Rare Persian artifacts are on display at the Art and Exhibition Hall of Germany (Bundeskunsthalle) in an exhibition entitled “Iran: Ancient Cultures between Water and Desert”. The exhibition is organized in the city of Bonn with cooperation of Iran’s National Museum and Cultural Heritage Organization in Tehran.
An exceptional part of the current exhibition is showing the carved vessels which have been discovered around the city of Jiroft and Halil River in South East Persia. In 2001 police seized a large number of these objects looted from the Bronze Age necropolises in the Kerman province.
The archaeologists believe the finds shed new light on the Bronze Age in the region and the production of vessels made of chlorite, alabaster and other stones; but because the objects were looted, their original find context and the knowledge it might have yielded will forever remain lost to archaeological research.
The term “Persian choral music” in this article is referred to:
Choral version of folk or urban songs of Persia (Iran).
Works by the Persian composers for the Western-style.
Choir works by non-Persian composers based on Persian music/poetry.
Western “Choir” (as an aspect of Western art music) was mainly introduced to the Persians in early 20th century; when the Tehran Conservatory created a choral group for the students. They later cooperated with Tehran Symphony Orchestra as well but the repertoire was totally Western classical works.
1940s : Rubik Gregorian Arrangements
Rubik (Ruben) Gregorian (1915-1991) is the pioneer composer who wrote “Persian Choral Music” for the first time. He was a gifted violinist and composer who was the director of Tehran Conservatory of Music and Tehran Symphony Orchestra for few years. In 1951 he moved to the United States and continued his works mainly at the Boston Conservatory of Music.
In early 1940s Gregorian collected tens of folk songs from various regions of Persia (Iran) and arranged them for choir and voice and piano. His books in two volumes were published in Tehran in 1948. He has tried to be quite faithful to the original songs and do not change their atmosphere. Since that time in a lot of choral concerts in Persia, Gregorian’s arrangements of folk songs have been performed.
In most of Gregorian’s arrangements, we hear the song’s melody with chords which are performed by SATB choir. Gregorian has tried to be quite faithful to the original melodies with no intention of changing or developing any part.
Gregorian’s chromatics fit the character of Persian folk songs. Gregorian is inspired from choral version of Armenian folk songs, but as Persian and Armenian music are very close to each other, this idea works well. From the harmonization point of view, there is no movement between voices in his arrangements. Every voice sings one single note at the time. They are all vertical but it is of course depends on the taste of the composer and the effect which is going to be created.
1970s : National Choir, Director: Alfred Mardoyan In 1972 the National Choir of Persia (Kor-e Melli-e Iran) was founded under the direction of Alfred Mardoyan. He arranged both Persian folk and urban songs for this group. Here is the Mardoyan’s choral version of “Rudaki’s Lyre” [Chang-e Roudaki] which has been composed by Rouhollah Khaleghi in the 1950s. The lyric is written by Roudaki, 9th-century Persian poet.
This work was originally performed by celebrated vocalists Marzieh and Banan at Radio Tehran (Listen to the original version). Choral version was performed in ca. 1976 in Tehran. The conductor is also Alfred Mardoyan.
Tehran Choir & Farah Chore: Evlin Baghcheban Since the 1950s the opera singer Evelyn (Evlin) Baghcheban had a key role to improve choral music in Persia/Iran. She was the conductor of Tehran Conservatory Choir for years and later in early 1967 she founded “Tehran Choir”. Evlin Baghtcheban conducted the choral presentations in the coronation ceremonies of the Shah Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi in the same year with this group.
Tehran Choir, conducted by Evlin Baghcheban, Rudaki Hall, Tehran, ca. 1969.
“Tehran Choir” was active for almost four years. Later in 1973 Evlin Baghcheban founded the ‘Farah Choir”, supported by the Farah Pahlavi Charity Foundation. This choir recorded two albums in Austria in 1978 but it was shut down during the 1978-1979 Islamic revolution in the Persia/Iran. (See: First Ever Release of 1978 Farah Choir Recording)
Members of the Farah Choir were mostly the students of Farah Conservatory in Tehran. Here is a rare recording of Farah Choir which is the choral version of the folk song “Baboli Koreh”. Evlin Baghcheban’s husband, Samin, has arranged the song for the choir:
Samin Baghcheban has arranged various other Persian folk songs for the choir as well; one of them is “To Bio” which was earlier arranged by Gregorian. Baghcheban’s style is much different. He shows more interest to use the folk melodies as an idea and develop them. Baghcheban uses imitation and dron in his arrangements as well.
Stephen Ackert, American musician, who used to work in Tehran in the 1970s believes, Baghcheban has been inspired by Orthodox church music tradition, which he might well have encountered in works of Armenian composers. “Comparing to arrangements of Gregorian, Baghcheban’s arrangement sounds more modern. What Gregorian did is what Western composers such as Brahms did with folk music in 19th century: using four-part SATB choir and a wide variety of chromatic harmonies.”
Here you may listen to Samin Baghtcheban arrangment of “To Bio”:
Golnoush Khaleghi and Hamavazan : NIRT Choir
In 1974 Golnoush Khaleghi was invited by the National Iranian Radio and Television (NIRT) to create a choral school and group in Tehran. She was the conductor of “Hamavazan” until 1979. The group was performing Western classical pieces and just in one concert they performed a Persian composition “Gol-Aman” with NIRT Chamber Orchestra. “Gol Aman” was a piece by Ruben Gregorian, based on two folk songs. It was performed in a concert in 1977 at the Golestan Palace.
Golnoush Khaleghi has arranged and recorded three works of his father, Rouhollah Khaleghi, for choir: “Negah-e Ashegh”, lyrics by Fereydoun Moshiri, “Bahar-e Delneshin” and the worldwide known “Ey Iran” anthem.
– Other Choral Works by Persian Composers:
“Niayesh-e Yazdan” / Praise (1963), with poems by Ferdowsi, by Heshmat Sandjari “Sarbaz” [Soldier] (1966), with poems by Ebrahim Safaei, for choir and orchestra, by Hossein Dehlavi “Chehreh-ye Gol” [Face of Flower] (1969), on poems by Jamshid Moayed, for Choir & Organ, by Mehran Rouhani “Three Pieces on Khayyam Rubaiyat” (ca. 1970) for a cappella choir, by Mostafa-Kamal Pourtorab “Matal” (1973) for Choir, Piano and Percussions, by Samin Baghcheban “Azadi” [Freedom] (1979), by Golnoush Khaleghi “Asrar-e Azal” [Mysteries of Eternity] (?), on poems by Khayyam, by Kambiz Roshanravan “Persian Folklore” (1984), for a cappella choir, by Reza Vali “We are One” (2011), on Poems by Sa’di, for a cappella choir, by Behzad Ranjbaran “O! Friend” [Ey Yaar] (?) for a cappella choir, by Ahmad Pejman “Awaiting Your Advent” (2016), by Amin Honarmand “We Passed” (2018) for a cappella choir (text: Saeb Tabrizi), by Mohammad-Reza Tafazzoli “Goli azdast beraft” (2018) for a cappella choir, by Daniel Sabzghabaei
– Persian Choral Pieces by non-Persian Composers:
– “Water of Kharabat“, on Poems by Hafez, for a cappella choir, by Liselotte Sels (Watch)
TAGS: Persische chor musik / Iranian choral music / Musique chorale perse / persane / iranienne / Perzische koor / iranische / coro persa / persisk / persiska
A unique collection of tens of Persian manuscripts is kept at the autonomous Republic of Dagestan.
Dagestan which is a Russian republic, until almost 200 years ago was part of Persia (Iran). Persian was popular amongst the educated layer of Dagestani society.
Afsharid era [1736–1796] is just one of the historical periods that Dagestan was part of the Persian territory. At the time the Persian emperor, Nader Shah sent a tiny Quran to Dagestan local ruler as a memento. Dagestanis believe their ruler sent a letter to Nader Shah and asked for a larger copy of the holy book considering its importance. The emperor, therefore, sent him this huge Quran. This work is just one of the many unique manuscripts kept at the library of Dagestan Scientific Centre.
“This library was established in 1963. Since then Dagestani orientalists study the manuscripts at private collections or mosque depos and have them digitized.” Patimat Alibekov says.
Narrator: When the Soviet Union was formed based on communism, one of the priorities was erasing religion from society: whether it was Islam or Christianity. According to the scholars at Dagestan Scientific Center, at the time keeping Persian and Arabic manuscripts was dangerous for the owners as the manuscripts showed ties with the Islamic world. Therefore most of the manuscripts were either sold or donated to the library.
Patmet: Post the collapse of Sovient Union, the situation changed. Nowadays owners keep manuscripts for blessing their home, memento of their forefathers or reading.
Pejman: Currently over 100 Persian manuscripts are kept at Dagestan‘s Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnography which is affiliated with Russian Science Academy.
The institute’s oldest manuscript is “Akhlaq-e Nasseri” [Nasirean Ethics], dated 1235 AD; one of the most famous works of the Persian scholar, Khajeh Nassiredin Tusi. Its content mainly covers social and private ethics.
Another fascinating work is Mohammad ibn Mahmud Amoli’s “Nafaes-ol-fonun” , dated 1339 AD. It is one of the most known Persian scientific treatise that was used to train students.
Patment: It needs to be said that relations between Persia and Dagestan predates the Islamic era. Archaeological research and Sasanian-era inscriptions indicate the importance of Persian language in the region along with the impact of Persian culture on Dagestani culture.
Pejman: Past the emergence of Islam, Arabic dominated the region, however writing Persian manuscripts remained popular.
Patmet: Although Dagestani scholars were fluent in Arabic, they had more tendency toward Persian. They used Persian scientific books as refrences for compliting their studies. In addition, they issued scientific research and poetry in Persian. They even used to translate Persian literary and scientific works into their local languages.
Pejman: One of such works is a Persian-Arabic-Turkish dictionary. It was compiled in the late 18th-century by Dabir Ghazi Khunzakhi in Dagestan. In front of each Persian word, its Turkish translation and also a description in Arabic is mentioned. Occasionally a poem using that word is mentioned as well; mostly works of Hafez. Cataloging the manuscripts is currently in process at Dagestan Scientific Centre.
Patmet: We are going to publish a three-volume catalogue of the Persian manuscripts, lithographic books and royal orders. Inshallah!
Pejman: Some of the manuscripts were badly damaged prior to reaching the library, however Dagestan Scientific Centre is going to save what has survived through digitalizing them.
