The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (I)

Researcher:
Mohammad Tarighat
Translator:
Fatemeh Alimohammadi

Introduction
Today, percussion instruments have such a high place in music that are an essential element of orchestras. This has attracted many people to this type of instrument with roots as old as the first humans. A historical study of music, shows that humans used the sound of these instruments to defend themselves against wild animals and, over time, for alerting each other, signaling their readiness and encouraging people for war, ritual ceremonies, dances, etc. in a manner that is still clearly visible in music and some ritual ceremonies.
“Daf” is a percussion instrument with a long history used in different cities of Iran and even its neighbors in different manners. This instrument is also commonly known as circular instruments1 (with a rim). This is one of the most widely used instruments in human history due to its simplicity of making and playing. Daf and Daf playing are highly valued and respected in Iran’s “Kurdistan” province so that playing the instrument includes its specific etiquettes and rituals.
Nowadays, different factors have changed Daf and Daf playing. These changes have created various performance and training methods, but some were destructive to the Daf structure in a manner that mass Daf production has turned this art into an industry that not only affects the Daf sound, but also irreversibly damages the musicians’ hand joints. Therefore, this study will analyze the Kurdistan Daf’s structure by proposing this central question: What are the components of the Kurdistan Daf? It also introduces a design for this instrument that inflicts the least possible damage to the musicians’ hand joints. This study has a practical goal and uses the descriptive-analytical method. It gathers information using library and field research (interviews with instrument manufacturers).

The History of Daf
Circles are one of the essential symbolic shapes among ancient civilizations. The circle is a universal symbol for wholeness, totality, symmetry, perfection, infinity, eternity, not being limited to one place, and the most natural shape, which makes it divine. It is a complete shape with equal and similar components alongside an unlimited number of radiuses from the same core (Pahlavan, 2013: 26-27).
Emad Tohidi expresses the following in his “Daf Playing Method”:
“The historical monuments in Shush from the 27th century BC include one of the earliest references to minstrels. Also, a carved bronze cup from Lorestan shows the Daf, Chang 2, and Ney instruments in religious or court ceremonies (Museum of Ancient Iran). The embossed carvings from the “Ashur-Banipal” parlance (The first millennium BC) in the British Museum depict Babylonian musicians some of whom are holding a Daf. Other prominent stone carvings and paintings from early historic eras show different musical instruments such as the Daf in the Ilami (Farah)

1. Frame drum
2. Harp
embossed carvings of the Elamite era being the oldest. This carving shows priests during a sacrifice ritual holding instruments such as Dafs and Changs” (Tohidi, 1996: 32).
A brief look at history shows that the Daf dates back to 7000 years, originating from Mesopotamia and Kurdish regions. Historical evidence also shows Arabs have played the Daf for at least 2000 years; therefore, the Daf might be gifted from Kurds to Arabs in the cultural exchange process (Ahmadi, 2017: 10-11).
Keyvan Pahlavan says about this: “the Daf is an instrument from the Eastern Asia, which includes Tehran and the Arabian Peninsula, and remained only in North Saudi Arabia due to the special historical and social conditions of this Peninsula (there were no dealings with them and they remained unchanged for years) and entered Iranian court before Islam and entered the land in a general and popular way after the Islam religion and the Arabs from the Hirah region, used to export Iranian cultural manifestations to Saudi Arabian and import things from Arabia to Iran” (Pahlavan, 2013: 59).

Post a Comment

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

Five Major Myths About Mozart’s Life

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the renowned Austrian composer, is undoubtedly one of the greatest geniuses in the history of classical music. However, his life is surrounded by numerous myths and legends, some of which are not based on facts. This article explores five of the most common misconceptions about Mozart’s life.

Bahma Rajabi Passed Away!

Bahman Rajabi, the renowned tonbak (Persian goblet drum) player and educator, passed away at his home at the age of 86 due to a heart condition. He was the founder of a distinctive school of tonbak playing, and his teaching methods have been widely used by instructors of the instrument for decades..

From Past Days…

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.

Interview with the Makers of the New Qeychak (II)

Regarding the classification of a new instrument in an instrument family, one can point to a number of fundamental issues, one of the most obvious of which is the instrument’s visual features. If we look at how the new instrument has changed compared to its historical versions, the set of visual elements that link the instrument to the Qeychak family becomes apparent. But other characteristics such as the geometric dimensions of the instrument, characteristics of the instrument’s various parts and how they relate to each other, its systematic performance, its sound range (compared to modern versions), the material and color of the sound, the way it is played and the like, can be considered in order to classify the instrument in the Qeychak family.

Gholam Reza Khan Minbashian: a pioneer in Iranian music (II)

Gholamreza Khan Minbashian taught courses such as organology, orchestration of military music and harmony based on the books which were translated from French into Persian with the help of Aliakbar Mozayyan-o-Dolleh (1846-1932).

History’s Impact on Evaluating a Work of Art

With this description, we have automatically included a criterion called “History”, Until we know the time of the creation of a work of art, we cannot judge whether it has been easy to create or not. Suppose that, in a historical study, we find a musical work that is similar in compositional techniques (including form, melody, context, and orchestration) to a minor work of the nineteenth century; however, our research proves that, this work dates back to 200 years prior to that date. Can we still consider this work insignificant? Definitely not! So this is where the first use of history-based judgment comes into play.

A few steps on the “Road to Bach”

The world of music has unparalleled respect for Bach. Bach is considered the spiritual father of classical music; Bach’s great position is due not only to his great achievements in the fields of harmony, counterpoint, and compositional sciences but also to his respect for and adherence to the artistic principles of classical music. In the history of classical music, it is recorded that Bach walked about fifty kilometers to listen to the music played by the great German organist Dieterich Buxtehude, and this is the path that every idealistic classical music student should walk.

Polyphony in Iranian Music (I)

Despite the fact that Iranian folk music (regional music of Iran), like the Radif of Iranian traditional music, is monophonic and follows heterophony in principal, we experience polyphonic forms, albeit, majorly unconscious.

Leading the Charge in Censorship

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)

Homayoun Rahimian & Iran’s National Orchestra

The Roudaki Foundation presented the permanent conductor of the National Orchestra (Orchestr Melli), Homayoun Rahimian, in a ceremony, and finally, after four years, the national orchestra found a permanent conductor. Homayoun Rahimian is the fourth permanent conductor of this orchestra after Farhad Fakhreddini, Bardia Kiaras, and Fereidoun Shahbaziyan. He, who has previously had experience of conducting concerts besides being Meister’s concert of this orchestra, performed the concert “Autumns” on the 20th of Tir, performing works by Rouhollah Khaleqi, Javad Ma’roufi, and Hossein Dehlavi.

“Symphonic Poems from Persia” Released in Germany

While the name “Persia” (Western historical name of Iran) has attracted tens of thousands of people from around the world to London’s British Museum to visit ancient Persian artifacts, the Nuremberg-based music company, Colosseum, invites Europeans to listen to eight masterpieces of Persian symphonic music.

Iranian Fallacies – School of Vaziri

Iranian Fallacies – School of Vaziri

The term “School of Vaziri” is often used in writings on Iranian music, but the exact meaning of the term is not clear; some of the authors have used the term to only refer to the group of Vaziri’s students, including a large group of his conservatory students and his Tar students such as Abolhassan Saba, Rouhollah Khaleghi, Ahmad Foroutan Rad, Hossein Sanjari, Heshmat Sanjari and others. But can we consider all Vaziri’s students as followers of his school of thought? This is definitely a mistake, because we know that some of Vaziri’s students have chosen a completely different path than that of Vaziri.