Music

In an Encyclopedia Devoted to Matters Pertaining to Persia and The greater Iranian cultural sphere, musical items cannot be too numerous or diverse. Musical topics fall under four categories: 1) the theory and history of traditional art music; 2) folk music of different regions; 3) musical instruments; and 4) individual musicians and their work, past and present, worthy of mention. Of these, art music provides the most extensive area for representation. The folk music of Persia, with patchy exceptions, has not been adequately studied; unfortunately satisfactory encyclopedia entries cannot be constructed in more than a few areas. The country is very rich in diverse musical instruments, but many are folk instruments about which, again, comparatively little scholarly work has been done. As to individual musicians, there are those medieval figures, mostly claimed by the Arabs and Turks as well, whom we know mainly through their extant writings on the theory of music. Only contemporary figures can be properly identified, both biographically and as to their artistic merits. They are mainly performers of the urban musical tradition

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