin, and titles of some of their works have survived. With the advent of Islam in the 7th century A.D. Persian music, as well as other Persian cultural traints, became the main formative element in what has, ever since, been known as "Islamic civilization. Persian musicians and musicologists overwhelmingly dominated the musical life of the Eastern Moslem Empire. Farabi (d. 950), Ebne Sina (d. 1037), Razi (d. 1209), Ormavi (d. 1294), Shirazi (d. 1310), and Maraqi (d. 1432) are but a few among the array of outstanding Persian musical scholars in the early Islamic period. In the 16th century, a new "golden age" of Persian civilization dawned under the rule of the Safavid dynasty (1499-1746). However, from that time until the third decade of the 20th century Persian music became gradually relegated to a mere decorative and interpretive art, where neither creative growth, nor scholarly research found much room to flourish. Since the early 20™s, once again, Persian music began to find broader dimensions. An urge to create  rather than merely perpetuate the known tradition, and an interest to investigate the structural elements, has emerged. Fundamentally, however, what can be still recognized as the national music of Iran [Persia] is the tradition of the past with marked imprints of 19th century performance practices. This traditional or classical music represents a highly ornate and sophisticated art whose protagonists are professional city musicians. Prior to the present century, such musicians were patronized by the nobility. Today, in a progressively modernizing society, they are generally engaged by broad casting and television media. They are also active as teachers both privately and at the various scholars and conservatories of music.

Structures

Perpetuated through an oral tradition, the classical repertoire encompasses a body of ancient pieces collectively known as the RADIF of Persian music. These pieces are organized into twelve groupings, seven of which are known as basic modal structures and are called the seven DASTGAH (systems). They are: Shour, Homayoun, Segah, Chahargah, Mahour, Rast-Panjgah, and Nava. The remaining five are commonly accepted as secondary or derivative Dastgahs. Four of them: Abouata, Dashti, Bayat-e Tork and Afshari are considered to be derivatives of Shour; and, Bayat-e Esfahan is regarded to be a sub-dastgah of Homayoun. The individual pieces in each of the twelve groupings are generally called GOUSHEH, but each gousheh has a specific and often descriptive title. A gousheh is not a clearly defined musical composition; rather, it represents modal, melodic, and occasionally rhythmic skeletal formulae upon which the performer is expected to improvise. Thus, the radif submits an infinite source of musical expression. The flexibility of the basic material and the extent of the improvisatory freedom is such that a piece played twice by the same performer, at the same sitting, will be different in melodic composition, form, duration and emotional impact. The principle involved in the construction of Persian modes is based on the concept of conjunct and disjunct tetra chords comparable to the ancient Greek system. Chromaticism is not used and an octave never contains more or less than seven principal tones. Contrary to a persistent popular notion no such a thing as a quartertone exists in Persian [Iranian] music. A very characteristic interval, however, is the neutral, second. This is a highly flexible interval; but, in all its variations, it is noticeably larger than the minor second (half-step) and smaller than the major second (whole-step). Another interval peculiar to some of the modes is an interval which is larger than the major second, but not sufficiently large to be an augmented second. In authentic Persian music the western augmented second is not used. Rhythmically, the majority of gushes are flexible and free and cannot be assigned to a stable metric order. However, in every dastgah, there are a number of metrically regulated gushes which are played among the free meter pieces in order to provide periodic variety in rhythmic effects. Both, double and triple meters are common; asymmetric meters, found in the folk music of certain regions, are rare in the classical music. As in the case of many non-western musical cultures, Persian music has not evolved a systematic harmonic practice. The development of this music has been primarily melodic. As such it has attained a far greater measure of melodic refinement and subtlety western music.

Instruments

The musical instruments which have been known in the long history of Iran (Persia) are too numerous to name here. The following are those instruments, which are widely used at the present time:

Tar: A plucked string instrument with six strings and a range of two octaves and fifth.

Setar: An instrument related to the tar with the same range, but with four strings. The setar is strummed by the nail of the right index finger.

Oud: The Arabian name for the ancient Persian instrument called barbat. It is also a plucked string instrument with nine to eleven strings. The European lute is a derivative of the Oud.

Kamancheh: A bowed instrument with four strings, played in the fashion of the violoncello, but with a size and tone range comparable to the violin.

Santour: A dulcimer played with delicate wooden mallets, with a range exceeding three octaves.

Ney: Generic name for numerous verities of flutes.

Tombak (Tumbak ~ Tunbak ~ Zarb): The principal percussion instrument in the [Persian] classical music. It is vase shaped drum open on the narrow and end covered with a tightly stretched skin on the other side.

Dayereh: Tambourine.

Folk and Popular Music

The modal concepts in Persian folk music are directly linked with that of the classical music. However, improvisation plays a minor role as folk tunes are characterized by relatively clear-cut melodic and rhythmic properties. The function of each folk melody determines its mood. The varying aesthetic requirements of wedding songs, lullabies, love songs, harvest songs, dance pieces, etc., are met with transparent and appropriate simplicity. The majority of the classical instruments are too elaborate and difficult for the folk musicians. Instead, there are literally dozens of musical instruments of various sorts found among the rural people. In fact, each region of the country can boast instruments peculiar to itself. Three types of instruments, however, are common to all parts of the country. They are, a kind of shawm called Surnay (or Sorna ~ Zorna), the various types of Ney (flute), and the Dohol, a doubleheader drum. A discussion of Persian music must necessarily include the new hybrid of mixed Persian-Western music which is functioning as a popular-commercial music. The use of western popular rhythms, an elementary harmonic superimposition, and relatively large ensembles composed of mostly western instruments, characterize this music. The melodic and modal aspects of these compositions maintain basically Persian elements. On the whole, it would be something of an understatement to say that the artistic merit of such a melange as this is rather questionable.

Hormoz Farhat

Monday March 03, 2003

قبل از بررسي خلاصه وار تاريخ موسيقي ايران بايد به چند نكته توجه كرد: اول آنكه ايران باستان كشوري پهناور بوده كه حدودا شامل 30 كشور امروزي بوده است و به طبع داراي اقوام، مذاهب و فرهنگهاي گوناگوني بوده اند. پس ما نبايد منتظر فرهنگي يك پارچه باشيم زيرا اين اقوام در كنار هم و به كمك دستاوردهاي يكديگر به پيشرفت و تكامل رسيده اند، نه هر كدام به تنهايي. پس همه دستاوردهاي اين خطه بزرگ را هر كدام از اين اقوام مي توانند از آن خودبدانند. در دوره بعد از فتح ايران بدست اعراب و مسلمان شدن ايرانيان چون اعراب داراي فرهنگي غالب نبودند، از لحاظ فرهنگي مغلوب ايرانيان شدند و فرهنگ برتر ايرانيان را پذيرفتند و در راستاي شكوفايي آن باديگر اقوام كه مغلوب اعراب مسلمان شده بودند كوشيدند و از اين فرهنگ ايراني فرهنگ اسلامي را به وجود آوردند كه پايه واساس آن همان فرهنگ ايران باستان بود.

در سده هاي اول فرهنگ اسلامي يعني تاحدود دوران خلافت عباسيان يك فرهنگ واحد در سراسر اين سرزمينهاي اسلامي وجود داشت و از آن زمان به بعد بود كه سرزمينهاي اشغالي مستقل شدند و هر كدام باتوجه به ريشه فرهنگي يكسان رنگ و بوي منطقه و قوميت خود را به اين فرهنگ مادر بخشيدند و بخاطر همين امر است كه وجوه مشترك فرهنگي هنري زيادي دز ميان كشورهاي مسلمان وجود دارد كه اغلب مستشرقين به اشتباه اين وجوه مشترك را اخذ شده از فرهنگ عرب مي دانند كه اين امر نيز حاصل سطحي نگري به تاريخ و فرهنگ اين سرزمينها است.

تاريخ موسيقي ايران زمين را مي توان به دو بخش اصلي تقسيم كرد، آن دو بخش عبارتند از :

الف: دوران پيش از اسلام 

ب:  دوران بعد از سلام

در بررسي دوره پيش از اسلام منابع معتبر ما كه همان حجاري ها و مجسمه ها و نقوش روي ظروف بدست آمده مي باشد كه از ١٥٠٠ قبل از ميلاد مسيح آغاز مي شود. از مجسمه هاي بدست آمده در حيطه قلمرو ايران باستان كه در شوش بدست آمده، سازي شبيه تنبور امروزي مشاهده مي شود كه نمايانگر يك ساز ملوديك در آن زمانها است. درحجاريهاي طاق بستان  گروه نوازندگان چنگ نواز و سازهاي بادي نيز مشاهده مي شود. بيشتر اطلاعات ما از دوران پيش از اسلام ايران زمين محدود به كتب تاريخي و اشعار سده هاي اول دوران اسلامي است. در هر حال ما اطلاعي از موسيقي كاربردي و نحوه اجراي دقيق موسيقي در آن دوران نداريم. اما در دوره بعد ازفتح ايران توسط اعراب تا آخر دوره خلفاي راشدين كه در سده اول حكومت اسلامي حكمراني مي كرده اند (از سال يازده تا چهل و يك هجري قمري) انواع موسيقي ممنوع بود. با به روي كار آمدن بني اميه حدودا موسيقي آزادي بيشتري پيدا كرد و از اين دوران تا دوران خلفاي عباسي دوره اوج شكوفايي موسيقي نظري و عملي ايران و اسلام است كه در اين دوران كساني چون فارابي، ابن سينا، خواجه نصيرالدين طوسي، ابن زيله، صفي الدين ارموي، عبدالقادر مراغي، و افراد بيشمار ديگري در موسيقي عملي و نظري ظهور كردن كه كتب و رساله هاي آنها در موسيقي موجود است. در هر حال با ظهور تشيع در ايران و به روي كار آمدن شاهان صفوي موسيقي در ايران رنگ و بوي ديگري به خود گرفت و از موسيقي كه در دوران اسلامي كاربرد داشت جدا شد و رنگ ايراني اين موسيقي بيشتر شد تا در دوره قاجاريه اين روند به اوج كمال خود رسيد و سيستم ديگري كه بنام دستگاه در دوره صفويه ظهور كرده بود، كامل شد و توسط نوارندگان چيره دست آن زمان به صورت شفاهي به شاگردان سازهايي از قبيل تار، سه تار، كمانچه، ني و سنتور انتقال پيدا كرد و در همين دوران قاجاريه بود كه خط نت امروزي به ايران راه يافت و سنت شفاهي اساتيد موسيقي ايران كه بنام رديف است به خط نت در آمد.