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PERSIAN MUSIC Sounding the City Still Singing A Volume 12 - Number 2 February – March 2016 £4 TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: PPERSIANERSIAN MUSICMUSIC ● SSoundingounding thethe citycity ● SStilltill singingsinging ● A ddiscursiveiscursive studystudy ofof musicmusic inin IranIran duringduring thethe 1960s1960s ● SShapinghaping thethe PersianPersian repertoirerepertoire ● TThehe iintroductionntroduction ofof pianopiano practicepractice inin IranIran ● MMusic,usic, IIslamslam aandnd PPersianersian SuSufi ssmm ● MMusicusic oonn thethe mmoveove iinn thethe MMiddleiddle EastEast ● SSwayingwaying toto PersianPersian andand MiddleMiddle EasternEastern tunestunes inin LondonLondon ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews andand eventsevents inin LondonLondon Volume 12 - Number 2 February – March 2016 £4 TTHISHIS ISSUEISSUE: PPERSIANERSIAN MMUSICUSIC ● SSoundingounding tthehe ccityity ● SStilltill ssinginginging ● A ddiscursiveiscursive studystudy ooff mmusicusic iinn IIranran duringduring tthehe 11960s960s ● SShapinghaping tthehe PPersianersian rrepertoireepertoire ● TThehe iintroductionntroduction ooff ppianoiano ppracticeractice iinn IIranran ● MMusic,usic, IIslamslam aandnd PPersianersian SSuufi ssmm ● MMusicusic oonn tthehe mmoveove iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EastEast ● SSwayingwaying ttoo PPersianersian andand MMiddleiddle EasternEastern ttunesunes iinn LondonLondon ● PPLUSLUS RReviewseviews aandnd eeventsvents inin LLondonondon Aida Foroutan, 'Protest', 2002. No. 14 of a series of 28 paintings called Women's Life, About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) 2001-2015. Oil on canvas. 80 x 80 cm. Image courtesy of the artist Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle Volume 12 - Number 2 East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defi ned and helps to create links between individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. February – March 2016 With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic Editorial Board membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Professor Nadje Al-Ali has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle SOAS East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Dr Hadi Enayat it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specifi c components of its AKU programme of activities. Ms Narguess Farzad SOAS LMEI is a Registered Charity in the UK wholly owned by SOAS, University of London (Charity Mrs Nevsal Hughes Registration Number: 1103017). Association of European Journalists Professor George Joff é Cambridge University Mission Statement: Ms Janet Rady Janet Rady Fine Art Mr Barnaby Rogerson Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle Ms Sarah Searight East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with British Foundation for the Study those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in of Arabia London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the Dr Sarah Stewart SOAS Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Dr Shelagh Weir at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education Independent Researcher and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College Coordinating Editor Megan Wang LMEI Staff: SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: Listings Vincenzo Paci Director Dr Hassan Hakimian To subscribe to Th e Middle East in London, please visit: Designer Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ or contact the Shahla Geramipour Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci LMEI offi ce. Administrative Assistant Aki Elborzi Th e Middle East in London is published fi ve times a year by the London Middle Letters to the Editor: East Institute at SOAS Publisher and Please send your letters to the editor at Editorial Offi ce Disclaimer: the LMEI address provided (see left panel) Th e London Middle East Institute or email [email protected] SOAS Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East University of London MBI Al Jaber Building in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal 21 Russell Square views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their London WC1B 5EA United Kingdom organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's T: +44 (0)20 7898 4330 Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the E: [email protected] magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy ISSN 1743-7598 of claims made by advertisers. Contents LMEI Board of Trustees 4 19 Baroness Valerie Amos (Chair) EDITORIAL Swaying to Persian and Middle Director, SOAS Eastern tunes in London Professor Richard Black, SOAS Dr John Curtis 5 Roya Arab Iran Heritage Foundation INSIGHT Dr Nelida Fuccaro, SOAS Sounding the city: Tehran’s 21 Mr Alan Jenkins contemporary soundscapes REVIEWS Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS Laudan Nooshin CD Dr Dina Matar, SOAS Rhapsody of Roses: Persian Dr Hanan Morsy European Bank for Reconstruction 7 Classical Music from the 1950s and Development Dr Barbara Zollner PERSIAN MUSIC Pejman Akbarzadeh Birkbeck College Still singing: female singers in contemporary Iran 22 LMEI Advisory Council Parmis Mozafari BOOKS Iranian Classical Music: Th e Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) 9 Discourses and Practice of Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO A discursive study of music in Creativity Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Iran during the 1960s Stefan Williamson Fa Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Arab International Women’s Forum Mohammadamin Hashemi Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa 23 President, University College of Bahrain Professor Tony Allan 11 BOOKS IN BRIEF King’s College and SOAS Shaping the Persian repertoire Dr Alanoud Alsharekh Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Houman M. Sarshar 26 Mr Farad Azima IN MEMORIAM NetScientifi c Plc Homa Nategh (1934-2016) Dr Noel Brehony 13 MENAS Associates Ltd. Th e introduction of piano Touraj Atabaki and Nasser Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna British Egyptian Society practice in Iran Mohajer HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Maryam Farshadfar Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 27 Mr Paul Smith Chairman, Eversheds International 15 Khodadad Farmanfarmaian Music, Islam and Persian (1928-2015) Founding Patron and Donor of the LMEI Sufi sm Ramin Nassehi Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber Terry Graham MBI Al Jaber Foundation 28 17 EVENTS IN LONDON Music on the move in the Middle East Ilana Webster-Kogen February – March 2016 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL DDearear RReadereader Qajar era paintings of female musicians in Sa’dabad Palace Tehran, Iran. Photographs courtesy of Jane Lewisohn Jane Lewisohn, SOAS ‘ he Iranian baby is rocked in its article describes the resilience of female Terry Graham explains how Sufi sm mother’s arms to the mode of performers in Iran, where musicians provides the spiritual base for music in TDashti; street vendors hawk their constantly run the risk of falling foul of Persia and throughout much of the Middle wares in mode of Abu ‘Ata’ or Afshari; the the authorities when it comes to their East. Ilana Webster-Kogen demonstrates mason calls for a brick from his partner performances. Pejman Akbarzadeh’s review that if there is one thing that conservative in Shur or Humayun or Isfahan; and the of Sepideh Raissadat’s CD shows how Shi’ite jurisprudents and the Wahhabi beggar appeals to the passers-by with a cry Persian female performers have found a fundamentalists agree on, it is that music in Gusha-yi Mansuri.’ (Ruhu’llah Khaliqi) receptive audience for their music in the should be kept on a tight leash or banned all West. together. Roya Arab in her essay on Persian From the beating human heart, the song Mohammadamin Hashemi, in his and Middle Eastern music in London today of the nightingales, the patter of raindrops analysis of the modern and traditional gives us a glimpse into the thriving Middle and the whistling of the wind, music discourses in Persian music in Iran in the Eastern music scene among the various pervades every aspect of human life. Each 1960s, shows how musicians in the Middle diaspora communities in London. Stefan region of the Middle East brings a unique East have strived to reconnect with their Williamson Fa reviews Laudan Noushin’s fl avour to their music, informed by their musical roots in the past and the present, book Iranian Classical Music: Th e Discourses native languages, dialects and local customs. distancing themselves from modern and Practice of Creativity and fi nds it a Although each region and ethnicity features innovations. Houman Sarshar and Maryam valuable resource for those looking for an its own unique local musical tradition, there Farshadfar zoom in to give a close-up in-depth approach to Persian music. Finally is a common thread underlying Middle of the contributions of specifi c Persian Ramin Nassehi recounts the contributions Eastern musical traditions that makes them musicians.
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