I. History

Persian Classical Music dates back to the fifth century B.C.  The Achaemenid Empire (550-331 BC) used music in prayer, royal festivities, national ceremonies, and war.  At the time of Sassanid dynasty (100 B.C-630 AD), the music reached its culmination with the royal ensemble performing songs by Barbad and Nakisa (the two renowned court musicians) in large groups.  Barbad is famous for his system of seven royal modes (Khosravany), thirty derivative modes (Lahn), and three hundred sixties melodies (Dastan).

In the next millennium or so, the music comes under pressure from the orthodox religious circles and loses its liveliness.  During this long period, the theoretical aspects of Persian music continue to flourish while the practical parts weaken considerably.  

Arab invasion (643-750 AD) was a prime cause of the suppression of musical activities.  However, at the time of the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258 AD) one can witness a revival of the court music.   Iranian musicians once again gained importance during this period.  A prominent musician-scholar Abu Nasr Farabi (890-980 AD) was able to publish his celebrated book Kitab-e Musiqi Al-Kabir.  His book proved to be pivotal in the Islamic world, laying down the foundation for the music tradition in much of the works of the later centuries.  Other Iranian scholars such as Abu Ali Sina (1000-1058 AD) and Safiaddin Ormavi (dead in 1286 AD) launched the twelve modal systems with six melodies, which are more or less prevalent in modern time.

The socio-political dominance of the hard-line clerics for the next few centuries thwarted music pursuit.  Only religious music was allowed either as a part of reciting of the Quran or other festivities.  Music became associated with the religion and was an integrated part of the rituals such as Taazeehe (religious musical theatre).   However, the Safavid kings (1500-1672), themselves resolute Shiites, patronized the arts especially music that was welcomed at the royal court. 

Much of the present Persian music has originated from the time of Qajar dynasty.  Our collective consciousness in terms of practical music as opposed to theory starts in this period.  In fact, whatever we know today originates from the musicians of this time.  Mirza Abdolah (1843-1917 AD) was the living memory of the 3000 years of the musical heritage.  His teachings have become the pinnacle of much of the music literature in modern time.  He was a virtuoso artist who taught the next generations the repertory of the Persian music.   He passed the long and extensive oral tradition of music to his students while allowing them to put in writings much of his vast and invaluable recollection from the past.  He was an excellent tar and the setar player. (add footnote).

The Qajar era is unique in a sense that musicians played at the royal court and private parties.  Majlesi (private party) music is the most common type of music during this period.  Some instruments such as tar and setar were introduced and others such as oud (lute) robab (a string melodic instrument like violin but played on the ground like cello), harp, and Qanun (a type of dulcimer with metallic picks played with fingers) were abandoned.  Prominent musicians such an Agha-Hossein Gholi (1853-1916 AD) and his reputed student Darivish Khan (1872-1926 AD) belong to this period as are Aref and Sheyda  the two musicians famous for their tasnifs (sort of madrigals). 

Nasser-Aldin Shah (reigned 1848-1896 AD) of Qajar visited Europe in the mid 19^th century and tried to copy the Western style theaters and opera houses in Tehran, the capital city of Iran.  He founded the Takieh-e-Dolat (prototype of a musical house) in which musicians and actors could present their artistic works.  Many princes and princesses were engaged in musical activities either by getting themselves music trainings or supporting musicians.  Tar became the most prestigious instrument in a sense that in almost every noble family one person could play it. 

Pahlavi era (1906-1979) was the turning point in Persian music.  Many musical schools and academies were established during Reza Shah and his son Mohammad Reza Shah.  The founding of national radio and television stations also played a crucial role in disseminating Persian music to the remotest corners of the country.  Iran benefited from the Western educational system and many students graduated from colleges and universities including music schools.  These musicians could, in turn, form various ensembles and musical groups.  Female vocalists were able to sing in public and a large number of artistic works were introduced during this period.

Unfortunately, rapid and false modernization towards the end of the Pahalvi era tainted, to a certain degree, the Persian classical music.  The mainstream in the society turned into imported pop music as radio and television stations (both public) paid more attention to such music and at the expense of the Persian classical music.  The academia became the centers for training of the Western classical music.  Iranian musicians suffered a lot and many of them found refuge in their homes.

In 1979, the Islamic revolution brought a complete halt to the musical activity.  Ibn-e-Khaldoon (700-770 AD?), the Arabic scholar and philosopher, states that music is among the first categories to be perished in socio-political upheavals.  Due to the socio-political displacement, the revolutionary regime only permitted revolutionary songs as the other musical forms were banned.  Many musicians either had to leave the country or became locked up in their houses.  Nonetheless, the Islamic regime soon broke ties with the traditional Shiite clerics- for the first time since the advent of Islam in Iran - lifting the ban on the trade of musical instruments.

Accordingly, it was allowed to buy and sell musical instruments.  Such a heuristic act let musical activities to once again flourish in Iran.  Moreover, as pop music was considered blasphemous and disrespectful, the young generation turned into the Persian classical music.  Many religious families allowed their kids to attend music schools while stores were filled with musical instruments.  Today, one can see young boys and girls freely carrying musical instruments in the streets of every city in Iran.  Moreover, the introduction of computer, paved the way for writing and publishing the repertory of the Persian music.

II. Characteristics.  
Persian music is rich in structure, comprising of melodic tones combined with colorful rhythms.  The music is based on the modal system with each mode rendering a variety of melodic types.  In the old time there existed twelve modes.  At the time of the Qajar dynasty the old system was changed into the seven Dastgahs (scales) and five Avazes (subscales) and about 400 Gushehs (part of a scale).

The Old Twelve-Mode  System. The twelve-modal system was derived by combining sequences of subdominants (series of the 4^th) with dominants (series of the 5^th).  In the past, there were seven sub-dominant and thirteen dominant compositional possibilities. (Khaleghi, Nazari–be-Musiqi, p 214).  Each sequence of one sub-dominant with one dominant forms a mode. There existed a total of 91 (13 times 7) modes called the circle of 91 of which 12 were tempered and chosen.
The twelve modes are:  Oshaq, Nava, Bousalik, Rast, Eraq , Esfahan, Zir-afkand , Bozorg, Zanguleh , Rahavi, Hosseini,  and Hejazi.

Table 1: Old System of Persian Music, Twelve Modes

By looking at the modal structure above one can easily see that there were 18 notes in the Persian classical music with 17 intervals.  The musicians used to put a name for each mode some of which are still used today.  Moreover, each mode had specific effect on human mind and soul.  For instance, it was suggested that low pitch melodies should be played for people with somewhat red skins while high pitch melodies were more suitable for yellow skins.  For dark-skin and slim people one should play trios and white and fat people were more apt to the base melodies pitch.  [1.
In addition, the musicians proposed a different mode to be played in different points in day or night.  Accordingly, Hosseini was played at the end of the day, Ravavi in the morning, Rast at dawn, Bousalik in the afternoon, Oshaq at the sunset, Nava before night prayer, ands Hejazi at midnight.    Some modes such as Oshaq, Bousalik, and Nava were perceived to create fortitude while Iraq, Esfahan, and Rast to bring up moderation and therefore were played for pleasure.  Music therapy was also strongly used to cure various types of illnesses.

Rhythm was of extreme importance among the classicists.  Farabi defined rhythm as “…..the division of sounds within times of limited duration.”  Safieddin Ormavi had a more elaborated definition:
“Rhythm is the sequence of timings of specific duration that are separated from each other and generate specific Dors (clusters of beats of the same length, e.g., a set of four eighth notes divided by rests).   Rhythms were of two types: continuous and discrete. The former was the sets of beats attached to each other with no rest in between.  The discrete rhythm was the one in which the beats were separated by rests.

At the time of Qajar dynasty , the twelve modal system was changed into the present Dastgah (scale) convention.  There are also melodic types that are called Gushehs, literally meaning corners.  Each Gusheh is a combination of tetrachrods or pentachords around which a musician is free to improvise. Each scale or mode is divided into a number of Gushehs.  Gushehes are the building blocks of the Persian music.  A number of Gushehs make a Dastgah (scale) and/or an Avaz (subscale).  The combination of Gushehs, Avazes, and Dastgahs form the repertory of the Persian music called Radif.

Radif includes seven Dastgahs (scales): Shur, Segah, Chargah, Homayoon, Mahour, Nava, and Rast-Panjgah and five Avazes (subscales) as Dashti, Abu-ata, Bayat-e Turk (Zand), and Afshari and Isfahan.  The former four Avazes are derived from the Shur scale and the latter from Homayoon. When compared to the Western music, Persian music allows more variety in terms of scales and subscales because of the existence of microtones.  A Dastgah in Persian music includes 24 chromatic quartertones as opposed to the 12-halftone music of the West.

            Table 2: Present System of Persian Music, Seven Dastgahs

III: Forms.
There exist six different types of forms in the Persian Classical music.  These are (1) Pish-Daramad, (2) Avaz, (3) Char-Mezrab, (4) Qat-e-Zarbi, (5) Tasnif, and (6) Reng.

(1)  Pish-Daramad is analogous to the overture.  It is generally played at the beginning of each piece and is mostly in 2/4 measure. Pish-Daramad is a composed piece and sometimes it covers the whole Dastgah with various Gushehs.  Pish-daramad is fairly recent and dates back to the mid-19^th   early 20^th century.  Davish-Khan is the first musician advocating the Pish-Daramad. 
(2) Avaz is taken from the Radif.  It starts with the starting Gusheh called Daramad (opening).  Daramad is either played by a musician or a vocalist sings it based on poems in the forms of Ghazal or other classical poetic structures.  Although Avaz is a non-metric piece, it has an intrinsic cadence based on the rhythm of the poetry chosen.  The musician or vocalist is free to improvise around the structure of the Gusheh.  However, some Gushehs, e.g., Char-Pareh (four-pieces) are strictly linked to the poetic form that makes improvisation virtually impossible.  Therefore, one may conceive a Gusheh as a framework which serves as a blueprint for the musician.  The sequence of Gushehs was of extreme importance among the classicists.  Nonetheless, today musicians to large extent disregard such a sequence.
(3) Char-Mezrab is a rhythmic piece which is played before or in the middle of an Avaz.  The tempo is usually in 6/8 measure.  The purpose of Char-Mezrab is to break the cycles of non-metric Gushehs which are sometimes monotonous and tiresome for non-trained ears.  Char-Mezrab is generally a non-written piece and is based solely on improvisation.  Char-Mezrab is a short piece but sometimes the taste of a musician combined with receptiveness of the audience and the ecstasy generated by the inherent dynamics of the piece makes a Char-Mezrab longer than what is generally perceived.  Char-Mezrab is played by one or two musicians accompanied by percussion.

(4)  Qat-e-Zarbi is a rhythmical piece that could be a substitute for a Char-Mezrab.  However, unlike a Char-Mezrab, Qat-e-Zarbi could be a composed piece.  It is in either ¾ or 6/8 measures which could be played either by one or two musicians or the whole ensemble.

(5) Tasnif is a written song with lyrics that is chanted by a vocalist.  It is similar to the classical madrigal, albeit in much simpler form.  It is entirely melodic in structure and extremely romantic in tone.  Tasnif is the most common type of music.  Since it uses poetry, non-musically trained ears can communicate and enjoy from Tasnif.  In other words, Tasnif serves as an interpretation of musical form in language.  It translates the abstract and at times incomprehensible music into words.  As an illustration, suppose there are 1000 people in a concert hall.  If the ensemble plays an instrumental music, at the end of the concert we may have 1000 different interpretations of the piece.  On the other hand, if there is a singer singing with the orchestra in that concert hall obviously there would be only one interpretation.  This is what a Tasnif does, it decodes a musical piece.   

(6) Reng is a dance song.  It is a written piece mostly in a 6/8 measure.  From the unknown past, there have been some Rengs in the Persian classical music.  Rengs such as Shar-Ashub in the sacle of Shur, Farah in Homayoon, and Harabi in Mahour are among the most illustrious dance songs in the musical Radif.  A Reng is usually played at the end of a musical event and by the entire group.  It may be compared as a finale in the Western music. 

IV:  Musical Overtone.
Persian music is deeply spiritual in nature.  It is hardly narrative or descriptive.  It is closely related with the long and rich tradition of poetry in Iran.  Love is the main theme of the Persian literature and culture.  However, the beloved is mysterious and unknown.  It could be the love for the God, man, nature, and society or for ultimate truth and beauty.  Life is tragic and the Persian art and music seek to find answers to such questions as the raison d'être of existence.
Against such a background, one can find the essence of the Persian music.  At the first glance, music appears to be forlorn and melancholic.  Performance on the basis of a long and monotonous non-metric Avaz or a Gusheh may astound unfamiliar audience.  The explicit rhythm rampant in modern popular music is missing in the Persian classical music.  However, those familiar with the implicit rhythms inherent in Persian music may appreciate and enjoy it to the outmost.  The built-in cadence manifestly makes one dance deep inside.  A music lover can discern such a hidden rhythm in the serenity of one’s soul. 
No wonder that the Persian music is extremely individualistic.  The performer and the listener are bond together with an entwined chemistry.  The performer improvises and the listener immediately connects with the improvised piece.  There is a dialogue between the two.   One plays and the other absorbs like a tree from its roots.  The listener, himself a music lover, simultaneously acts as a plain audience as well as an elaborate art critique.  Intimacy plays a crucial role in such a pious and honest exchange. 
 The performer creates and performs spontaneously.  He cannot afford to make mistakes.  There is no space for the rough draft.  Everything is in its final polished form.   Thus, child prodigy is unknown in the Persian music.  A musician needs a certain degree of maturity in both creativity and technicality.  There are occasions in which a musician creates a passage, a musical phrase, and the lack of required skill prevents him from correctly performing it. 
Ornamentation is of prime importance.  Unlike the blocks of harmony in the Western classical music, Persian music is of miniature type with much detailed articulations and grace notes.  Music is generally written in low registers.  Musical instruments are more or less in the same range.  The ensemble plays in a unison fashion and orchestration is typically limited.  However, rhythms in the composed and written pieces, especially in more recent time, give the necessary color and vigor to the music.