How Music Evolved in Iran After 1938: National Identity Through Sound

Ali Asghar Haghdar

Iranian music underwent profound transformation in the span of roughly 80 years, beginning with the country’s nationalist awakening. Tied inextricably to political upheaval, foreign influence, and religious change, music of the region emerged as a battleground of identity, tradition, and modernity. These changes are particularly evident following the establishment of Iran’s National Radio in 1938. Social and cultural trends inspired certain styles and types to gain dominance, and musical life erupted in sound from the heart of performance, instrument-building, and education.

As the Persian Constitutional Movement stirred, an evolution in music began. Prior to that era, class lines determined access to art. Classical repertoire flourished only in affluent homes. Most people, living in villages, did not develop a relationship with classical music outside of local folksongs. Educated scholars observed the shift. Edward Browne, in The Press and Poetry of Modern Persia, recognized how constitutionalist ideas reformed poetry and songs and thus boosted musical progress. Classical traditions finally broke beyond aristocratic boundaries.

Iranian classical or modal music, initially preserved through oral transmission from one skilled person to another, adopted a written form after the first radio system was established. This shift formalized music pedagogy across the country. In 1941, the Music School of Art’s orchestra stepped before live audiences for the first time. Ruhollah Khaleghi launched a new periodical devoted entirely to the art of music. Allied military occupation, however, soon overwhelmed social discourse; politics and economics sidetracked cultural energy. Cinemas and theaters still hosted more regular performances than before the war. Leila Nairiz termed this moment “the era of music modernity.” She explained that during the second Pahlavi reign, music gained further traction throughout various echelons and increasingly drew citizens from numerous backgrounds into its orbit, despite the sudden departure of Czech instructors from the Music School of Arts. Once Isa Sedigh A’lam was in the post of Education Minister, Gholamhosein Minbashian was replaced by Ali-Naqi Vaziri as the Chief Supervisor of Iranian musical activities. Vaziri started two separate programs, one for Iranian music and one for western composition, establishing a stark curricular division. Dedicated as he was to national music, Vaziri also allowed space for western works. In 1944 some openly recommended expunging Iranian music from official programs, handing responsibilities to young artists schooled in Europe. Still, by March 1945, the distinguished Ruhollah Khaleghi inaugurated the Philharmonic Society as an advocate for national sounds.

During the ensuing months, eminent musicians gave celebrated, soaring concerts. The periodical Chang was initiated in 1946, driven by Khaleghi as publisher and Lotfollah Mofakham as editor.

Growth Across Genres

Classical music held a steady stylistic shape through the mid‑1940s. Group sizes were modest: solos, trios, or quintets dominated. Instruments included tar, dulcimer, violin, tombak, and occasionally the piano. As orchestras gradually appeared, western and Persian instruments joined forces in experimental ensembles. That blend sparked the rise of the Golha Orchestra, a groundbreaking flagship for nearly three decades. This series, created by radio director Davud Pirnia, boasted strings, clarinet, flute, piano, tar, and tombak, which shaped the aural brilliance of the era.

The piano advanced greatly during those years. Certain Persian microintervals could not be accommodated, so players mostly explored modes like Mahur, Bayat, Esfahan, and parts of Homayun, inherently shaping a more westernized harmonic flavor. Morteza Mahjubi altered the piano’s tuning, introducing new possibilities to include Avaz‑e Afshari, Avaz‑e Dashti, Avaz‑e Bayat‑e Tork, Seh‑gah, and more.

In 1947, Ruhollah Khaleghi inaugurated the Office of Fine Arts, and two years later he launched the prestigious School of National Music. Entering after fourth grade and graduating eight years later, students studied exclusively with era professionals: Abul‑Hasan Saba, Musa Marufi, Hasan Tehrani, the vocalist Banan, and Hodein‑Ali Vaziritabar. Between 1949 and 1959, pupils such as Hushang Zarif, Arfa’ Atrabi, and Jalal Zolfonun polished their names with Khaleghi’s mentorship.

Foundations of Dastgah

Abul‑Hasan Saba carried authority across traditional styles and orchestral mechanism all at once. Notable students flourished in later years: Homayun Khoram, Faramarz Payvar, Hosein Tehrani, the ney‑player Hasan Kasai, Farhad Fakhredini, Rahmatollah Badi’i, and Ali Tajvidi. They became guardians of forward-leaning artistry.

By the 1950s, solo and duo concerts set to recitations of classical Persian poetry captivated mass audiences. Preeminent soloists included Abul‑Hasan Saba (violin), Ahmad Ebadi (setar), Ali Asghar Bahari (kamancheh), Jalil Shahnaz (tar), Parviz Yahaghi (violin), Homayun Khoram (violin), Hasan Kasai (ney ), and for percussion, Hosein Tehrani and Amir Nasser Eftetah on tombak, plus dulcimer specialists Faramarz Payvar, Reza Varzandeh, and Majid Nejahi. Uncontested ascendancy of stringed (mostly western-conceived) instruments stirred many researchers and artisans to champion pure Iranian orchestrations.

In 1962 a deliberate movement emerged. It sought to rehabilitate expired instruments. Inside the construction workshop at the Ministry of Arts and Education, numerous experiments transpired. Mehdi Meftah pooled together a great number of retrieved and revived tools but gained only limited success. Afterwards, Saba’s protégé Faramarz Payvar reattacked Meftah’s approach and cultivated thriving ensemble practice. He repositioned tar, dulcimer, ney, kamancheh, tombak amid clustered strings while gradually introducing oud along with a newly versioned qeichak, methodically increasing ensemble count in measured stages.

Two decades into the transformation, Payvar sheared the violins down until each member wielded genuinely Iranian instruments. His multisection layouts obliterated western consonance; Ali‑Naqi Vaziri’s earlier arrangements had frequently suggested western harmony in listeners.

Hunger for renewed folk songs surged from formations comprised entirely of Iranian instruments. Payvar translated Khorasan folk materials alongside vocal talent from the province, eliciting mass popularity. Sima Bina, a native from Birjand, supplied passionate voice over his treatments. Outstanding rhythmic traits like tuplet and irrational meters typically had been unheard in “city music,” making these new turns pathbreaking.

Orchestral and Nationalistic Bends

Sustained symphonic cultivation began around the 1960s. Iranian composers diverged: some composed completely western abstracts, others waded indecisively across boundaries. These noteworthy figures included Rubik Gregorian, Heshmat Sanjari, Aminollah Hosein, Morteza Hananeh, Samin Baghcheban, Hosein Dehlavi, Hushang Ostovar, and Emanuel Melik Aslanian.

Iran’s occupation by allied forces spurred distinct musical expression. Poets and artists expressed dissent through an originally prototypical national-patriotic expression: a burning, irresistible tune underpinning Hosein Gol-e Golab’s urgent verse and composed because of and shaped wholeheartedly by Ruhollah Khaleghi. Public performance was staged at the Tehran Military School on 18 October 1944, in front of the often brutish stare of foreign forces .
Its intensity was unavoidable. Under the minister’s endorsement, recorded copies repeated across airwaves. The famed “Ay Iran” therefore began.

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Popular Music

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Among the musicians prominent in this style is Kambiz Roshanravan.

Underground Music

For many years, numerous groups of young musicians in Iran have gravitated toward more modern and postmodern global music trends. Because the regime prohibits this inclination, it is known as underground music. Jafar Panahi’s film No One Knows About Persian Cats portrays some of these activities. Current musical genres in Iran include rock, metal, and related styles. With the rise of the Internet and social media—which has helped musicians update their knowledge and information—new forms and styles for expressing social and political issues are emerging.

Yet the future of Iranian music, both classical and modern, remains uncertain. This is largely due to government-imposed censorship and ideological ratings of artistic works and performances—a situation that renders the trajectory of Iranian music rather unclear.