Yesterday, I was
listening to a choir CD of a concert that I was a part of, and I came across a
song that was my favorite. In that
choir, we sang many songs of different cultures. Most of the cultures were ones from Africa
and Europe, which are essentially popular in performance choirs. This particular song struck me because it was
from a culture that a Western ear does not normally adhere to: Persian. The song had a sound that I was not used to
hearing and left me wanting more, but I’ll explain more on that later.
I was also
listening to some classical music on YouTube the other day and came across two
composers that caught my ear. They are
Slavic composers that were famous in their abilities to create a dissonant, yet
complete sound, much like many other Slavic composers.
I decided to
find the distinct differences between these two cultures – Persian and Slavic. I’ve found that the use of chords in Persian
music differs greatly from the use of chords in classical Russian and Hungarian
music through its instrumentation. The
traditional music of the Persian style is that of telling a story or a journey
that has happened in the past, whereas the Slavic style of traditional music is
based more on an event that is happening at the moment, or even just a dance,
rather than a story.
Persian music
seems to focus more on the rhythm rather than the chords to send the message of
the song. This music uses its chords sparingly
to evoke a sound that focuses more on the soloist and the emotion behind the
song, so the instruments used do not have as bold and abrupt sound. Slavic music focuses more on the chords to
get the emotion across, and less on the rhythm because the “abnormal” chords to
the Western ear that Slavic uses were the primary concentration, so the
instruments must have a powerful and bright sound.
Since the
beginning of history in Iran (which was then called Persia) its music and
politics have always gone hand in hand. Throughout
the many Iranian dynasties, Arabic invasions, and Central Asian influences, the
laws of music have changed countless times.
Without going into a tangent into the extensive history of Iran’s social
power regarding music, it is most apparent that India has been said to be the
beginning of the chain of cultural ties to Iranian music. It has been recorded that between 421 and 438
A.D., the Persian king Bahram Gour requested his father-in-law, the Indian
monarch, to send 12,000 musicians to Iran so as to amuse his country with
Indian music. Since then, the music of
Iran had been heavily influenced with Indian musicality and soon Chinese and
Turkish idiosyncrasies as well. Certain
Chinese and Turkish instruments have acquired similar physical features as
Iranian instruments, and vice versa.
Along with that, the musical styles are also similar by the use of
monophony and modes in story-telling.
Chords:
There
are barely any uses of harmony in Persian music. This is because the main focus is the
rhythm. The amount of notes at one time
would distract from the message of the piece.
The chords that are used, however, are not typically the major, minor,
augmented, or diminished chords of the Western ear. They are commonly just a “jumble” or mix of
notes, or in simple empty fourths and fifths.
Rhythm:
In
general, most of traditional Persian music has no strict meter. This is because it is meant to be contrasting
the actual conversational speech of the language. The rhythmic structure is related to the
Persian poetic rhythms.
Style:
To begin, like other Central Asian music, all
Persian music follows a modal system.
Much, but not all, of the music is arguably monophonic. Most of the time, there is one melodic scheme
that is followed if there is an ensemble accompanying a soloist, and the
ensemble sometimes echoes and recapitulates each phrase that the artist
performs. The musical essence is “mystical
and contemplative” because it is meant to be related to the lyrical tradition
of the Persian literature. The melodies
are also targeted at a relatively narrow register. Concerts were the most common places to
perform music, though there also is much folk singing in Iran as well.
Careful instrumentation
is also imperative to Persian music. Certain
instruments give off a type of sound color that will help send the message of
the song without giving a wrong impression.
For example, the tar or barbat (Persian lutes) are used for the melody
many times because of the unique metallic color sound it gives off. The kamancheh (Persian fiddle) is also an
instrument that has the melody because of its distinct light and thin
sound. The tombak (goblet drum) is used
to give off the emphasis of what kind of emotion the song has based on how fast
or slow the artist plays it. All of the
instruments tend to play homorhythmically, with the percussion ornamenting its
rhythm to make the song more appealing. But
there are some cases where the percussion must improvise its rhythm. If there is voice accompanying it normally
has the melody, and is meant to be brought out against the other instruments.
One can see how instrumental and vocal Persian music works in these impressive pieces:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-KshDk27OA - San Francisco Girls Chorus (singing Songs of Hâfez)
In the Slavic world of music, it is
easily recognizable that the political standpoint of one’s own country plays a
great factor in the music. The
nationalist movements with many Slavic composers changed the way one identified
the cultural sound. Particularly in Russia,
the Soviet Union put restrictions on what composers can do with their
music. But soon certain composers broke
out into their own interpretations of what nationalist music should sound
like. Composers such as Béla Bartók of
Hungary and Dmitri Kabalevsky of Russia began to use more harsh chords and
complex rhythms in their music, which was not accustom to the Western ear.
Chords:
Unlike Persian music, Slavic
music uses a large amount of harmony in music.
This is because the use of notes is the predominant component of the
message. The use of major, minor,
augmented, and diminished chords is used in basically every composition, though
there are many incidents where the harmonies end up being just a clash of
notes, much like Persian music. That was
in itself a new breakout because it was technically untraditional for the
general Western ear. But this is meant
to give the listener an easy understanding of the emotion behind the piece.
Rhythm:
The rhythm in Slavic music does not play as much of a significant role as the harmony. Although it is always an important factor, the chords are used as the tool to send the emotion across, rather than the rhythm. There is also always a set, strict meter, unlike Persian music, such as 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, and 6/8.
Style:
The style of Slavic music tends to vary between certain countries. But the overall common style is that of the music telling the listener the emotion behind the composer because of some kind of event or dance, rather than a journey. It is not designed to give the reader a “mystical” feeling, but rather a realistic, down-to-earth emotion. The instruments worked in either a homophonic or polyphonic way with each other. The music was rarely monophonic. Concerts were mainly the sources of music performance.
The instrumentation in Slavic music
is quite imperative when it comes to the musical texture of a piece. Instruments in the Slavic musical world were
the same as the instruments in the rest of the classical European music. The typical string orchestra with brass and
percussion were commonly seen in Slavic music as well as European, and solo piano
compositions as well. Socially “acceptable”
instruments included the piano, the violin, the clarinet, the piccolo, the
trumpet, the timpani, and the bass. Each
instrument, aside from the piano, was found in orchestras and would normally have
the melody in a piece at some point in the score or another.
So let’s see this musical evidence
in these two solo piano pieces:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha3A-LN2HlA - Monique Haas - Bartok "Sonatine"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHEkcMKDnR8 - Kabalevsky Sonatina op.13 no.1 C major
After investigating all of these
distinct aspects of the Persian culture of music and the Slavic culture of music,
I think I have made it clear as to what the differences are between these two
profound styles of music:
Similarities:
These two cultures both have had strong political influences on their musical styles, without which may have changed the entire cultural sound. The location of the musical performances is also a common link between the two cultures – they both mainly perform in concerts.
Differences:
A predominant distinction between Persian music and Slavic music is the use of “empty” or disjunct chords vs. “full” major and minor chords. It is easy to see and hear the difference in that type of sound as well as the use of the harmonies. The rhythm is also a significant difference because Persian music does not use a strict meter, whereas Slavic music always has a specific beat to it. The texture ties these two differences in because without the definitive difference in instrumentation, the use of harmonies and rhythm would not be easy to recognize.
I hope this little investigation has
helped you understand how different two cultures of music can really be! You should try comparing your two favorite cultures
to each other – it may not be as easy or as challenging as you think!
- Pamela Keating
