Dornob at SDSU

As part of the SDSU Music Department\'s World Music Series, Dornob will present classical, folk, and original music from Iran.<br />
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LISTEN: https://soundcloud.com/dornob/sets/album<br />
PURCHASE: http://www.cdbaby.com/dornob<br />
MORE INFO: https://www.facebook.com/DornobCollective<br />
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Musicians:<br />
Mahmood Shamshiri: ney & vocals<br />
Dara Bamoradi: qanun & tombak<br />
Harley Magsino: contrabass<br />
Brian Repec: keyboard<br />
Louis Valenzuela: oud<br />
Masih Salafzoun: daf<br />
Farhad Bahrami: tar<br />
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About Dornob<br />
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Dornob are a collective of musicians – now spanning two generations – who\'ve been playing Persian music in San Diego since 1985. Their goal, in addition to friendship, having fun playing / learning the music, and crossing cultural bridges, is to make Persian music accessible to young and non-Persian audiences.<br />
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The Instruments<br />
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The goblet-shaped tômbak is the drum most often used in Persian music today. The târ has been the main stringed instruments of Iranian music for the past few hundred years. In Persian, \"târ\" means \"string\". The qanun is a flexible zither used frequently in Arabian and Turkish music. The round frame drum - the daf - is from Kurdistan. The bass is central to the Dornob sound, but the bass must be fretless so as to be able to play the \"quarter notes\" found in Persian/Arabian/Turkish music. Similarly a special \'Arabic\' keyboard is needed.<br />
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Program Notes<br />
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Just as Persian, Arabic, and Turkish are names of languages widely spoken in the area known today as the Middle East, so are they names given to three related musical systems of that area. Even though Middle Eastern music had a profound effect on European music prior to the 17th century, with the invention and adoption of the 12-tone system in Europe, Persian / Turkish / Arabian musics took a different evolutionary path, retaining their so-called “quarter-tones” which are absent from the 12-tone chromatic scale.<br />
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Persian, Turkish, and Arabic musics share a concept called maqâm, which is similar to a Western scale. Persian music additionally uses a system called dastgâh, which provides a framework for navigating between different maqâms or scales. There are 7 main dastgâh, each with its own mood and roadmap of tonal possibilities. The dastgâh system, like the majority of the world’s music, is an oral / aural tradition, taught heart to heart from master to student. The repertoire used in teaching is called radîf. In the last century many melodies from the dastgâh system have been notated, however performances of Persian music, like jazz, always involve on-the spot creation and improvisation.<br />
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The performance includes composed and improvised, traditional, folk, and original pieces — all arranged into a suite that gives each instrument and player a chance to be heard. The program begins in a more traditional style, but later switches to a more contemporary performance concept. <br />
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PROGRAM<br />
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Dastgah Segah<br />
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- PishDaramad \"FM\": original composition<br />
- Samaani : composed by A. Saba (1902-1957)<br />
- Daramad : improvisation on a poem by Hafez (1326-1390)<br />
- Sabze Yar : instrumental version of a folksong from Khorasan<br />
- Naghmeh : a piece from the radif<br />
- Zohreh / Saba : songs composed by M. Vafadar (1912-1978)<br />
- PasDaramad : original composition<br />
- Zanguleh : instrumental piece from the radif<br />
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Authenticity:<br />
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That we employ \"non-Persian\" instruments causes some of our friends to say that we are not representing \"authentic\" Persian music to you SDSU students.<br />
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To this I say:<br />
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1) You will see and hear the tar, qanun, tombak, daf, and oud tonight - all authentic instruments several hundred years old. Plus you will hear the authentic avaz style of singing where a classic poem is interpreted as melody in real time.<br />
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2) In modern times every country. including Iran. has gone through a rapid and ever-increasing cultural change. To represent Iranian music to you in a medieval setting would not only be inauthentic, but dishonest.<br />
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3) Our performance is based on the dastgah concept, which is the very flexible system of Persian music. That it lends itself so easily to many interpretations - including ours - speaks of its authenticity.<br />
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4) Finally, that young musicians - mainly from the SDSU Jazz program - would see the possibilities of Persian music and work to be a part of it, tells me that the music is authentic.<br />
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To keep everyone happy, the first part of our program tonight presents Segah in a more traditional setting, followed by a more contemporary interpretation.<br />
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Thank you for listening.<br />
Farhad Bahrami