Music is a cultural expression reflecting national feelings, social moods, and state of mind. These elements are inevitably tied to a nation’s values, historical experiences, and politico-social conditions. In Iran, music and poetry are very closely linked, both in form and in structure. There is a close relationship between the rhythmic patterns in poetry and music, each serving as a basis for the other. Classical Persian music was based on the memorization of melodic segments linked by kinship to the poetry. Persian music is an ancient art utilizing numerous instruments, established vocal styles, and rich musical traditions—traditions that have been passed down for thousands of years in the region and are recognized and cherished by the inhabitants as a part of their cultural identity. It is a skilled, expressive, and emotional art with beautiful mystic and oriental melodies in which the vocalists and instrumentalists perform with intense passion. Persian music is based on original and natural recognition of consonances in musical intervals. Inner melodies in lyrics are often combined with musicians’ own emotions to produce a mesmerizing fl ow through traditional musical instruments. While it is easy to identify Persian music and its constituent elements today, it is very hard to identify one or more stable musical forms performed and preferred by everyone who has lived in historical times in various parts of the Iranian plateau. One can more comfortably talk about a distinct music as Iranian up until the Abbasid period. However, with the political decentralization after this period, Iranian music became localized by cultural and communal entities which emerged in the Iranian plateau. The many cultures and people who have been exposed to Persian music have influenced it in some way. Some of these contacts have enriched Persian music, some have limited its scope, and some have generated alternatives and competition to it. As one of the more notable cultural centers of the Middle East, Iranian music has both influenced and been influenced by musical traditions of countries in the region as well, especially Iraq, Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon. What has remained constant is a strong tradition of maintaining continuity and perfecting those diverse traditions.
