SCHUBERTIADE: Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Bahar Royaee
This week in our Schubertiade feature, composers Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Bahar Royaee share musical selections from brilliant Iranian women musicians.
For our Schubertiade contribution, we decided to select a few contemporary Iranian international artists, each with a unique individual vocal technique that is rooted in our Classical and Folk Music, and have grounded our discussion of their work with a brief historical introduction. As women in this particular field, as vocalists, they all share a particular endeavor: The Freedom to Sing without facing consequences. Sadly, this movement has yet to fulfill its mission, despite a struggle that dates to the very first days of its inception.
Historical Musicians
To provide an aural and historical background to the contemporary musicians you will hear, we turn to the very first documented events in this historical movement.
Moluk Żarrābi - “Morgh-e Sahar” (The Bird of Dawn) - 1906
Starting in the beginning of the twentieth century, music in Iran took on a revolutionary and political role: music became a means of expressing popular resistance and pain. “Morgh-e Sahar” is one of the first Iranian protest songs of this period, and was first performed in 1307 (1927 AH/1927 C.E.).
What is important to me in this context is the presence of a woman who immortalized this song on the phonograph record. This indelible document proved to be one that would last for generations to come, passed from house to house in domestic acts of resistance. Even after it was banned by the government of the time (Reza Shah Pahlavi), the song was passed onto the next generations, so much so that today every young Iranian whispers it.
Moluk Faršforuš Kāšāni (1910-1999), nicknamed “Żarrābi” (due to her high mastery of percussion, or tonbak), was an Iranian female singer and actress. Her initial desire to sing led to discontent even in her musical family, as was common for almost every talented girl in her time. Despite all these difficulties, we know that Moluk began singing in social gatherings in 1923 in Kašan at the age of 13. She was a student of the great masters of Persian Classical music.
Here, you hear the first recording of Iran's first protest song with Moluk's voice. The song is in Mâhür, which modulates to Shür (two of seven modal systems of Persian Classical music).
Bird Of Dawn
Poet: Mohammad Taghi Bahâr
20th Century
Start moaning, oh Bird of Dawn,
And renew my sorrow
Heave a long-suffering sigh and break open your cage
Oh, the caged bird, get out of the cage
And start singing for the freedom of mankind
Give life and thrill to this deathly soil
The cruelty of a cruel one and the animosity of the hunter
Destroyed my nest
Oh Lord and the universe,
Shed light on our dark night
It is Spring, flowers are appearing
My eyes are blurred with tears
This cage is dark and gloomy like my heart
Oh, sparkling, fiery sigh, make this dark cage aglow
Oh, destiny, do not push me towards death,
Take side with the lover more than this, my dear
Oh, the bird of Dawn, talk less of parting
Qamar al-Muluk Vaziri - “Avaz Afshari” and “Avaz Dashti” - 1924
Qamar al-Muluk Vaziri, nicknamed Qamar (moon), is known as the queen of Iranian music. During her lifetime, she was famous for her crafted vocal techniques and deep knowledge of the Iranian radif (the vast orally transmitted repertoire of Iranian music). She was the granddaughter of a woman who sang “Rowze” (Soaze) at the Qajar Shah's shrine, Nasser al-Din Shah, and it was there, in those ceremonies, that Qamar became interested in singing.
Qamar first performed at the age of nineteen and was the first woman to sing publicly in Iran without a hijab (veil). Undoubtedly, she is one of the most important pillars of Iran's music, and she was also able to pave the way for singers of her generation, such as Moluk Żarrābi, as well as future generations by creating social change with her singing career.
In the first video, which is the only surviving video recording of Moon, you hear her improvising. Improvisation in Iranian music is like composing in the moment, within the historical context of melodies collected from different parts of Iran. This piece is in Avaz Afshari (another one of the seven Iranian musical modes). In this and in the second video, “Avaz Dashti,” Qamar employs the high Moon vocal technique, which can be considered her legacy that was passed down to generations to come.
Moluk Âghuz (Afat) - “Baba Karam”
Moluk Âghuz, known as “Afat,” along with “Mahvash” and “Shabpar” were some of the most well-known singers of the genre of mardomi or ru-howzi music. Afat was famous as the “nightingale of sounds” and was loved among his fans as the “People’s singer” (khanandeh-ye mardomi).
Mardomi/ru-howzi music is a historical genre of Iran’s urban popular music, but because it is perceived as vulgar, it is rarely touched upon in the scholarship of Iranian music. The texts of mardomi/ru-howzi music carry information about many aspects of Iranian society, including attitudes toward gender, sexuality, and social relationships. As Anthony Shay writes in his article “The 6/8 Beat Goes On,” “Mardomi/ru-howzi music, through its satirical, earthy lyrics, represented a subversive genre discomfiting to the burgeoning middle classes of pre-1979 Iran and represented for many of them a backward expression of traditional life.”
This genre has been massively undermined in comparison with Persian Classical Music. Nevertheless, it is one of the most authentic musical genres of Iran, and the artists of this genre have preserved a lot of information about society in their music. This genre demands interaction between the audience and the artist, in which the audience usually answers the questions of the singer with a “Yes?”, “ Who said it?”, and so on. Afat’s performance of “Baba Karam” contains improvisations in words and, like “Morghe Sahar,” has been passed down over generations as a legacy of Iranian music in 6/8 meter that is intended for popular dances.
Please click through to listen to this selection in a separate window.
Baba Karam
Attributed to Hossein Hamedanian, with free word improvisation by singers
20th Century
No matter how hard you play to get,
You are still my love,
No matter how coquettish you are,
you are still my love,
How sympathetic you are?
Baba Karam, I love you
Baba Karam, I love you
Alas that I was trapped and did not know it
And because of this thrill, I feel wretched
Baba Karam! I love you
No matter how cute you are
You are my comforter again
No matter how much you flirt
Come on
You are sad again
Baba Karam, I love
Baba Karam, I love
Alas, I was caught unknowingly
Oh, I was caught unknowingly
First, I was humiliated by your love and happiness
You, Baba Karam!
I love, Baba Karam
Contemporary Musicians
Sepideh Raissadat - “Ze Farvardin”
Sepideh Raissadat is a composer, ethnomusicologist, and vocalist with a deep grasp of radif. She has thoroughly researched the music of 16th-18th century Iran, which influences her arrangements and improvisations in live performances.
The legacy of Ghamar al moluk Vaziri is translated and revealed in Sepideh’s pleasant and sweet tahrirs (highly ornamented musical gestures), and in her variable repetitions of ornamentations between her Avaz (solo vocal improvisation that is relatively free in time) and her instrumental playing. I sometimes listen to this performance as if I am listening to the periphery of two states: a heritage in the past and a blossom of the present time.
From Farvardin (April)
Poet: Mohammad Taghi Bahâr
The grass blossomed in April
Flowers got water and blossomed
Within beautiful plains and meadows
Where are you, my sweet flower?
Spring has come with flowers and lavender
The nightingale cried out in the wilderness
The nightingale's heart is fragile, my flower!
Don’t Break his heart with persecution
Spring has a canopy of flowers
And it’s unfortunate that it will lead to fall.
Solmaz Badri - Avaz Deylaman
This Deylaman Avaz from dashti (a specific collection of notes in the scale of Shour, similar to a minor scale except for one interval that is not in 12-tone tuning) is a prominent melodic line, historically rooted in the northern region of Iran, that is adapted by many different vocalists for different poems.
In this rendition by Solmaz Badri, she masterfully makes it uniquely hers by subtle ornamentation, tahrirs, and slides. I always appreciated Solmaz’s vocal technique in avoiding extreme exaggeration on the tahrirs, creating a truly unique and natural intricate form that flows from one phrase to the other.
Avaz Deylaman
Based on a Ghazal by Hafez (14th century)
She stole my heart and now she avoids me,
For the sake of GOD tell me who has been treated this way.
The nights of despair and loneliness were killing me,
But I was saved only by dreaming of the infinite grace of her images.
Oh wind of Saba (who brings the ode of the love)
If you have a remedy for me, now is the time,
Because the pain of longing to see her has taken over my life and is annihilating me.
Donya Kamali - Shirin Shamame
“Shirin Shamame” Tasnif is an old melody that has originated from Kermanshah and has fused with our Iranian identity over the years. The lyrics are based on universal themes of love, sorrow, and injustice.
A rising star among the Iranian vocalists and a prominent Tanbur player, Donya Kamali is a strong advocate for Kurdish music. I truly wish that there were more recordings of this amazing musician available worldwide, but this newly-released, homemade video is unique in its presentation, and Donya’s references to the current political and social crises adds an extra edge of immediacy.
Please click through to listen to this selection in a separate window.
Shirin Shamame
Kurdish Folksong
The sorrows of the nights has put me in misery, my dear
I've become helpless with the heart, and content to death hawar*
My dear sweetheart, my enchanting
When I don't see you for a moment, sleep is forbidden for me
The ways of charm are perfect in you
Oh justice! Nobody is appearing my dear
Nobody is aware of anybody's pain my dear
My dear sweetheart, my enchanting,
When I don't see you for a moment, sleep is forbidden to me
The ways of charm are perfect in you
I am from Kermanshah, my lover from cities in Iran
I fell in love, I have no fault hawar
My dear sweetheart, my enchanting,
When I don't see you for a moment, sleep is forbidden to me
The ways of charm are perfect in you
*hawar = an expression of exhaustion due to injustice
Sepideh Vahidi - “Yeki Boud ke Mikhound”
Sepideh Vahidi is a contemporary singer-songwriter, currently based in the United States, who often does cross-genre collaborations.
Her music is reminiscent of a past that she has left in Iran:
“Both in her vocals and her art, she folds and unfolds, twists and turns notes to express the happiness, pain, love, grief, hope, nostalgia, and memories that haunt her in life.”
“Yeki Boud ke Mikhound”, which literally translates “there was someone who was singing,” is a collaboration between Sepideh and prominent guitar player Pouya Mahmoudi. It is a combination of northeastern Iranian folk music (Khorasani music) with a pop-up arrangement.
Someone was still singing
Tâimaz Afsari
20th Century
It was windy and stormy,
Someone was still singing
The earth, depressed and old
The lion, moaning in the desert
A monster in the mountains
All men are in chains
Someone was still singing
Where in this story, father disappeared?
My distressed mom’s disheveled hair turned white
Someone was still singing
The light snow turned to a blizzard
Venus has a flickering light
Mournful voice of mother
Full of slow and quiet lullabies
Where in the story, father disappeared?
My distressed mom’s disheveled hair turned white
Someone was still singing
Golnar Shahyar - “Maman Djan”
Golnar is a prominent singer, songwriter, performer, composer, music activist, and educator who is currently based in Vienna. She is unique in her fusion of Iranian folk materials with Jazz, pop, and contemporary elements. All of the components of this piece are free-spirited like Golnar herself, from the lyrics to the different musical corners that it takes us, while still remaining rooted in the main motif.
The piece is inspired by Golnar’s own grandmother, and she has dedicated the piece to all mothers and grandmothers that stand strong in the face of all difficulties in pursuit of their dreams (balatarin). Specifically for this reason, I see this piece as a contemporary Lullaby for my generation, but instead of our mothers singing to us, we are singing to them in awe and appreciation.
Maman Djan ( Dear Mom)
Golnar Shayar
21st Century
Rain is dripping down the porch
Slowly the sun is rising
My lovely mom is getting ready for prayers
In her lonely time, she is thinking about her daughters or sons
Whatever poems in her notebook are mostly due to the loss of Mahmood,
Do you remember one day near a river
We made a boat by our hands
Do you remember with your honesty in your lullabies?
We made wings to fly
My dear mom, your hands in the photo frame
Is the reflection of how difficult your life is
Your smile is like the sun covered by clouds, it is consistent
Aida Shahghasemi - “Beman”
Aida Shahghasemi is a well-known singer-songwriter/performer who is currently based in Minneapolis. She is also very active in researching the intersection of politics, arts, and activism, and “studied psychology and anthropology at University of Minnesota with a focus on cultural aspects of Persian Classical Music and the restrictions imposed on the voices of Iranian female vocalists.” [2]
Aida incorporates the most basic piano arpeggiations in this song that combined with her free-flowing melodic lines, transcending the bar lines and beats, becomes a novel integration of Persian Classical music into a songlike form.
Stay
Aida Shahghasemi
If I close my eyes and have no sight of your visage,
It is impossible that I forget your love
Stay…. Stay!
Because my existence depends on your kindness and tenderness,
And choosing to stay is the best choice that you can make.
November 27, 2020
