Iran: The Masters of Traditional Music, Vol. 1

The war in Iran, regardless of the views of who is at fault or not, is mostly a tragedy for the people of that amazing country, which has offered so much in the cultural realm for millenia.  This blogger's first exposure to the stunning music of the Persian people came in 1990, a few years before my wife and I began our relationship and there are fond memories of listening and discussing some of these performances with my late father-in-law, who hailed from Hamadan and then lived in Tehran before migrating to the United States in the late 1950s.

This recording from the stellar Ocora/Radio France label dates from 1979, the year that the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown in a revolution led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and which was followed by the establishment of the Islamic Republic now attacked by the United States and Israel.  It features a quintet of pieces by Dariush Tala'i on tar and setar, Mohammad Musavi on the ney and Majod Kiani on the santur.

The depth and breadth of this music is also a reminder of the influences that span large segments of our little blue planet and defy borders, boundaries, ideologies and politics.  These masters deliver stunning performances with beautiful melodies, great technical skill, and a high degree improvisational ability.  As the liner notes explain, an effort was undertaken in the mid-1800s to preserve ancient musical concepts from throughout Iran, yielding a repertoire called radif.

This involved collating many melodic ideas, as well as the structures of tunes in modes, so that there are up to 300 of the first and a dozen modal systems and most of the radif are comprised of solo pieces in five genres.  There is, however, ample room for master musicians to express their own styles, including methods of improvisation.  This latter means that this trio of players are able to both follow the strictures of tradition while providing a freshness in their performances and delivering music remarkable for its richness as well as skill.

As this conflict continues, it is well for us to remember that the Iranian people are enmeshed in a terrible crisis not of their own making or desire, but their culture, including the incredible music in this recording, remains above the fray.