Iranian Music

Music of Iran
A historical painting from Hasht Behesht palace, Isfahan, Iran, from 1669
General topics
Dastgah Radif Iranian musical instruments
Genres
Classical Folk Orchestra Jazz Pop Rock and alternative Hip hop Blues
Specific forms
Religious music	Zoroastrian music Sufism Tazieh
Traditional music	Persian traditional music
Regional music
Azerbaijani Bakhtiari Khorasani Southern Gilak Gazvini Kurdish Hamedani

Music of Iran (Persian:موسیقی در ایران) or Music of Persia, as evidenced by the archaeological records of the Fertile Crescent civilization of Elam, the most ancient culture in southwestern Iran, dates back thousands of years. There is a distinction between the science of Music, or Musicology, which, as a branch of mathematics has always been held in high regards in Persia/Iran; as opposed to music performance (Tarab, Navakhteh, Tasneef, Taraneh or more recently Muzik), which has had an uneasy and often acrimonious relationship with the religious authorities and, in times of religious revival, with the society as a whole.

In ancient Iran musicians held socially respectable positions. We know that the Elamites and the Achaemenid Empire certainly made use of musicians but we do not know what that music was like. During the Parthian era, troubadours or Gosans were highly sought after as entertainers. There are theories in Academia that perhaps the early Dari Poets of Eastern Iran like Roudaki were in fact Gosans.

The history of musical performance in Sassanid Iran is however better documented than earlier periods. This is especially more evident in the context of Zoroastrian ritual. By the time of Khosrau II the Sassanid royal court was the host of prominent musicians such as Ramtin, Bamshad, Nakisa, Azad, Sarkash, and Barbad. Among these survived names, Barbad is remembered in much documents and has been named as remarkably high skilled. He has been credited to have given an organization of musical system consisting of seven "Royal modes" named Xosrovani, thirty derived modes named lahn, and 360 melodies named dastan. These numbers are in accordance with Sassanid's calendar of number of days in a week, month, and year. The theories these modal systems were based on are not known, however the writers of later periods have left a list of these modes and melodies. These names include some of epic forms such as kin-e Iraj (lit. the Vengeance of Iraj), kin-e siavash (lit. the Vengeance of Siavash), and Taxt-e Ardashir (lit. the Throne of Ardashir) and some connected with the glories of Sassanid royal court such as Bagh-e shirin (lit the garden of Shirin), Bagh-e Shahryar (lit. the Sovereign's Garden), and haft Ganj (lit. the seven treasures). There are also some of a descriptive nature like roshan cheragh (lit. bright lights).