IEN’s Listening Sessions are designed around collective and attentive listening. Each session is led by someone familiar with a particular musical region or tradition, who selects recordings and introduces relevant aspects of repertoire, instruments, styles, modes, and performance practice. The emphasis is not on presenting a conventional research paper, but on listening closely and discussing the sonic characteristics of the music itself.
The first Listening Session was dedicated to the Azerbaijani Ashiq tradition, in memory of Ashiq Moslem Asgari, with Mohammad Razzaqi, Mohammad Rashidi, and Shahab Chilan. A later session, led by Kajwan Ziyaoddini and Ashkan Nazari, explored Kurdish musical traditions from Mukriyan and Hawraman, including genres such as Beyt, Khurda Band, and Gorani from Mukriyan, alongside Siya Chemane, Warda Bazm, and Chapla from Hawraman.
This series reflects one of IEN’s broader aims: to create opportunities not only to talk about music, but also to listen to it carefully and collectively.