Dariush Tala'i (Setar) - The Instrumental Radif of Persian Music - Radif of Mirza Abdollah - A box of six cassettes, released in Iran in mid 1990s

Before we proceed on our journey further towards Afghanistan and India, we return back to Iran for another unexpected post by Dariush Tala'i. We received this box recently as a gift from a very dear Iranian friend, Mohsen. Many many thanks to him.

This Radif was recorded in 1992 at the University of Washington, School of Music, Seattle. It was first published in 1994 on 5 CDs by the French label Al Sur. These CDs are no longer available for many years. The Iranian edition on six cassettes was probably published shortly after the French edition. It is also no longer available for quite some time and never has been released on CD in Iran.

Mirza Abdollah (1843-1918), whose Radif is performed here, was one of the most important musicians in the recent history of classical Iranian music. His father Ali Akbar Farahani was the one who collected all the remaining parts of the old classical music and organized them into a Radif. His two sons, Mirza Abdollah and Mirza Hossein Qoli (Agha Hossein Gholi) (1853-1916) transmitted two different versions of this Radif to many students. These two Radifs are the basis of most classical Iranian music since then. 

Ali Akbar Farahani 

Mirza Abdollah

Aqa Hossein Qoli

Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi

Dariush Tala'i himself is a student of Agha Hossein Gholi's son, Ali Akbar Khan Shahnazi (1897-1985), who was considered the greatest Tar player of his generation. Ali Akbar Shahnazi transmitted the Radif of his father to many excellent students. He also created his own Radif, which he also transmitted. 

But Dariush Tala'i learned also the Radif of Mirza Abdollah, which is the most widely known and used Radif, probably from another of his masters, Nur Ali Borumand (1905-1977), who was the main transmitter of this Radif to later generations. In the booklet to the French edition of this Radif Dariush Tala'i thanks all his masters. Next to the two already mentioned, these are Abdollah Davami, Yusuf Forutan and Said Hormozi. By three of these masters we recently posted recordings.

The Radifs by Mirza Abdollah, Aqa Hossein Qoli (another transcription of his name) and Ali Akbar Shahnazi are all available on CDs and also as books, with complete scores of the Radifs, from the Iranian label and publishing house Mahoor.

Volume 1:

flac

mp3

Volume 2:

flac
mp3

Volume 3:

flac
mp3

Volume 4:

flac
mp3

Volume 5:

flac
mp3

Volume 6:

flac
mp3

Unfortunately on side 1 of cassette 6 something went wrong. We have replaced the faulty file now by a correct one. Sorry for the inconveniance.

Madjid Kiani - Santour - Radif - LP released in 1977 in France

Now we continue with our Iran series. There will be two more posts after this one. Then there will be three posts by the outstanding Kemencheh master Habil Aliyev from Azerbaijan. Then a Ney cassette from Turkey, a double LP of traditional music from Tajikistan and finally an LP with music from Afghanistan. After this we will return to Indian classical music, insha'Allah. So now back to Iran:

Around the same time the two outstanding LPs by Dariush Tala'i and Majid Kiani were released on Ocora, Harmonia Mundi also released LPs by these artists. First we post the one by Majid Kiani released in 1977. These four LPs are perhaps the most beautiful ones of authentic Iranian music ever published. They were for a long time my favourite LPs and are still. Just now while preparing these posts I have listened to each of them again at least 10 times and will certainly many more times.

Regarding the term Radif, on which all classical Iranian music is based, we have included into the download files a pdf file taken from the booklet, written by the Radif master Dariush Tala'i, to the 5 CDs by him: Radif - Volume I to V, released by Al Sur in 1994 in France (ALCD 116 to 120). 

The Radif is a very refined and rich system of modes and melodies, very different from the Raga system and also the Near Eastern Maqam system. The Radif is normally never played in its entirety, except for educational reasons. The musician either chooses parts from a Dastgah of the Radif and performs them, eventually adding some improvisations and developments. Or the main body of the performance is improvisation and development based on a limited amount of selections from a Dastgah from the Radif. In order that these really turn out well with depth and meaning the musician needs a deep understanding of the Radif, which most of the contemporary and even a lot of the older musicians don't have. In effect the Radif is something, one has to dive deep into and the really good and authentic musicians never stop to do that.

Today the Radif is most times understood just as a body of modes and melodies, from which one can borrow pieces freely and then create ones own thing out of it. They don't realise that there are many meanings and secrets hidden in it and many levels of understanding, which only unfold slowly if one dives deep into it and searches to discover them. And this search never has an end. This is also true for the listener. Musicians like Majid Kiani and Dariush Tala'i are completely permeated by the Radif.

All this is described in a very detailed way by Jean During in his excellent book Musiques d'Iran - La tradition en question.

See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radif_(music)

flac
mp3

Abdollah Davami (1891-1980) & Mohammad Reza Lotfi - Radif Avazi - The Vocal Repertoire

Here we present some recordings by the greatest master of Vocal Radif (Radif Avazi) of the past century. He recorded his complete Radif in the 1970s. It was published first in 1995 as a set of three cassettes and later as a set of three CDs, with the addition of his Tasnif recordings on 78 rpm records from the early part of last century. Only three of the Dastgahs have an accompaniment on Tar, played by Mohammad Reza Lotfi, one of his many students. The other Dastgahs were performed by Davami without any accompaniment. I had asked my friend KF many many years ago to put the three Dastgahs with Lotfi on a CD for me. Here the result, together with the covers created by KF, based on the cover of the original cassette box. Many thanks to him.

Ostad Abdollah Davami had many students, the most prominent being Mohammad Reza Shajarian and Mahmud Karimi, himself the great master of vocal Radif of the following generation. Karimi recorded his own version of the Radif, released by Mahoor as a set of five CDs, which he taught to many students, amongst them Parisa. We had posted an LP by Karimi in 2016. 

"The founder of Persian vocal radif repertoire and a very great master of tasnif and tonbak, Ostad Abdollah Davami, was born in Ta village of Tafresh city, Iran, in 1891. As a teenager he discovered that he had a good, audible and suitable voice, so he decided to learn the elementary principles of Persian vocal music. One day he had gone to a gathering in the house of Majd-al-Mamalek that he met Ali Khan Nayeb-al-Saltaneh. After that he became the student of Ali Khan Nayeb-al-Saltaneh for learning radif and Haji Khan, Agha Jan, Sama' Hozur (santoor player) for learning tasnif, and the art of tonbak playing. Because of his talent in learning music, he became friend of great masters of his time such as Mirza Hossein Gholi (tar player), Hossein Khan (kamancheh player), Darvish Khan (tar and setar player), Malek-al-Zakerin (vocalist) and Mirza Abdallah (setar player). He has trained many students. He passed away in 1980."

from: http://www.nasehpour.com/tonbak/ostad-abdollah-davami.html

flac
mp3

Hatem Askari Farahani - Radif Avazi Be Revayet-e Hatem Askari Farahani - Set of 4 cassettes - Iran

Hatem Askari Farahani  (Vocal)

Dr. Dariush Safvat (Setar)

Vocal Radif



"Two important lineages of vocal radif-ha exist.  The most influential and widely disseminated is that of Abdollah Davami (1891-1980), particularly as it was transmitted through his pupil Mahmud Karimi (1927-1984).  This radif is characterized by its cogency and (particularly Karimi’s) self-similarity: its dense transposition and recycling of  motives, tahrirs, and entire phrases.  The second line of vocal radif transmission is relatively little known.  The repertoire preserved by Hatam Askari Farahani (b. 1933) extends back through his teacher Seyyed Zia Rasa’i (a.k.a. Zakeri) to Seyyed Abdol Rahim, an influential and somewhat legendary master active at the turn of the 20th century.  Askari deliberately restricted his transmission of this very large repertoire to preserve its integrity from the abuses that can be associated with published radif-ha.  Askari finally recorded this radif but it remains unpublished as yet.  It is characterized by its large size due to the greater number of gusheh-ha, their lengthier duration, and the inclusion of rhythmic types that are normally only associated with instrumental radif-ha.  Askari’s nephew Farhad Farhani believed that the transmission of this radif included anecdotes describing the circumstances regarding the creation of particular melodies—a quasi-epic account of Persian music history (personal communication, 1998)."

From "Persian Vocal Music: Avaz" by Rob Simms

(http://www.yorku.ca/robsimms/word/Published_Writings.doc)

A short version consisting of parts of this vocal Radif was eventually published in Iran on 4 cassettes. This is the one we post here. There exist also complete recordings of Dastgah-e Mahoor on 6 cassettes or CDs and Dastgah-e Nava also on 6 cassettes or CDs. These were only distributed privately amongst students of Hatem Askari and are extremely difficult to get.

Volume 1:

Side 1:

Mahur (27:58)

Side 2:

Bayat-e Tork & Afshari (30:24)

Download Vol. 1

Volume 2:

Side 1:

Shur (27:55)

Side 2:

Shur continued, Abu 'Ata, Dashti (29:22)

Download Vol. 2

Volume 3:

Side 1:

Chahargah (29:46)

Side 2:

Nava (28:15)

Download Vol. 3

Volume 4:

Side 1:

Homayun (28:24)

Side 2:

Bayat-e Esfahan, Segah (29:24)

Download Vol. 4

Addition on 15th of march 2017:

Recently Mahoor in Teheran published several CDs and sets of CDs by the artist. These can be obtained from info@raga-maqam-dastgah.com.

Hâtam Asgari Farâhâni (Vocal) & Dâryoush Safvat (Setar) - Vocal Radif - Dastgah Nava, Set of 2 CDs, CD 1: Pishdaramad & Daramad (Instrumental) (1:42), Daramad-e Avval (6:22), Kereshme-ye Avval (2:07), Gardaniye (2:07), Naghme-ye Gardaniye (1:59), Jamedaran (2:58), Chaharbagh (4:33), Gushe-ye Khorasani (6:17),Raje, Part 2 (2:25), Hazin & Forud (1:16), Oshaq (3:16), Gushe-ye Sheydayi (3:12), Oshaq, Part 2 (2:47), Owj-e Oshagh (2:52), Zarbi-ye Oshagh (4:30), Araq, Part 2 (3:50), Hasti-o Nisti (2:50), Mohayyer (1:47), Ashur (2:55), Esfahanak (2:19), Gushe-ye Afsus (1:59), Neyshaburak (2:59), Naghme-ye Neyshaburak (3:11), Majosli (3:09),

CD 2: Naghmesara or Naghme-ye Nobaharan (in Nahoft mode) (3:54), Gerye-o Khande (Zarbi-ye Majosli) (2:46), Gavesht (2:48), Samarqandi (4:52), Gushe-ye Vesal (Zarbi-ye Gavesht) (2:51), Ashiran (2:29), Naghme-ye Ashiran (1:22), Ashiran interpreted by Aqa Zia (3:31), Naghme-ye Ashiran (2:00), Zarbi-ye Ashiran (2:35), Khojaste (2:34), Bahariye (3:11), Gushe-ye Tanhayi (in Hoseyni mode) (2:45), Busalik (4:07), Rahavi (1:37), Naghme-ye Rahavi (3:55), Masnavi-ye Rahavi (2:46), Gushe-ye Bikhabari (5:55), Masihi (2:47), Masnavi-ye Rohhab Masihi (5:08), Takht-e Taqdis (2:43), Naqus (4:17), MAHOOR, M.CD-399

Recorded in 1992. Total time: CD 1: 73:24, CD 2: 70:56.

Hâtam Asgari Farâhâni (Vocal) & Bahman Kâzemi (Setar) - Dastgah-e Shur - Vocal Radif: Pishahang-e Shur (7:28), Hoseyni (4:45), Kereshme-ye Hoseyni (2:15), Daramad-e Aram (4:54), Daramad-e Khara (1:59), Naghme-ye Khara (3:19), Chahar Naghme (5:19), Khosravani (4:23), Arezu (7:54), Rohab (2:38), Naghme-ye Rohab (3:00), Kereshme-ye Rohab (2:12), Vazn-e Sargashte (3:40), Zarbi-ye Akhar (3:02), MAHOOR, M.CD-400

Recorded in 2013. Total time: 56:54. Excellent CD by the outstanding master.

Hâtam Asgari Farâhâni (Vocal) & Bahman Kâzemi (Setar) – Dastgah-e Chahargah – Vocal Radif Interpreted & Performed by Hâtam Asgari Farâhâni, set of 3 CDs: CD 1: Dastgah-e Chahargah (67:07), CD 2: Dastgah-e Chahargah (71:54), CD 3: Dastgah-e Chahargah (68:02), MAHOOR, M.CD-420

Here another outstanding recording of exquisite beauty by the great Radif master Hâtam Asgari Farâhâni (born 1933). This time an "encyclopedic" Dastgah Chahargah of almost 3 and a half hours. With excellent Setar accompaniment. Very beautiful, very subtle, very refined music. Wonderful.

Hâtam Asgari Farahani is one of the most outstanding singers of the second half of the 20th century, with a very rare repertoire which goes far beyond any other known repertoires. His Radif is much vaster than the known Radifs. Here we have one more recording by the artist on CD, the third one in the edition of his Radif (see below for the former CDs). Before there existed only some cassettes which only circulated amongst his students and were extremely difficult to get.

Hâtam Asgari (Vocal) & Bahman Kazemi (Setar) - Masnavi in Persian Dastgâhi Music, Set of 2 CDs, CD 1: Dastgah-e Shur (10:28), Avaz-e Abu'ata (9:56), Avaz-e Dashti (10:25), Avaz-e Kord-e Bayat (9:24), Avaz-e Bayat-e Tork (11:39), Avaz-e Afshari (12:11), Dastgah-e Nava (9:49), CD 2: Dastgah-e Mahur (10:56), Avaz-e Bayat-e Esfahan (7:33), Dastgah-e Segah (9:05), Dastgah-e Homayun (12:13), Avaz-e Shushtari (10:51), Dastgah-e Chahargah (11:32), Rast (7:55), MAHOOR, M.CD-393

New studio recordings.