Prominent Iranian Musicologist Passes Away in Vienna

Translated by Mahboube Khalvati
Khosrow Djafarzadeh, musicologist and architect, who was also one of the main authors of HarmonyTalk journal passed away on 15 July 2019.
Born in 1941 in Hamedan, Iran, Djafarzadeh finished his secondary studies in Iran and moved to Vienna, Austria to study architecture. Even though he learnt to play violin at the age of 12, in Europe he devoted himself to architecture and the study of Europe’s history, culture and civilization.
One of his early writings entitled “experimental theatre in Vienna’s house of artists” which concentrated on the European culture and civilization was published in 1975. In the same year, the Iranian musician, Houshang Zarif visited Vienna to introduce the Iranian music to Europeans when Djafarzadeh obtain the opportunity to meet Zarif. Seizing this opportunity, Djafarzadeh managed to learn to play Tar under the supervision of one of the most virtuoso Iranian Tar players. Meanwhile he felt the urge to study about Iran’s history and culture concentrating on music history.
Amidst these developments one cannot ignore the role his wife, Professor Forough Karimi from Vienna Academy of Fine Arts played.
At the same time, Djafarzadeh established the Society of Iranian Artists in Vienna and published a quarterly entitled “Vienna’s souvenir” (Rahavard Vien) and staged musical performances with different ensembles including Shiraz Ensemble. Society of Iranian Artists in Vienna organized a variety of cultural and artistic programs for Iranian artists, and these activities led Jafarzadeh became familiar with musicians including Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Hossein Alizadeh, Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Shahram Nazeri, Parviz Meshkatian, Dariush Talaie, Aliakbar Shekarchi, Kayhan Kalhor and Arshad Tahmasebi.
Djafarzadeh’s main academic and educational background was in architecture, and music had always been his second favorite field, though today the value of his work in music is no less than the value of his architectural pursuits. For the past several years, Djafarzadeh had been working on “vulgarity” in the scientific discourse of Iranian music. He argues that the lack of a scientific language in the discourse of the Iranian music has been the main reason behind lack of consensus among theorists of the field and the inefficiency of conventional theories of the Iranian music.
In 2019, the second edition of Djafarzadeh’s first book “Iranian-music”-ology was published by Art of Music publication. The research consists of three chapters namely “systems of sounds in music”, “metre and rhythm in the Iranian music” and “performance of the Iranian music” which feature interesting and original research on the Iranian music. In “systems of sounds in music”, Djafarzadeh proposes a new approach for theorizing Iranian music by analyzing modal “gousheh”s in Radif instead of introducing all the goushehs in the Iranian Radif.

Djafarzadeh goes even further than the current established Iranian modes available in the radif and introduces “combined mughams” (modes) introduces new modes by bringing various examples of combination of different modes of folk music, Iranian music and even Turkish and Arabic music.

Post a Comment

Required fields are marked *
*
*
Your email is never shared.

Nasser Masoudi: The Voice of Gilan and a Legacy of Iranian Music

In Iranian music, certain singers have become emblematic of their homelands through their distinctive voices. Historical figures such as Eghbal Sultan, who epitomized the grandeur of Azerbaijani music, and Taj Isfahani, who conveyed the authentic essence of Isfahan, serve as notable examples from the Qajar era. Nasser Masoudi occupies a similar position; his voice emerged as a symbol of Gilan while also achieving national acclaim. Before him, Master Ahmad Ashurpur represented Gilan’s musical landscape, but his extended residence outside Iran limited his continuous engagement in the music scene. In contrast, Masoudi’s consistent presence allowed him to introduce the voice of Gilan to audiences across Iran.

Farhad Poupel: The Voice of the Shahnameh in the Orchestras Around the World

In an era when almost no trace of contemporary Iranian music can be heard in international concert halls, except (so-called!) avant-garde works that owe their existence solely to the fashionable slogans of the “pseudo-intellectual” crowd who have seized the already meager resources for performing classical music from the true artists of the field, the numerous performances of Farhad Poupel’s works shine as a ray of hope for lovers of sincere musical art. Without resorting to trendy slogans, he has kept the flame of Iranian classical music alive purely through the power of his artistry.

From Past Days…

Principles of Violin Playing (IX)

4.3.1. To practice playing of doubles of notes involving two different fingers, each note is played at separate bows with slow tempo, each note is played perfectly regarding its bass and tenor sounds and then the considered double is played at another bow while considering the resulted sound of the double.

Farshad Sanjari, Forgotten Iranian Conductor Met His Tragic End

Farshad Sanjari, one of the most renowned Iranian conductors in the 1970s in Iran died after fire broke in his apartment in Vienna on November 22, 2019. Farshad Sanjari was not involved in politics; however, he was one of the victims of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, his name was never seen as the conductor of any programmes.

Payam Taghadossi: Talented Iranian-Austrian Cellist

Payam Taghadossi (born in 1989) started his musical education at the age of 4 years with Monika Scherbaum in Bregenz (Austria). At the Conservatory Feldkirch he joined the class of Imke Frank and Martin Merker. Later he studied in Zurich (Switzerland) with Thomas Grossenbacher and Christian Proske, where he 2011 graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance. Two years later as the student of Rafael Rosenfeld he received his Master of Arts in Music Performance diploma and later graduated as a Master of Arts in spezialized Music Performance in 2016 from the Hochschule für Musik Basel FHNW.

Polyphony in Iranian Music (VI)

Torqeh or jal is the same bird (Bimaculated lark) and is the name of a muqam which is well-known in Torbate Jam and those areas. Jal muqam is called Torqeh in Esfarayen and Bojnourd. This muqam which was used to be played by Bakhshis/Bagşies (dutar-players) in the past is seldom performed today.

Principles of Violin Playing (X)

Creating sound continuity between two notes in the source and destination positions when left hand position changes and “two different finger numbers” are involved is called portamento. Portamento can be performed on single string or two neighboring strings and with hand moving on fingerboard either upward or downward.

Iranian Fallacies – Composition and Arrangement

In the tradition of classical music, it is generally tried to use the same technical terms related to music in all countries. Even in the cultures in which native terms exist to refer to musical terms, usually the better known universal terms are employed.

Ennio Morricone’s music for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight

After watching Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie, The Hateful Eight, everyone was excited by its novel music besides the beautiful scenes of blood and guts.
The Hateful Eight is the first collaboration between the world-famous film music composer, Ennio Morricone, and Quentin Tarantino as a famous director.

Transition to Enlightenment: Six Lectures on Mozart’s String Quartets (3)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a musical prodigy of the Classical era, was deeply influenced by the intellectual currents of the Enlightenment. His exposure to Enlightenment ideas was multifaceted, shaped not only by the cultural milieu of his time but also by the relationships within his family and his own interactions with prominent figures of the Enlightenment. This exploration will delve into Mozart’s acquaintance with Enlightenment ideas through his father’s relationships and his own encounters with influential personalities of the era, including Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, Baron Melchior Grimm, Madame d’Epinay, and Joseph von Sonnenfels. Additionally, the essay will examine the impact of Joseph II’s reforms on Mozart’s life and artistic endeavors.

A note on “Illusion or Ingenuity” article

The author of the “Illusion or Ingenuity” article, who is apprehensive of the future of the Music in Iran, enumerates some symptoms of the music weakening in the country for example decreasing in the quality of the music as well as lack of the innovation in creating them, a gradual decline in the music public taste and the drop in the application of layered sound and polyphony in music. He explains that one reason for this gradual weakening might be our unawareness of the fact that we are not so intelligent nation. He believes that we, Iranians, have a comprehensive “Illusion of the high national intelligence “that make us ignorant of the unfavorable realities of our music and consequently no searching for the remedy is taking place. His point of view brings to the mind a patient who thinks he is healthy, therefore delays the treatment and finally is killed by the disease. The author also refers to the national difficulties which gradually will lower the national intelligence score such as the increased rate of the immigration and brain drain, low quality of the nutrition, incompetence of the education system and etc and predicts that the condition of the music of Iran might deteriorate in the future because of the mentioned illusion of its great status.

Davoud Pirnia (1900 - 1971)

About Davoud Pirnia, the founder of “Golha” radio program

Davoud Pirnia, writer and musicologist was the founder of “Golha” (Flowers of Persian Song and Music) programs on Tehran Radio (1956-1966). He received his early education from his father, Hassan Pirnia (Moshir al-Douleh), and several tutors of the time (Taraghi, interview, July 1989) and continued his studies at Saint Louis School in Tehran and then in Switzerland and graduated in law. While studying law, Pirnia got acquainted with European classical music. Upon returning to Iran, he was employed by the Ministry of Justice and founded the Lawyers’ Guild. Then he was transferred to the Ministry of Finance and established the Department of Statistics in this ministry. Later, he became the head of the state inspection office at the Prime Ministry; he was, then, promoted to the position of the Deputy Prime Minister (Navab Safa, interview, August 1999)