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Luigi wrote:
Hi all. I've come in contact with an iranian
cultural association, and the president of this association asked me to compose
some music (a crossover between Occidental music and Iranian (persian) folk
songs) for a cd for the association, and now I'm looking to find some texts (I
already have some Iranian devotional and classical music cds, mostly Santoor
players or rythms,but also some violin music and other) regarding the theory and
the development of this music. Can anyone here point me in the right direction?
I've found many things about musical instruments. but very little about music
theory, so...
Two classic texts on Iranian music:
Classical Persian Music by Ella Zonis
Mahler, published 1973 by Harvard University Press, Cambridge,
Massachusetts. Sorry, I don't have the Library of Congress catalogue
information. This is a very thorough work on Iranian musical history and
gives good examples of the gusheh-ha (motifs) within each dastgah (primary mode)
in western notation. This was one of the first major works outside Iran
regarding the music. There are some dubious statements throughout (e.g.,
"all Persian music is sad," "the dastgah 'Mahur' is the basic
scale for all melodies," etc.) but overall it's a very good work.
The Radif of Persian Music - Studies of
Structure and Cultural Context in the Classical Music of Iran by Bruno
Nettl, published 1992 by Elephant & Cat, Champaign, Illinois. Another
very systematic ethnomusicological investigation of Iranian music, somewhat more
of an academic read than Ms. Zonis Mahler's. It too contains many examples
of the Radif (overall musical system) of Iranian music, and gives particular
comparisons between the radif-s established by various masters.
Another work is The Art of Persian Music by
Jean During and Zia Mirabdolbaghi with Dariush Safvat, published 1991 by Mage
Publishers, Washington, D.C. ISBN #0-934211-22-1. http://www.mage.com/
This is a bit less scholarly than the works listed
above. In fact, it's more of a "coffee table" book with
excellent illustrations as well as a very good accompanying CD. I just
received a notice from the publisher that this is currently on sale for US$
52.00, which is about half of the original price.
Jean During is a French ethnomusicologist who has
learned Iranian classic music and has written widely on the subject. I
believe he has many publications on Iranian music in French, which may be more
available to you in Europe than the books I mentioned (for example, the Zonis
Mahler work is long out of print, and the Nettl work is published by a very
small press - really almost a private release).
Good luck with the project! Please contact me
if I can be of any further assistance.
James
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