Ehsan Saboohi

About Nik Masoo's Trilogy (Radif of Iranian Music by Nik Masoo Volumes 1 - 3)

28 Aug 2024 Artikel
The most commonly cited repertoire of Iranian traditional music is 'Radif,' an old classical system with a robust structure.   Let us now turn to the discourse principles of Post-Orientalism.   Basic Concepts of Post-Orientalism Discourse

In the second roadmap of the Post-Orientalism Association, several important objectives have been outlined, which we should briefly familiarize ourselves with first.


Post-Orientalism’s Second Statement


Considering the history of mankind, we must assert, in all honesty, that an infinite number of uncounted cultural sound blocks exist among which are melodies that have never been heard.


Taking account of the multiplicity of all personal methods and colorful styles, Post-Orientalism Project No. IV invites all composers to join us in hearing, thinking, and freely using the raw materials of the sound blocks of humanity to create independent music albums.


Introduction


Post-Orientalism’s 4th interactive project will begin on May 31, 2024 by introducing two collections: Kamānche' solos by Niloofar Shahbazi and Setâr solos by Mohammad Javad Ahmadzadeh. Next, the roadmap of the 'Santur' and after that other cultural sound blocks such as Muqams of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Egypt, … will be published by Post-Orientalism Publishing.


About the Album


The most commonly cited repertoire of Iranian traditional music is 'Radif,' an old classical system with a robust structure. 

Let us now turn to the discourse principles of Post-Orientalism. 


Basic Concepts of Post-Orientalism Discourse


'Radif',  or Music System: The collection of various compositional elements by any composer will be referred to as 'Radif' in this discourse. An example is Radif [composer].


'Dastgāh' or Set: a set is a collection of objects or groups of objects. These objects are often called the elements or members of a set. For example, groups of rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic patterns and their subsets or relative sets as well as musical tones, pure tones, noise, or any acoustic or electronic sound.


'gousheh' or melodic units: the intangible cultural sound blocks of humanity. This classification, which was temporarily placed into seven subgroups in the initial presentation, was hypothetical. Please remember that in the first and most straightforward presentation n equals 68 and we take n! as our point of departure.

Let us now examine the sets and objects of each.


The set order of the 'Setâr' collection is as follows:


Set A = {a0, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, a7}


Set B = {b0, b1, b2, b3}


Set C = {c0, c1, c2, c3}


Set D = {d0, d1, d2, d3, d4}


Set E = {e0, e1, e2, e3}


Set F = {f0, f1, f2, f3}


Set G = {g0, g1, g2, g3, g4, g5}


Set H = {h0, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5}


Set I = {i0, i1, i2, i3, i4, i5, i6}


Set J = {j0, j1, j2, j3, j4}


Set K = {k0, k1, k2, k3, k4, k5}


Set L= {l0, l1, l2, l3, l4, l5, l6, l7, l8}


About Nik Masoo’s Trilogy



1. As a first step, with overwhelming obsession, I have worked full-time for three months on the sets by fragmenting each set member and converting all of them into two- or three-note motifs.

2. In the second step, as a composer familiar with ancient Iranian and Eastern music, I pursued my theoretical and aesthetic concerns in this project. I should state clearly and frankly, though this statement might be unpalatable to Eastern fundamentalist musicians and Western ethnomusicologists, that the arraying system in the traditional Iranian music stem from a completely closed structure. Over the past two centuries, no one has raised any question or concern regarding this closed system. To many, there is actually no problematic issue. In my view, their ears have not gone through any mutations over the centuries. I should note that Edward Said, a prominent Oriental intellectual who spent most of his life in the United States, attributes this failure to pass from childhood to adulthood to the concept of colonialism. I disagree with him. I consider this state of ramining a child to be the result of two important factors:


a: Withholding social or collective responsibility

b: Collective fear


3. Thirdly, I explored all the possibilities of intersections and contrasts between and among  the two- and three-note motifs with respect to form; and attempted to compose new forms as opposed to fixed traditional systems.


4. At this point, I may have come close to "hyperrealist" thinking, because the Setar sound you hear in this trilogy doesn't really exist. It was not as if the Setar player played them. Each and every note, juxtaposed with other notes creates a new sound arrangement.


5. To the Eastern audience, as I know them, this work is very radical. It will not satisfy the feelings of the remaining child. He will not consider this music to be the true classical music of Iran and will probably launch an assault on it with a spirit of aggression.


6. Ethnomusicologists, especially some of the prejudiced German-French masters  who might be into superstition, mysticism, and wonderism, have become accustomed to putting all the "other" cultures in a matchbox and labeling everything as Persian music. Oh, how sensual and delicate is the Setar, the instrument of the undeveloped Oriental humans! I wish they were just as stupid when describing Richard Clayderman's performance of "Love Story" and Glenn Gould’s rendition of "The Art of Fugue". In this case, I agree with Edward Said. The racist and selfish spirit of a French-German makes a big difference between the two composers and musicians.


7. Let us be clear and straightforward. The present collection does not belong to the ancient or traditional music of Iran; it does not belong to Iranian contemporary music, either. Let’s label it correctly: “Post-orientalism”


8. In the first volume, I designed a structure similar to sonata in form;  in the second, close in form to a compound rondo, and in the third, similar to passacaglia–all this I precisely engineered, comparable to Bach’s and Anton Webern’s elaborate design of passacaglia. However, my sound materials are different from theirs. For this reason, I call it “post-orientalism”.


9. This is not a name appropriate to be used for the east, a child who is left in their childhood. This label is used to refer to scientific quests, complex structures and systems, and technology.


10. I admit that we have been left and fell behind. But it’s not a shame! With the help of critical reason, love, interaction with Western elites, and trust in science, we will one day find our way.


At the end, I wish to express my gratitude to the following artists without whose presence publication of this collection would not have been possible:


1. I am grateful to Mohammad Javad Ahmadzadeh for the trust he has placed in the Post-Orientalism Association and in me. Without doubt, any collective work is based on trust.


2. It was fortunate that Dr. Ali Balighi did me a favor and took responsibility for sound engineering in this project, taking care of mixing and mastering.


3. Translating the text from Persian to English rigorously with little ambiguity is a difficult task. I would like to thank Dr. Mohammad Reza Hashemi who helped me in translating the text as well as contributing to the discourse of post-orientalism over the years.


Ehsan Saboohi

August 26, 2024


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