Simultaneity of Music and Urban Space With an Emphasis on Mourning in Tehran (Qajar to the Pahlavi I)

Document Type : Research Article

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Abstract

It seems that the existence and survival of music in the city as an example of urban art is dependent on the interaction of three factors: artists, public space and citizens as the target audiences. This means that ignorance and deletion of one of them will change the whole nature of it and this not only will stop the desired affect and quality including the increased sense of identity and belonging to the city expecting from the presence of art in the urban space, but also will lead to some disturbances. By proposing this issue, the primary objective of this study has been to answer the following questions about the mourning music in Tehran at Qajar and Pahlavi’s urban space:
1) To what extent the survival of musical mourning is dependent on the urban art structure?
2) What qualities the mourning music has acquired in the urban space?
3) What effects the socio-cultural changes resulting from modernization have had on urban life of mourning music?
This research study based on the written and visual documentation, evaluates the mourning music in Tehran urban space during the above mentioned [historical period] in two groups of religious and non-religious mourning ceremony including "Passion-Play (Tazieh)","Weeping (Noha Khani), Handling the groups of mourners (Dasteh-Gardani)" and "Chest beating" (Sineh- Zani) and also the "funeral ceremony of government 's officials and courtiers" as a symbol of urban art; this study then concludes that in the Qajar era a bidirectional communication had been established between the public spaces such as squares, forecourt of the public buildings, Takaya and streets as a context of forming the interaction of citizen and the mourning performers with the performance of mourning music.
Therefore, by having the perfect combination of three mentioned components, the mourning music is considered as an urban art that takes its role properly in creating social space and aural identity and also giving quality to the public spaces; while after Constitutional Revolution (Enghelāb-e Mashrūteh) era with the arrival of westernization (Frankish) particularly under the influence of Pahlavi1's cultural policies and the appearance of outcomes like allocating the non-public spaces to perform the variety of music, the absence of conscious artists and the participation of active citizen , gradually this form of art has backed away from the original nature of an urban art and while losing its function lacks the identity as well.

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The Monthly Scientific Journal of Bagh-e Nazar
Volume 13, Issue 44 - Serial Number 44
Feb
February 2017
Pages 27-38

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