Mirror and Song - A collection of 28 cassettes of regional and religious music of Iran published in Iran, recorded in 1994 - Cassette 14: Music from Hormozgan

Side A:

Music from Bandar Lenge - Hormozgan

Noban Ritual

Side B:

Music from Bandar Lenge - Hormozgan

Noban Ritual

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Part of these recordings have been published on CD in 2015. See details to the second CD in our post of cassette 12.

Mirror and Song - A collection of 28 cassettes of regional and religious music of Iran published in Iran, recorded in 1994 - Cassette 13: Music from Hormozgan

Side A:

Music from Bandar Lenge - Hormozgan

Zar Ritual

Side B:

1. Music from Bandar Lenge - Hormozgan

Zar Ritual (continuation)

2. Music from Bandar Kong - Hormozgan

I read Nameh (?) Ritual

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Part of these recordings have been published last year on the two CDs which we mentioned in our post of cassette 12.

Mirror and Song - A collection of 28 cassettes of regional and religious music of Iran published in Iran, recorded in 1994 - Cassette 12: Music from Hormozgan

Side A:

Music from Bandar Lenge - Hormozgan

Mashayekh Ritual

Side B:

1. continuation

2. Music from Bandar Lenge - Hormozgan

I read "Razif Ritual". According to the CDs below it could be either the Zar or Noban ritual.

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I found the poster to the complete edition of these 28 cassettes on CD, planned to be published in 2011 and which never saw the day:

Last year two CDs were published in Iran which contain more complete versions of these recordings. As always they can be obtained from: info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com

Mashayekh Ritual – Ritual-Therapeutic Music – Hormozgan (Qeshm Island & Bandar Lenge) – Regional Music of Iran 51: Mashayekh Ritual (Bandar Lenge) (42:14), Mashayekh Ritual (Qeshm Island) (31:46), MAHOOR, M.CD-428

Research, compilation & accompanying notes by Mohammad-Reza Darvishi.

”Ahl-e Havâ (the people of air): the inhabitants of the southern coastal regions of Iran believe that Ahl-e Havâ is a person who is affected by mysterious and magical powers. These powers, which are known as Bâd (wind), exist everywhere and they dominate human beings. The powers enter the soul and body of (often poor and pained) people, possess them and finally disturb their physical-mental balance. No one is strong enough to fight and resist them. Ahl-e Havâ who are suffering from Bâd, have no way except coping with them, self-sacrificing and surrendering. Bâd powers mount Ahl-e Havâ. The different types of Bâd include Zâr, Nobân, Mashâyekh, Leyvâ, Govât and Jinn, to name a few. Bâds are divided into two main divisions: 1. Critical, harmful or even infidel 2. Calm, Muslim or believing in worldly rewards and punishments.

To harness, and not cure, the Bâd some special rituals and ceremonies are held in which Bâbâ and Mâmâ take the responsibility to lead and direct the participants. These Bâds either have traveled along with the African people or have nested in the Iranian seamen and poor divers’ head and have come to Iran`s beaches and islands, and for a long period of time, the poor coastal inhabitants have been affected by such powers and still believe in them; to get rid of them, they still use the same method that the African people have used for centuries. Throughout the way from Africa to Iran, these Bâds have obtained Islamic forms and shapes; for instance, their African magical spells and poems have been replaced by poems to praise the Prophet of Islam. The Bâds have been mixed with  cultures, myths and different stories and their respective customs and rules (of what is allowed and what is forbidden) have become so similar to the Islamic ones although they still have their African flashy colors. Nowadays, due to the changes in social conditions and the restrictions over performing Ahl-e Havâ rituals especially in recent decades, such ceremonies and rituals are held more briefly than before and the requirements of the ceremony have been reduced compared to the past. Besides, because of the death of known and famous Bâbâs and Mâmâs and not finding a genuine replacement for them, this unique custom and culture is in danger of dying out and being forgotten—a culture of real significance in various fields, including music, oral literature, drama, rituals, myth and even medical sciences, psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy."

Recorded 1994. Performed by solo and group singers and Dohol players. Booklet in Farsi and English. 

Zâr & Nobân Rituals - Ritual-Therapeutic Music - Hormozgan (Bandar Lenge) - Regional Music of Iran 52: Zar Ritual (Bandar Lenge) (40:01), Noban Ritual (Bandar Lenge) (33:16), MAHOOR, M.CD-429

Research, compilation & accompanying notes by Mohammad-Reza Darvishi.

"Zâr is the most harmful and common Bâd. All types of Zâr in Iran, are critical, harmful and atheist. There are thirteen known Zârs in the southern coasts of Iran, and the famous Bâbâs and Mâmâs believe that the real number of Zârs is more than seventy two. Suffering from any type of Zâr begins with especial symptoms; for example, Bâd-e Maturi with a heart attack, Bâd-e Dingemâru with headache and sore eyes, Bâd-e Dâykatu with depression and inability to move. All types of Bâds, including Zâr, are contagious. The patient who is affected by Zâr goes to Bâbâ or Mâmâ to get rid of the pain and affliction, and through performing the ceremony (offerings, dohol playing and singing specific songs) the Bâd is tamed. Bâbâs or Mâmâs are often dark-skinned, full-blooded or hybrid. They are poor and deprived, and each of them is affected by several Bâds. Before starting the ritual, there are some steps of specific treatments, such as niyat (expressing the intention), going through the hejâb stage (for the patient), giving the patient some medicine, rubbing a particular oil on his or her body, giving the patient a particular smoke, and evicting Jinn from the patient’s body.

The next step is the phase of taming the Bâd, which may continue for hours and even several nights. The participants who are in curable nervous conditions manage to tame their Bâd in one or more sessions and will become members of Ahl-e Havâ. The nervous symptoms which frequently happened to them will be controlled and may appear only during formal ceremonies; but the patients with incurable nervous conditions, whose Bâd cannot be tamed by Bâbâs and Mâmâs, will be left alone, they are rejected by people and eventually die.

Ahl-e Havâ participate in the ritual to tame the Bâd. Some kinds of dohols, geshtesuz (censer), frankincense and various types of food, dates, sweets and the blood of the sacrificed animal requested by Zâr, are the requirements of the ritual. Usually the scarified animal is a goat and sometimes a cow or even a cock. Zȃr’s Bâbȃ starts singing with a gentle rhythm. The drums are played and Ahl-e Havȃ sing responses. Each song belongs to one Zȃr. By singing and reciting the poems, the Zȃr in the patient’s body would react. Little by little, head shaking turns into fast movements and gradually the patient starts trembling and goes into a deep trance. Most of the poems are sung in Swahili; so sometimes the meaning is not obvious even for Ahl-e Havȃ. So, in normal conditions and outside the ritual context, they do not remember the poems. As it was previously mentioned, by taming the patient’s Bȃd, the Zȃr ritual ends too."

Recorded 1994. Solo and group singers, Dohol and Tambire players. Booklet in Farsi and English.