Creating Telematic World Music Ensembles Over the High-Speed Research Network

By focusing on interactivity, networks, and presence, this project explores how telematic art can be applied to build digital world music ensembles, with a particular emphasis on Persian music. The primary inspiration for the Persian pieces comes from the poetry of Molana Jalaleding Mohammad Balkhi, known as Rumi, one of the greatest Persian mystics.

This study provides background on Persian music, electronic music, Persian electronic music, telematic art, social presence theory, and actor-network theory. It also describes a step-by-step process for developing a telematic digital world music ensemble as a practical experiment.

The research involved three groups of artists in different locations: a 3D design team in Indiana, United States, developing a virtual environment; a group of Western acoustic and digital musicians also in Indiana; and a group in Calgary, Canada, working on set designs, real-time video processing, and electronic Persian music. The entire project was created collaboratively among all participants. During the research, it became clear that existing technologies—such as Jack Trip, Ableton Live, VDMX, Virtool, and Life Size camera systems—are already used in the current telematic field and could be applied without further alteration. However, the question of how to use these technologies harmoniously requires additional development.

This paper focuses on the project from the perspective of tele-digital world music. For more information on the 3D environment, real-time video processing, Western acoustic and digital music, and set design, please consult other team members’ papers on the Syneme website.

Approach

To examine the subject, two separate projects were developed and run in parallel from January to April 2010:

• Performing a 20-minute “Traditional Persian Concert” as part of the University of Calgary’s world music ensemble.
• Composing an “Electronic Persian” music piece and performing it in a collaborative project with Indiana.

Project A: “Traditional Persian Concert”

A 20-minute traditional Persian concert was performed at the Rozsa Theatre at the University of Calgary on April 5, 2010. The performance was highly successful, receiving positive feedback from the audience. This project was intensive and required many hours of hard work. Three Persian music pieces were performed:

Song One: Bahare Delkash (Attractive Spring)
This is an older traditional song composed by Darvish khan in the 1930s. Originally written for Tar in Dastgah “Abou Ata,” this arrangement added violin, piano, Tonbak, and Daf to give it a different feel. An introduction for piano and violin was also composed.

Song Two: Ashegh (In Love)
This song was created in Iran in 2008 by Amir Hosseing Modares. It is also Persian traditional music in Dastgah “Dashti,” which originally does not include piano and was sung by a single male vocalist. In this arrangement, piano and a female vocalist were added.

Song Three: Arezooha (Dreams)
Composed in the 1970s and performed by the famous Persian singer Mohammad Noori, this piece originally used many instruments. In this arrangement, only piano, violin, and vocals were used, focusing on interactivity between the three players as the speed of the piece changed several times during the performance.

A Persian classical dancer, Shokoofeh Rahmani, accompanied all three pieces, portraying the lyrics through movement. A frame was created for her. At the beginning of the performance, she stood still inside the frame, like a miniature painting (a traditional Persian painting). As the music began, she came to life and stepped out of the frame. At the end of the last piece, she returned to the frame and became still once more.

The side of the stage was decorated with two Batik paintings (silk paintings) titled “Perspolis or Takhte Jamshid,” created by Pari Chehrehsa, which also inspired the costume designs.

The Persian section lasted 20 minutes, and Pari Chehrehsa performed the following tasks:

1. Arranged three pieces of known Persian music and worked with each player to ensure correct playing while also offering support and building confidence—since none of the musicians were music majors, and many were performing on stage publicly for the first time.
2. Played piano for two of the pieces.
3. Sang one piece alongside male vocalist Amir Salehi. This was a new experience; she learned to use the music notation software “Harmony Assistant,” spending many hours writing chords and the right-hand part for the pianist and training her.
4. Sketch, design, make patterns, and sew all costumes. “This was the fun part,” Pari says. She drew inspiration for the costumes from “Persepolis or Takhte Jamshid,” a historical site in Iran over 2,500 years old. She gathered images of the site, created a storyboard, and extracted design motifs, shapes, lines, colors, and textures. After finding a design she liked, she made patterns, shopped for fabric, cut them, and began sewing. “I am very blessed to have wonderful grade 12 students, Ashley Ross Cup, who sincerely helped me in sewing all the pieces,” Pari says.
5. Worked extensively with Shokoofeh Rahmani, a Persian classical dancer, to explore how she could portray and visualize the feeling of the music alongside the lyrics. Through rehearsals, Pari realized that humans have a powerful ability to connect meaning to body movement, visualizing concepts in ways unique to each person, shaped by personal experience. Initially looking for some repeating pattern that could inform a computer model for visualizing lyrics, Pari gradually understood that Shokoofeh never moves the same way for the same concept. Her movements are guided by how she feels at each moment. Nothing brought an easy or simple conclusion. “We can define some general rules, but no computer could do what a person could do,” Pari says. You can program 10, 20, or even 100 rules, but the computer would simply mix and match those rules; it could never truly improvise and create on its own.

Project B: “Electronic Persian”

This project involved composing an electronic Persian music piece and performing it collaboratively with Indiana.

Concept of Music: Inspired spiritually by Rumi’s Persian poems.

Real-time performance and interaction: Real-time interaction among three groups of artists across three different sites in a 15-minute tele-media concert. Site one (Calgary): Persian musicians, the dancer, a videographer applying visual effects to the dancer’s video in real time, and the set designer. Site two (Indiana): electronic musicians and Western acoustic musicians. Site three (Indiana): the 3D environment designer.

New Technology: Learning and exploring new technology, which included recording music in MIDI format and using Ableton Live—a powerful sound and music editing program—to add electronic effects to the Persian music. Ableton Live made this experiment feasible.

Adopted Theories: Throughout the research, two theories were employed: Social presence theory and Actor-network theory.

Background

Telematic Art

Telematic art uses a new technology that emerges from merging computers and telecommunications. This technology allows for greater interactivity and enables artists to engage in collaborative projects even when they are physically located in different parts of the planet. Roy Ascott, in the book Telematic Embrace: Visionary Theories of Art, Technology, and Consciousness, describes telematic art as follows: “Telematic art challenges traditional relationships between artist, artwork, and audience by allowing nonlocal audiences to influence the emergent qualities of the artwork, which consists of the ebb and flow of electronic information.”

Social Presence Theory

Social presence theory was founded by Short, Williams, and Christie in 1976. This approach forms the foundation for many theories on new media effects. The central idea is that a medium’s social effects are primarily caused by the degree of social presence it provides to its users. Social presence refers to a communicator’s sense of awareness of a partner in interaction. This is important for how people come to know and think about others, their traits, qualities, and inner states (Short et al., 1976). More presence therefore leads to better person perception.

Actor-network Theory

Actor-network theory (ANT) is a sociological approach proposed by Bruno Latour, Michel Callon, and John Law. In this network theory, an actor-network includes not only people but also objects and animals—all called actors. Whether those actors are persons, objects (including computer software, hardware, and technical standards), or organizations, they are all equally important to a social network. Consequently, social order is a result of the smooth operation of an actor-network. This order begins to fall apart when certain actors are removed—such as telephones, banks, or even a president.

Persian Music

Persian, or Iranian, music has thousands of years of history, as Persia is one of the oldest civilizations. The culture supports many music styles, including:

• Persian traditional music
• Persian folk music
• Persian ritual music
• Persian pop music
• Persian symphonic music
• Persian piano music
• Persian underground music

The Dastgah System

As described by the Iran Chamber Society: “Like other Middle Eastern music, the music of Iran is modal in nature. Initially (before the Qajar dynasty) each of the major modes had an associated formula for melodic invention (mayeh). The mayeh included rules for cadences, a hierarchy of tones, and acceptable melodic patterns. Using the mayeh as a guideline, the musician was expected to improvise within a single mode for the duration of the performance, much as is done with Indian raga.

Gradually, this method became cumbersome for musicians and listeners, so during the Qajar dynasty the old modes and mayehs were restructured and the dastgah system developed. The modes were replaced by twelve dastgahs. Each dastgah has an eight-note scale, and each tone in the scale has special significance, with one note acting as the analogue of the tonic in Western music. The dastgah also has its own repertory of melodies, each called a gushe. A gushe is a melodic type that usually spans only four or five tones and serves as a model for improvisation. The gushe are generally played in an order that fills the lower, middle, and upper parts of the dastgah scale. The order and mode of each gushe may not have a logical relationship to that of the dastgah itself. The different gushe are connected by melodic fragments called foruds, which inevitably resolve to the finalis of the dastgah. Within each dastgah are the rules for how to reach that resolution. The first gushe in a dastgah is called the daramad and lends its name to the dastgah.

The complete collection of pieces that form the repertory of Persian music is called the radif (row). The radif contains the twelve dastgahs: Shur, Bayat-e Kord, Dashti, Bayat-e Tork, Abu Ata, Afshari, Segah, Nava, Homayun, Bayat-e Esfahan, Chahargah, Mahur, and Raspanjgaht, each with its own gushehs.”

Past and Current Status of Persian Electronic Music

Electronic and digital music have entered Persian music, similar to other cultures. Alireza Mashayekhi, the Iranian pioneer of electroacoustic music, studied in Europe along with some peers, but brought a distinct Iranian perspective. According to the article “Electronic Music In Iran” by Arshia Cont and Bob Gluck (The EMF Institute, 2008): “The linkage of technology and art focused largely on the development of Iranian cinema, beginning at the turn of the Twentieth Century. The National Iranian Film Society was founded in 1949 and film production took off in the 1960s, continuing today. The link between music and technology was slower to develop, but began when Alireza Mashayekhi studied electronic music in Europe in the 1960s and during the Shiraz Art Festival of the 1970s, when electronic music from the West was first performed in the country, resulting in additional composers studying abroad. These developments slowed immediately after the Islamic Revolution, but reappeared largely in private, rather than institutional academic settings.”

Numerous examples of this type of work exist. One of the earliest experiments combining electronic and Persian music was by Dariush Dolatshahi. Mohammad Pazhutan, the most prolific Iranian electronic composer, has produced more than 50 albums and is known as a pioneer of Persian noise music. Other pioneers include the Som'ma Ensemble directed by Shirzad Sharif in San Francisco, as well as experiments by Shahrokh Yadegari and Alan Kushan. Many Iranian expatriates in North America and Europe also produce electronic music. The best-known group is the Washington, D.C.–based Deep Dish, consisting of Ali “Dubfire” and Shahram.

Digital/Electronic Music

Twenty-first-century musicians are no longer restricted by the instruments they can play; they can create and design any desired sound using computer applications.

Research Project

How It Began …

A Persian music piece was written by Pari Chehrehsa to test the ideas presented in the “Approach” section. This piece blends Persian classical and Persian pop music and was first performed with acoustic piano and violin. To add digital effects, it was recorded and imported into Ableton Live, where the digital effects were applied.

Music Creation – Stage One:

Two poems by Rumi, the great Persian mystic, provided the main inspiration. Since this paper is written in English, translations follow:

Behind the Scenes
Is it your face
that adorns the garden?
Is it your fragrance
that intoxicates this garden?
Is it your spirit
that has made this brook
a river of wine?

Hundreds have looked for you
and died searching
in this garden
where you hide behind the scenes.

But this pain is not for those
who come as lovers.
You are easy to find here.
You are in the breeze
and in this river of wine.

Translated by Fereydoun Kia, Dr. Deepak Chopra

Intoxicated with Love … (Maste Eshgh)

You walk by people and look at their hearts
Only the blessed ones fall in love with you

Don’t try to escape from this passionate love my heart
You shall not walk away from this great love

If you want him to open the door to your heart
You should leave your ego behind

If you want the beautiful rose from the garden
You should tolerate the pain of the thorn

Your hand shall not reach the precious jewel
Until you carve the hard rocky mountain

You shall not own gem and coral
Until you travel to the great ocean

The universe shall not follow you
Until you kill your ego

No one shall buy your treasure
Until you master your fairness

Wickedness will not leave you
Until you become intoxicated with the love of God

You will not find Joseph of Canaan
As long as your soul is like a wolf

Living like rich makes your body lazy
Living like poor tames your body

You shall not live in the kingdom of faith
Until you taste the pain of the righteousness

Translated by Pari Chehrehsa, April 2010

Music Creation – Stage Two

Development of stage two is explained in the original academic paper; the present rewrite summarizes the sources as indicated.

To add music to this poem, two Persian music theories were adopted: “Chahargah” dastgah from traditional music and a common Persian piano chord progression from pop music. The following provides brief background information on these topics.

Music Creation Stage Three

During this research project, several computer applications were tested and used to create a Persian electronic music piece. The recorded music, originally played by an acoustic piano and violin, was imported into “Logic Pro,” a sound editing software. There it was prepared for the tele-media concert by being cut into short segments of 90 seconds and 120 seconds. These clips were then placed in “Ableton Live,” a real-time music and sound processing program, where numerous filters and sound effects were applied to the original pieces.

Music Creation Stage Four

On April 24th, at 10:30 a.m. Calgary time, the tele-media concert took place. The music pieces were nearly complete, and final touches involved manipulating some of Ableton Live’s filter controls in real time during the performance, improvising and interacting with musicians in Indiana, and sending high-quality uncompressed audio via Jack Trip to Indiana using the high-speed research network.

Applying the Adopted Theories

How were the presence and actor network theories applied to this research project? Presence was adopted and practiced from a very early stage of project development, both among group partners during collaborative work and by the individual artist, Pari Chehrehsa. Being fully present during music creation was a key goal for the artist; as a result, she reports she was able to transcend physical boundaries and gain inspiration by connecting to the poems of Rumi.

The following is an organized list of actors that participated in this research, based on Actor-Network Theory:

Human Actors:

1. Musicians
2. 3D designers
3. A dancer
4. A videographer
5. A set designer
6. Computer operators controlling the high-speed research network for high-quality sound and visuals
7. Project coordinators (three professors)

Non-Human Actors:

1. All musical instruments
2. All software, including Maya, Virtool, Ableton Live, Jack Trip, Logic, VDMX, and LifeSize
3. All computer hardware

The relationships and interactions among all these actors created a network where each was equally important. Removing any actor would have caused the network to stop functioning properly. For instance, without musical instruments (non-human actors) the musicians could not create music, and without musicians the instruments could not produce music on their own. The same holds true for all software and hardware—imagine being unable to use Jack Trip (or similar software) to communicate high-quality sound.

Missing Parts in the Process of Mixing Persian and Electronic Music

Many beautiful examples of Persian electronic music exist, but in most of these compositions the Persian taste and color remain hidden beneath the electronic instruments. In much of this music, the focus appears to be on the electronic side, leaving room for improvement.

Conclusion

The goal of this research was to bring together “Electronic Music” and “Persian Music” so that audiences would hear Persian elements, such as Persian dastgahs and instruments, alongside electronic sound effects that enhance the music’s beauty.

After working hard on both projects—the world music ensemble and the telematic concert—I realized that I enjoy them equally. In the future, I would like to continue both and eventually merge them. I hope to use technology to compose electronic world music and create an electronic stage for the world music ensemble, whether telematic or in a concert hall.

Through observations during this research, it became clear that there is considerable room for growth and high potential to create colorful world music ensembles, bringing great world music artists together using high-speed research network technology.

Future Development

Designing a step-by-step system that describes “how to create and run” an augmented environment for a tele-world-music ensemble—including set design, video projection, camera positions, and sound transfer—is the next phase of research and development.

Software and Hardware in Use

• Tele-communication: LifeSize for video, Jack Trip for audio
• Music composition: Harmony Assistant, GarageBand, Logic Pro, Ableton Live
• Sound effects: MainStage