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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 PPERSIANERSIAN MMUSICUSIC

Roya Arab gives a brief tour of the Persian and Middle Eastern music scene in London SSwayingwaying ttoo PPersianersian aandnd MMiddleiddle EEasternastern ttunesunes iinn LLondonondon © Public Domain

Hossein Alizadeh in concert with Hamavayan Ensemble London, November 8, 2015. Courtesy of Fariborz Kiani, Nava Arts UK

ondon has a thriving live music scene, For Persian and Middle Eastern music something going on musically in London. and Persian and Middle Eastern music London accommodates both classical Th e annual Nour Festival has a cornucopia Lis not left out: it is facilitated by a host and modern, young and old, although in of the region’s cultural off erings which of musical venues and festivals spread across my humble opinion not all with the same are presented at various venues across the city, various societies, institutions and frequency or indeed quality. A cursory Kensington and Chelsea, whilst Shubbak concert organisers. Together they serve overview on the Internet of musical events shares Arab culture biennially across an international audience living, visiting that took place across London since the start London. and studying in London. A major part of 2015 shows the wide range in age, styles When looking at the creation, is played by the educational institutions and venues used for musical events. From performance and consumption of teaching, disseminating and providing a many restaurants with popular Persian Persian and Middle Eastern music, one performance platform, such as SOAS which and Middle Eastern music to smaller gig must also consider the impact from the acts as a major venue for visiting artists and venues and large concert halls sharing unprecedented spread of people from students to perform, as well as other ethno- popular and classical music, there is always these regions in the modern world, musicological courses being taught across London (at City University, Goldsmiths, Th e exponential growth of diaspora communities over Kings College and Royal Holloway) which also play their part in spreading the region’s the past 40 years has created a mélange of artistic music. styles, manners, forms and expressions

February – March 2016 The Middle East in London 19 with an exponential growth of diaspora Across London in any given month Persian and communities over the past 40 years. A survey of demographics looking at Iranian Middle Eastern music is performed by native artists, and Middle Eastern people residing outside sometimes alongside their Western colleagues the region shows an uphill spike in the scale and spread of these peoples across Europe and America since the late 1970s. Th is has article – who writes and records English audience: diff erent ages and social classes, created a mélange of artistic styles, manners, songs – who performed with a nod to the the hall was packed, some nodding to the forms and expressions within the diaspora nostalgic state of exile by singing an old poems that moved them, some swaying, community, including those born in the Iranian song ‘Sultan Ghalbha’ from the some absorbing the music in immovable region, those born outside the Middle East eponymous movie made in 1968, which the silence. It had the feeling of a Western sometimes to both Middle Eastern and audience gustily joined with the smallest of classical musical concert listening to an mixed parentage and not least the Western prompts. Next came an Egyptian Iranian eminent conductor, soloist or a rarely-heard, students, teachers and consumers of the musician Lafwandah, who had never been much-loved composition performed by a region’s music. Together these groups to Iran, accompanied by her producer renowned ensemble or orchestra. It was, provide fertile grounds for continuation, on CDJ (Compact Disc Jockey). Th e however, tinged with sad political realities preservation and experimentation of old night ended with one of the fi rst highly- that separated many of these people from and new musical traditions. acclaimed, Western female electronic their countries of origin. Th ere was a On the experiential front, last September producers Leila, who at one point mixed a melancholic wistfulness amidst the joyous there was a night of Iranian music to live santour (dulcimer) into her electronic aural celebration that was palpable in the illustrate the huge range of Iranian musical world. Leila was born in Iran and has not audience’s warm and attentive embrace of life produced by Iranians of diff erent ages, returned since leaving with her family in the musicians on stage. genres and varying connections with Iran. 1979. Th is wide spectrum of musical styles Across London in any given month Th is was co-curated by myself and Arts and genres is not just the story of the Iranian Persian and Middle Eastern music is Canteen – which promotes the region’s musical experience in Europe and America, performed by native artists, sometimes culture – to coincide with the Inside it also refl ects large swathes of the Middle alongside their Western colleagues, playing Out Iran art exhibition 4-27 Sept 2015 East that have seen their peoples dispersed both traditional Middle Eastern and Persian showcasing young Iranian urban art. It with some unable to return. repertoires, Western classical repertoires began with Adib Rostami on kamancheh When sitting in the University College as well as fusions of Middle Eastern, world (Iranian spiked fi ddle) and Pouya London’s Logan Hall listening to the Persian music and modern Western-style popular Mahmoodi on a specially adapted guitar maestro Alizadeh (one of Iran’s leading music. In spite and perhaps because of with moveable frets – allowing quarter composers and musicians, a virtuoso tar the socio-political context of Persian and and semi-tones – improvising on ancient and setar player who has invented two new Middle Eastern musical performances in Persian themes. Th en it was the turn of the musical instruments: sallaneh and shurangiz London, the range and quality of music deeply electronic instrumental composer from the ancient Iranian lute) and his performed here competes well with any Pouya Ehsaie who took the audience on an ensemble, I was struck by the reverential other metropolis. audio/visual electronic Odyssey. All three silence and the numerous ways in which the musicians were born in Iran and reside audience was absorbing the music. I spent Roya Arab is a musician and archaeologist. in the UK. Next, it was the author of this more than half of the concert studying the She is currently Honorary Research Assistant at IoA, UCL and PhD candidate at City University researching music in Iranian fi lm

Adib Rostami and Pouya Mahmoodi performing at Inside Out Iran art exhibition at Rich Mix,

© 2015 ghalamDAR London, September 2015

20 The Middle East in London February – March 2016