Unlike European music which enjoys the support of the church, Persian music, like an orphan child, has to fend for itself.¹ Persian music is the outgrowth of an oral tradition. We can thus echo some of our officials who believe Persian music to be "backward," i.e., it reveals little or no development or perfection. As a result, these officials deny Persian music a place in the culture and art of contemporary Iran; they even deny that it meets the needs of present-day Iranian society.

Of course, it should be noted that the attribution of backwardness is a temporal rather than a qualificative assessment of Persian music. European classical music, too, compared to contemporary European music, the staple of concerts and chamber music, is backward. Backwardness in the East, however, is a more all-encompassing phenomenon. It includes not only the art of music, but the whole culture, including the sciences and the social and political relations.²

Ibn-i Khaldun's Cyclical View of Culture

A discussion of "backwardness" is outside the purview of this article. We can, however, distinguish a salient feature of it, discontinuity. This feature applies as much to the musical heritage as to the culture as a whole. In this circumstance our experiences have been cyclical as opposed to linear. Therefore, each experience is independent. This lack of continuity prevents the society from building on the knowledge of its past experiences. Each generation completes its cycle and leaves. The next generation begins a new cycle. This is not to mention the new generations' attempts at rooting out the vestiges of the decadent past.

In his thirteenth century work, in relation to Arabic and Islamic societies, Ibn-i Khaldun speaks about this very cultural cycle. He believes that cyclical movements strengthen religious beliefs and affect social stratification. These movements begin in the desert where God is the individual's major companion. Soul-searching brings the individual to a strong sense of tawhid and to the dictates of the Qur'an. Moving into the cities then, the sons of the desert take control only to fall victim to the onslaught of the amenities of urban life. The cycle begins anew.³

A cursory look at the more recent history of Iran illustrates this point. The Qajar Dynasty displaced the Zand and destroyed all that that dynasty stood for. Rather than Shiraz, the Qajars ruled from their newly inaugurated Tehran. Several generations later, the Qajars fell victim to Reza Khan who set forth a program of modernization and westernization to catch up to the more advanced countries of the world.

Continuity in Persian Music

The continuity of Persian music stops with Westernization. The development that had begun with the efforts of Darvish Khan and Aref--composing valuable songs and concerts--also comes to an end. A hundred years passed before the Sheida and Aref groups attempted to recapture that moment of history. But their efforts, too, were interrupted by the current regime.

We must note here that the efforts of the 1960's and 1970's to recreate the situation during the 1880's and 1890's would not have been possible without the progressive technology of the West. Besides, the two periods were not totally isolated--Ustad had experienced both eras.⁴ Were this not the case, Darvish Khan, too, like Borbad and Nakisa, would have joined history. In that case, the 1960's generation would have had to start from scratch. The lesson to be learned here is that we need to record and document our efforts; we need to create archives through which we can communicate with the future generations of musicians. Only then we can speak about Persian music at an international level.

Lack of Activity in Documentation and Recording

Unfortunately little documentation and recording has been accomplished either within Iran or abroad. The only worthy contribution is Mahmud Karimi's Radif-i Avazi-i Musiqi-i Sunnati-i Iran bi Ravayat-i Mahmud-i Karimi ba Avanavisi va Tajziyeh va Tahlil-i Muhammad Taqi Mas'udiyyeh. This volume, published in both Farsi and French, is a valuable contribution. On the contrary, Darvish's works, presented by Arshad Tahmasebi, leaves much to be desired both locally and internationally. The only other contribution is Musa Khan Ma'rufi's Radif. There is nothing on the current important compositions like the lyrics of Aref and Sheida, the songs of Murtaza, the flute of Davud, Ali Naqi Vaziri, Ruhullah Khaleqi, Amir Jahid, Ali Akbar Shahnazi, and others. None of the works of Muhammad Reza Lutfi, Hussain Alizadeh or Parviz Meshkaiyan is published. There might be some archival (personal or official) documents, but they are not accessible to the public.

Records produced of Iranian music at an international level are neither numerous nor representative of the present state of Persian music. Only Hassan Kasa'i's nai has been successful and has gone into a second printing. There are also some records sold at the international level, including Faramarz Paivar's works; Dariush Tala'i's tar; Muhammad Musavi's nai, accompanied by Mahmud Karimi; and Majid Kayani's santur. There are, however, no publications dealing with the contributions of Muhammad Reza Lutfi, Hussain Alizadeh, and Muhammad Shajarian. Their works are produced on cheap cassettes for the Iranian market or for the entertainment of the Iranians abroad. In the European record stores, for every 40 or 50 Eastern records (Arabic, Hindi, Turkish), there are only two or three Iranian records. From among the recent productions, only the new composition of Hussain Alizadeh and Khusrau Sultani--Nau Bang-i Kuhan--is recorded on compact disc (CD) in English and sold at the international level.

Contradictory Definitions of the Persian Musical Theory

Another difficulty in the way of introducing Persian music at an international level is a lack of credible sources for the study. Each composer (ustad) has his own interpretation. The chaotic information provided on the jackets of the Iranian records in English, French, and German is indicative of the difficulty of any student of music trying to learn the basics of Persian music.

The first theory for Persian music was written by Ali Naqi Vaziri. Following his understanding of European music, he based his study on notations. The notes that he proposed for Persian music, however, were not accurate, because Persian music lacks the harmonic quality of European music. Rather, it emphasizes the melodic function of the sound.

These five notes of Vaziri then created a controversy as a result of which musicians not familiar with the Iranian system labeled Persian music "unscientific". Even Ruhullah Khaliqi in his book states this fact. In the last chapter entitled Nazari bi Musiqi, he says: "European music follows a set of strict rules while our present music is devoid of rules; our music is not based on scientific principles and does not meet our present-day needs."⁵

Scientific and Impractical Music

The difficulty with understanding Persian music stems from two things: the application of science to music and the manner in which Monsieur Lumier imposed European notes--do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si--to an analysis of Persian music. This was, of course, after Nasir al-Din Shah and Amir-i Kabir introduced "science" into the Dar al-Funun (circa. 1856).

Iran's musical heritage was lost under the Safavids. Thereafter, lacking rules and regulations, both in Iran and abroad, the Iranian musicians learned the rules for European music and applied them to their own music as if those were some kind of universal music rules.

At the present, there are two possibilities for a theory for Persian music and the two are not absolutely distinct. The first is related to mathematics and exact sciences (deductive theory). The other relates to the experimental sciences like physics and chemistry (inductive or empirical theory). Music uses both these theories. The 12-music of Arnold uses the deductive theory. The deductive school creates musical forms that had never existed before and, consequently, had not been subjected to experiments.

In relation to Persian music, we are talking about the inductive theory. To reach a theory here, we must study the radifs, etc. used by the past masters and arrive at an understanding, classification, and systematization of the elements involved.

Instruction Through the Oral Method

As long as no musical representation is available from the works of al-Farabi and Urmavi, it would be difficult to know to which theory they could have belonged. Mas'udiyyeh distinguishes 12 maqams. These maqams, which are attributed to Maraqa'i and which appear in the manuscripts of the Safavid era, do not correspond to the practical use of the music of that time.⁶ The definitions and classifications that Fursat presents in Buhur al-Alhan seem to indicate that not all the notes posited by the theory had practical application. Some had fulfilled certain "divine" and "cosmological" values.⁷ The case is, in fact, analogous to Vaziri's attempt to force Persian music into a system made originally for European music.

All this brings us to the main question: How do Iranian music teachers convey their knowledge to their students? The answer is in the same way that a mother teaches her language to her young, through imitation. Neither the mother nor the child is familiar with the theory of language. Similarly, Iranian teachers of music do not know the intricacies of Persian music beyond the names of the maqams and dastgahs.

Is Theory Necessary?

Concerts of Persian music are gradually being incorporated into the body of world music. Foreign musicians, therefore, will need access to the knowledge that the teacher conveys to his student. The foreign musician, however, does not have the luxury of living at the side of an ustad for a considerable period of time to learn the intricacies of the music. For Iranian music to thrive at an international level, therefore, it is imperative to not only devise a theory for it but to facilitate its documentation and instruction as well.

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