Affective Hal and the Aesthetic Education of Sorrow in Performing Iranian Classical Music

Abstract

This thesis explores the aesthetics of sorrow and melancholic expression in Iranian classical music, with special focus on the discursive and performing aspects of its pedagogical tradition. Although barely defined by performers, the ethos of huzn (sorrow) and melancholic ardor of suz (a burning heart) in the expression of hal (ecstatic and meditative state) predominates the aesthetics of Persian classical music and interpretation of affect. It is also prevalent in Persian philosophy, lyric poetry, and Islamic mysticism. Through close imitation and master-disciple interaction within private maktabs (traditional schools of artistry and intellect), performers invest years cultivating the interpretive skills of hal and poetics in their study of the Iranian radif music repertoire. What are the traditional teaching methods of hal, and how did the socio-political and Islamic boundaries of Iranian society in the 20th century shape these methods? Although the concept of hal has attracted the attention of Western ethnomusicologists before (i.e., During 2012; Caton 2008; Zonis 1973), the aesthetics of affect within pedagogical traditions has remained underexplored, especially by native scholars. Through field-interviews with music teachers, a study of an extensive video archive of Iranian performances, and my autoethnography as a maktab-trained musician, I investigate the aesthetic and ethical pedagogy of hal in the 20th century. I aim to show how the social and historical changes of modernization and revivalism, followed by the 1979 revolution, formed a dichotomy in methods of transmission and aesthetics of hal in the prominent maktabs. Through my own experiences as a female performer in Iran, I also discuss issues of class and genre stratification within aesthetic education in contemporary Iran.