Two-day symposium on “Popular Music & Society in Iran: New Directions”

“Popular Music & Society in Iran: New Directions,” a two-day symposium highlighting the social and political significance of music in Iran, will take place at the MacMillan Center on January 26-27. 

“The political and sociological study of music in contemporary Iran is a growing field, and this event is the first of its kind to bring together researchers and academics working on the topic,” said symposium organizer Nahid Siamdoust, a postdoctoral associate and lecturer in Iranian Studies at the Council on Middle East Studies at the MacMillan Center at Yale. “Our goal is to incorporate perspectives from musicians, recognizing the importance of including their voices in academic research on the subject.”

The symposium will have six panels and three artist sessions, where the musicians will participate in an interview-style panel, and then perform a few pieces. The panels are: Pop Music & State Policy in Safavid Iran; From Musicians in the Qajar Era to the Golha Radio Program; Discussion of the Persian Radif & Setar Performance by Amir Hosein Pourjavady; From State Policy on the Female Voice to Women Musicians’ Narratives; From the Sounds of Lalehzar to Emerging Trends in Tehran’s Musical Theaters; From Persian Hip-Hop to Music Education among Rockers; and From Diasporic Musical Impiety to New Musical Religiosities in Iran. (see conference program)

The musician sessions feature Salome MC on January 26 and Mohsen Namjoo on January 27. Salome MC is a multi-media artist and the first woman in Iran to make hip-hop music. She has released three music albums digitally, and has added video art to her field of work after moving to Japan. She has given performances, exhibitions and screenings around the world.

Mohsen Namjoo is an Iranian artist, songwriter, singer, music scholar and setar (traditional Persian lute) player based in New York City. Hailed as “the Bob Dylan of Iran” by The New York Times, Namjoo is a visionary artist. Seamlessly blending the Classical Persian setar with electric guitar, and rock and blues vocal techniques with Persian avaz (singing), he fuses the ancient with the current. Since his arrival to the U.S. in 2011, Namjoo has been touring the world to sold out concerts at halls such as Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco; Conservatorio Sala Verdi, Milan, Italy; Disney Hall, Los Angeles, and many more. His latest album “Voices from the East” with Nederlands Blazers Ensemble was released in June 2017.

The symposium will take place in Henry R. Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Avenue. It is free and open to the public. For a full listing of the panel speakers, musician sessions, and times, visit https://iranianstudies.macmillan.yale.edu/popular-music-and-society-iran….

Sponsored by the Yale Program in Iranian Studies, Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the Council of Middle East Studies at the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, with generous support from the Title VI National Resource Center Grants from the U.S. Department of Education.