Persian Classical Music Concert at Stanford
siliconindia News Bureau
Monday, February 14, 2000
By Arati Misro
Last Saturday, the 12th, music lovers regaled to the sounds of Persian classical music at the Kresge Auditorium in Stanford University. Kayhan Kalhor, rated a master of the kamancheh, performed with Ardavan Kamkar on the Persian santur and Ziya Tabassian on the tombak, a percussion instrument. Kalhor, who lives in New York and his native Iran, has performed with Zakir Hussain and Shujaat Khan. He has also recorded music with Khan and is to perform with him next month. Kamkar lives in Iran and Tabassian was visiting from Canada.
The unique hymns and vibrations of the santur and the kamancheh echoed with much intensity. The Persian santur is a trapezoid-shaped box-like instrument, which is tapped or hit with wooden hammers. It has traveled throughout the world and reached India where it gave birth to an Indian version, which is both similar and different to the Persian santur in technique and sound. The kamancheh carries a sad, melonchanic mood that has subtle nuances of the sarangi, the stringed instrument traditionally played in Rajasthan.
Kalhor has been playing since the age of seven. The main difference between Indian and Persian classical music is in the fact that Persian music carries much more meaning with the aesthetic of sound and tones, Kalhor opined. Persian music is meant to be melodic rather than rhythmic, and the rhythmic beat is usually related to Persian poetry. It is also common to perform as a soloist rather than as an accompaniment with another instrument.
In Persian classical music, accompaniment serves as an echo or as a call-in response. Improvisation is done as well. Kalhor and Kamkar both presented solos before their group performance in the second half of the concert. Persian music is deeply influenced by great poets such as Rumi, Hafez and Khayyam, who were in turn influenced by Sufism, a mystical Islamic movement.
In comparison to Indian classical music, the style does not just emphasize sound but rhythmic cycles, the backbone of any piece along with improvisation and accompaniment. It can be argued that North Indian classical vocal stresses tone, pitch and dramatic shifts in music scales but its instrumental music emphasizes speed, timing and communication, among other qualities.