Touraj Kiaras and Persian Classical Music: An Analytical Perspective (Soas Musicology Series) [Hardcover]

Owen Wright (Author)

Book Description

Series: Soas Musicology Series | Publication Date: August 28, 2009

In this book, Owen Wright analyses a single recording of classical Persian music made by Touraj Kiaras, a distinguished singer, accompanied by four noted instrumentalists. The format of the recording is typical of a public concert performance, and thus includes instrumental compositions as well as a central exploration of vocal repertoire and technique. The analysis identifies salient structural features, whether of the individual components or of the whole, in a way accessible to the western reader, but it also takes account of the analytical metalanguage used in Persian scholarship, and includes consideration of the relationship between music and poetry. It is important to note that it is also guided by the perceptions of the performer, whose input and responses to questions have significantly influenced the enterprise. To avoid the dryly impersonal, the analysis is also framed by an introduction which combines a biographical sketch of Touraj Kiaras with a survey of the 20th-century evolution of Persian classical music and of the position of the vocal repertoire within it, and by an epilogue which examines further the ideological basis of prevalent attitudes to music, and seeks to explore the validity of the analytical enterprise within this context.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Owen Wright is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Music at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 166 pages
• Publisher: Ashgate; Har/Com edition (August 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754663280
• ISBN-13: 978-0754663287
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,029,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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