IEN’s Presentation Sessions provide a space for researchers to present current work on Iranian and related musical cultures, followed by discussion and questions. Topics have ranged from regional musical traditions and ethnographic documentation to modernity, popular music, and music history.
Our Past Presentation Sessions
Kurdistan: Constructing Layered Musical Landscapes through Fieldwork and Documentation
In this presentation, George Mürer reflected on how the complex cultural, linguistic, and political landscapes of Kurdistan have shaped his approach to fieldwork and documentation. Drawing on his research experience across Kurdistan and neighboring regions, he discussed the value of developing multiple complementary projects and engaging with the work of other researchers. His broader scholarship examines music, cultural consciousness, regional identity, and cross-cultural exchange, often combining ethnography with documentary filmmaking and multimodal research.
Music of the Arab Communities of Khuzestan
In this presentation, Mahmoud Mashhudi introduced the musical cultures of Arab communities in Khuzestan, southwestern Iran. He discussed different social and cultural groupings among Arab communities in the region and explored some of the musical genres associated with their ways of life. Drawing on his own fieldwork, he also shared recordings collected during recent research. Mashhudi holds an MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Art in Tehran and has studied the musical culture of the Ma’dan, or Marsh Arab, communities of Khuzestan.
Türkmen روايتلاری: Popular Histories and the Construction of Musical Meaning
In this presentation, Arman Goharinasab explored the role of narrative and storytelling in the construction of musical meaning among Turkmen communities. He examined revayatlar as a broader cultural and musical framework through which social and historical meanings are created and transmitted. The presentation also considered connections between Turkmen musical culture and wider Iranian-Turkic and Arab cultural spheres. Goharinasab is an ethnomusicologist and documentary filmmaker who has conducted fieldwork on Turkmen musical culture since 2009.
Iranian Classical Music and the Possibility of Musical Modernity
In this presentation, Morteza Abedinifard examined Iranian classical music in relation to the question of musical modernity. Drawing on his background in musicology, philosophy of art, and performance, he considered how modernity can be understood in relation to Iranian musical thought and practice. Abedinifard holds a PhD in Musicology from the University of Alberta and works on philosophy of music, Western music history, and the relationship between music and modernity.
Gender in Historical Research on Iranian Music
In this presentation, Hossein Zanganeh, an ethnomusicology graduate of the University of Art in Tehran, examined the role of gender and sexuality in historical research on Iranian music. He discussed how dominant historical narratives have often overlooked gendered relations and treated musical history through a seemingly neutral perspective that in practice privileges one gender. Drawing on his research on gender and music during Iran’s Constitutional era, Zanganeh also proposed ways of incorporating gender and sexuality more explicitly and theoretically into historical studies of music.
Composing During the “Woman, Life, Freedom” Movement
In this online conversation, contemporary composers Niloufar Nourbakhsh and Bahar Royaee discussed composition during the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement and reflected on the ways political and social upheaval can shape artistic practice. The session also considered the role of the Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA) in creating opportunities for collaboration, exchange, and collective artistic action among composers.