Ancientness, Myth, and Sonic Imagination: Making Persian Music Legible in Israel

'Do you think we can hear the music of the Temple in Persian music?' 

Variations of this question were posed to me at different stages of my fieldwork in Israel, where I investigated the musical practices of Persian Jews. 

The curiosity that drove them stems from an intricate narrative web popular among Israelis. At its core, it identifies the music of the ancient Jewish Temple as the engine that propelled the development of Persian classical music, theorised—according to these narratives—when Jews arrived in ancient Persia in the 6th century BCE.

In this talk I discuss how, through the mobilisation of a discourse of ancientness, Persian music has gained legitimacy in Israel. Through exemplary case studies, I detail how ancientness is constructed and deployed to reward Iranian Jews with cultural and social capital, bypassing their minority status. I demonstrate that these symbolic structures of ancientness also affect how Persian sounds circulate and are interpreted, thus redefining how people hear and imagine Iran and Persia. 

I examine these narratives through the analytical framework of myth, employed as a meta-literal, second-order semiological system that warrants histories and negotiates power and capital. As a result of this political, sonic negotiation of power, Persian Jews gain access to musical spaces by aligning themselves with Zionist and Persian ethnohistories.

Registration

This event is free to attend, but registration is required. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.

A livestream of this event will also take place via Zoom.