Music and Song in Persia (RLE Iran B): The Art of Avaz 070070664X, 9780203829370, 9780415617284

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Masic AND SONG IN PERSIA THE ART OF AVAZ

Persian Art and Culture Series Editorial Board General Editor Leonard Lewisohn SO AS, University of London Editorial Consultants Muhammad Isa Waley British Library Hermann Landolt McGill University, Montreal, Canada Charles Melville University of Cambridge John Cooper University of Cambridge John Renard St. Louis University, Missouri By presenting the works of authors both ancient and modern, the texts in this series tap the treasury of the traditional wisdom of Persia, a civilization which was, for over two and half millennia, a byword for taste and refinement. The series' scope encompasses aesthetics, archaeology, architecture, culture, economic, and social history, ethnology, the fine arts, the history of religion, mythology, music, mysticism, philosophy, psychology, and symbolism. The books will provide both short introductions and full length studies of the rich cultural heritage of Persia as well as furnish translations of seminal literary scientific, historical and philosophical texts, aiming not only to satisfy the need of the student of Persian history and culture, but also present straightforward introductions to the discerning reader who seeks to broaden the scope of his or her understanding of important aspects of major world literature.

Forthcoming The Mongols in Iran Chinglz Khan to Uljaytu Judith Grace Kolbas Persian Metaphysics and Mysticism Selected Works of 'Aziz Nasafi Translated and Introduced by Lloyd Ridgeon Sufi Illuminati The RawshanI Movement in Muslim Mysticism, Society and Politics Sergei Andreyev The Occident of Mysteries Muhammad Shlrln Maghrib! (d. 1408), his life, Literary School and Persian Sufi Poetry Leonard Lewisohn Perspectives on Persian Painting Illustrations to Amir Khusrau's Khamsah Barbara Brend

Music AND SONG IN PERSIA THEARTOFAVAZ

Lloyd Clifton Miller

CURZON

First published in 1999 by Curzon Press 15 The Quadrant, Richmond, Surrey TW9 IBP © 1999 Lloyd Clifton Miller Typeset in Sabon by LaserScript, Mitcham, Surrey Printed in Great Britain by Biddies Limited, Guildford and King's Lynn All rights reserved No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-7007-0664-X

Dr. Daryush Safvat

This effort is dedicated to honored master Dr. Daryush Safvat: Most useful information herein is from him and his colleagues; Whatever errors may be found are those of the author.

Master vocalist Parisa

*

J

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CONTENTS

List of Figures List of Tables Transliteration of Persian Letters Preface Methodology Sources and Delimitations Note on Research Sources Acknowledgements

viii x xi xv xv xix xx xxii

1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF PERSIA AND PERSIAN MUSIC 2 MUSIC, ISLAM, MYSTICISM AND PROPER PERFORMANCE

1 13

3 PRESERVATION AND PROPAGATION OF PERSIAN MUSIC 4 THE THEORY OF PERSIAN MUSIC

29 57

5 PERSIAN VOCAL MUSIC

108

6 BACKGROUND OF PERSO-ARAB POETIC STRUCTURE

130

CONCLUSION Appendices A ATTRIBUTES OF THE BELOVED IN PERSIAN POETRY B RADIF TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS C METRIC ANALYSIS D SEQUENCE OF GUSHE FROM FOUR MAIN SOURCES E PERSIAN INSTRUMENTS F NOTATION AND TRANSCRIPTIONS

154 157 182 239 252 269 276

Epilogue Bibliography Glossary of Terms and Persons General Index

326 329 348 356

L I S T OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Map of the Achaemenian Empire Persian Masters' Chain of Authority Saqiname Improvisation and a Payvar "Arrangement" Progressions through the Degrees of Segah Fingerboard of the Setar Arab Meters Shahname Analysis Shahname Analysis 2 Meters and Variations Used in Persian Poetry Comparison of Arab and Persian Meters Area of Vocal Tahrir Ornament Tahrir Ornament in Afshari by Qamar al-Moluk

5 9 53 59 64 134 142 142 147 149 325 325

Plates Dedication & Frontispiece: Master Daryush Safvat Parisa Photographs between Chapters 3 and 4: 1 Tar Master Darvish Khan 2 Bahari, Kasa'i and Tehrani 3 Setar Master Sa'id Hormozi 4 Vocal Master 'Abdollah Davami 5 Dr. Daryush Safvat 6 Nur 'Ali Borumand and Dr. Daryush Safvat 7 NIRT Music Director Shahrzad Afshar Qotbi and Safvat 8 Dr. Daryush Safvat and Nelly Caron 9 Vocal Master Mahmud Karimi 10 Karimi, Hurshid and Parisa in Class in 1971 11 Karimi and Parisa in Class in 1971 12 The Author and Karimi at the Center in 1970 Vlll

v vi 56-57

List of Figures 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

IX

Parisa at an Iran America Society Concert Parisa with the Author at Master Karimi's wedding Vocal Master Parisa (Vajihe Va'ezi) Majid Kiani (santur) Daryush Tala'i (tar) Jalal Zolfonun (setdr) Hosein Mohammad Alizade (tar) Davud Ganjei (kamdnche) Bahman Rajabi (zarb) Center's Instrument Craftsman Hasan Zadkheir Center's Instrument Craftsman Hasan Zadkheir Center's Musicians at the Shiraz Arts Festival Center's Musicians at the Shiraz Arts Festival Santur Kamdnche Setdr Tar Nei Zarb (dombak) Day ere Doira and Ghichak (or qaichak) Soma and Dohol Tambur and day ere Dotdr (or dutdr) Refelfc Chang Instruments in Author's Display at BYU

Photographs following Glossary of Terms and Persons: Dr. Jean During in Herat (1970s) The Author in Tehran, 1971; the Author at Eastern Arts, 1978

354 355

LIST OF TABLES

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Periods in Persian History Modal Systems, Characteristics and Connotations Alphabetized List of Gushe and Terms Definitions of Gushe, Dastgdh and Terms Gushe categorized by subject Gushe from Four Main Masters Gushe Found in More than One Dastgdh Vocal Radif of Karimi and Davami Texts Listed by First Phrase Alphabetized List of Texts by First Phrase List of Common Texts from Valid Sources Meters in Karimi's Radif

4 78 79 80 84 89 102 114 118 121 124 250

TRANSLITERATION OF PERSIAN LETTERS The following key shows the transliteration system used in which the actual sound or pronunciation is represented: Persian

Dari/Regional

a (as in "had") a a (as in "father" or "awful")

b P

b P

t s

t s

i

ch

Arabic (if different) a (as in " m a t h " d r a w n out)

b none t th (as in "with")

J

none (initial h silent) kh (the ch in bach: velar uvular with scrape) d d d z z dh (th as same r (trilled) same z z z none zh (z as in "azure") same s s s sh sh sh s (strong s s z z dh (th as t (strong t t th (as in z t i ' (silent in Persian) ' (glottal gh (gargling gutturail, far back in throat) f f f

ch h

q k g

1

q

k g 1

in "this")

s) in "this") t) "with") stop)

q k g

1

m m m n n n u aw u o ("true" or " n o " ) o u aw V w w h (initial, final "eh" = " e " but 'V in Dari) i ("ee" as in "see;" iin Dari can be "ay" like "say") y

y

y

Xll

Music and Song in Persia

The author has chosen to use the transliteration system used by the Iranian government in all publications such as the Tehran Journal and Kayhan International during the 1970s. The same system of transliteration has been continued by the present government and is used by many writers on music and Persian culture. The only addition to this system is the overline to represent the long "a" (a) since in English the long and short "a" are not represented by separate symbols. This transliteration system is in keeping with the writings of other scholars on music of the area. To save space and inconvenience, the Persian script has not been used. In a few cases, common English spelling is used without diacritical marks, for example: Iran (instead of Iran), Islam (instead of Islam) and Koran (instead of Qur'dn). In transliterating Dari Persian spoken in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and areas of Pakistan, or a regional dialect such as Kurdish, the words are represented as they are pronounced which differs with standard Tehrani pronunciation. For instance, the long lute known in Tehran as dotdr will be transliterated as dutdr when referring to the instrument in Afghan Dari or Khorasani. Likewise kbodd in Tehrani Persian would be khudd in Dari. The "i" in Tehrani Persian would be "e" in Dari; miguyad in Tehran would be megoya in Dari; nist would be nes dropping the final "t". Although words like Qur'an and Qandahar use "q" in the Persian or Arabic script, in some cases, the Anglicized version using "k" appears in the text. Whereas "q" and "gh" are interchangable in Tehrani pronunciation, those letters will be represented as written in the Persian script. The final "h" in written Persian words such as gusheh is not really pronounced and therefore will be omitted, e.g., gushe; but the final "/?" following a long "