The Authentic Iranian Music

Music in Iran has an ancient history, dating back to ancient Persia. Iran is the birthplace of rich and diverse music, and traditional Iranian music is considered one of the components of Iranian culture and art. Almost all Iranian ethnic groups have their own local music.

Music in Iran has been significant since ancient times. During the Achaemenid dynasty, music was used in religious ceremonies and courts. The exact identity of Iranian music has not yet been revealed, but research around it continues, and some aspects of it have become clear. Music during the Sassanian era was noteworthy, and the Sassanians employed a large number of instruments. Barbad, a musician from the Sassanian dynasty, created the first Middle Eastern musical system called Khosrovani. Many ancient Iranian modes and melodies were lost with the Arab conquest of the country, but the musical systems have orally reached modern Iran. Iran is the birthplace of the first complex instruments, some dating back to the third millennium BCE. Different regions of Iran have a considerable number of native instruments, including wind, percussion, string, and bowed instruments. Instruments like the tar, setar, barbat, santur, qanun, kamancheh, ney, ghichak, rabab, tombak, daf, dayereh, and dayereh-zangi are used in Iranian national music. In the 1950s and 1960s, Iranian music changed fundamentally. In the 1950s, pop music entered Iran and the first Iranian pop and rock bands were formed. Iranian pop music of this period was influenced by Western pop music. In the 1960s, the first avant-garde branches of Iranian music emerged. In the mid-1960s, Iranian studios, along with bars and nightclubs, contributed to the expansion of new popular music in Iran. In these years, Iranian poetry and music were transformed, and music stars appeared on stage one after another.

Ancient Iranian Music:

From the 4th to the 9th century AH, Iranian music was in a good state. Most scholars and philosophers have dedicated a section to music in their books and treatises. Notable figures include Abu Nasr Farabi, Bu Ali Sina, Safi al-Din Urmawi, Qutb al-Din Shirazi, and Abdul Qadir Maraghi. In ancient Iranian music books up to the 9th century AH, terms such as “maqam”, “parda”, and “shadd” have been used. In ancient Iranian music, the Abjad letters were used to name the notes or melodies. Moreover, there were twelve main maqams, which are:

1- Ashagh, 2- Nava, 3- Busalik, 4- Rast, 5- Husseini, 6- Hejaz, 7- Rahawi, 8- Zangouleh, 9- Iraq, 10- Isfahan, 11- Zirafkand, 12- Bozorg

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These twelve maqams were performed in seventeen degrees, modes, or tonalities. In addition to the mentioned maqams, there were also 24 branches or corners, which are:

1- Dugah, 2- Segah, 3- Chahargah, 4- Panjgah, 5- Ashira, 6- Nowruz Arab, 7- Mahur, 8- Nowruz Khara, 9- Bayati, 10- Hisar, 11- Nahft, 12- Ozzal, 13- Uj, 14- Niriz, 15- Mobarqa, 16- Rakb, 17- Saba, 18- Homayoun, 19- Zavul (Zabol), 20- Isfahank, 21- Bastenegar, 22- Khuzi, 23- Nahavand, 24- Mohayer

Iranian music in the pre-Islamic period, during the Sassanids, included songs attributed to “Barbad” which consisted of “Haft Khosrowani”, “Si Lahn”, and “Three Hundred and Sixty Dastan”, corresponding to the seven days of the week, thirty days of the month, and three hundred and sixty days of the year. In Khosrow Parviz’s court, there was a specific order for the performance of songs in each musical program. The poet Nezami Ganjavi has versified Barbad’s thirty tunes in the poem “Khosrow and Shirin”.

In the post-Islamic period, a musical program called “Nobat” included “Ghoul”, “Ghazal”, “Taraneh”, and “Foroodasht”. During the time of Abdul Qadir Maraghi, the term “Ghete” was used, which is synonymous with the word “song”.