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Traditional Persian Art Music:
The Radif of Mirza Abdollah
Dariush Tala'i
Includes 5 CDs...
 (Now Palying)
Musical
Notation, Commentary, and Performance by
Dariush Tala'i
Translation of Musical Annotations from the Persian by Manoochehr Sadeghi
 In the mid-nineteenth-century,
Persian court musicians such as Mirza Abdollah and his brother Aqa Hoseyn Qoli, both
setār and tār players, began to teach a body of traditional music to their pupils, which
was organized into suites known as dastgāhs and āvāzes.
They also used these suites as a basis for their own improvisation. This set of dastgāhs and āvāzes, which was
collectively referred to as radif, was passed down by oral tradition to the
twentieth-century. Although other radifs were also compiled and transmitted, both orally,
in writing, and recordings, the Mirza Abdollah radif
has been the most influential by far.
One of the reasons for its predominance is that Dr. Nurali Borumand, who
taught music at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University in the 1970s, had learned
this radif and taught it to his students, many of whom are among the most impressive and
influential performers of this musical tradition in Iran today. This volume, therefore, is
a book of musical notation of the Persian classical music repertory, the radif, as handed
down by the nineteenth-century master of the setār and tār, Mirza Abdollah, to his
students and children, along with a concise explanation of his music.
The book's musical notation
and the explanatory material are written by Dariush Tala'i. He has transcribed his entire
performance into musical notation so that a person who reads music can see exactly what is
being performed. Information is given in the
notations about fingering on the setār, how to pluck the instrument, and what
ornamentation to use. The accompanying
written materials will provide information about the radif, the modal system, and a
concise description of the characteristics of each of the two major parts of the radif.
Prior attempts by other
publishers and music companies, to publish and record this radif, have been done with
unsatisfactory results. Mazda Publishers,
for the first time, is proudly presenting this valuable oral musical tradition with the
highest recording quality possible and a scholarly text.
Manoochehr Sadeghi, a leading santur master and ethnomusicologist, translated Tala'i's
explanation of his musical notations, staff by staff. This detailed description adds
invaluable information that one might only receive through private instruction from a
master musician.
About the Compact
Discs:
This volume is accompanied by a set of 5 compact discs (CDs) with the complete radif
performed by setār virtuoso, Dariush Tala'i. The recordings were made at the University of Washington in Seattle in 1992
while Mr. Tala'i was a Visiting Professor in the School of Music.
Specifications:
2000: ix+572pp., 5 compact discs.
ISBN:1-56859-039-3 (hard cover book + 5 CDs): $95.00
ISBN:1-56859-073-3
(5 CDs only): $65.00
Bibliotheca Iranica: Performing Arts Series No. 3
NOTE:
Book is not sold separately.
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Traditional Persian Art Music
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