This article aims to contextualise music as it was experienced in Tehran in 2004 (when the research for this work was conducted) - music that comes from various ethnic groups within Iran, and music coming from the diaspora. The relationships between various genres of music and people, as well as between music and the government, are examined. The malleability of musicians and their capacity to coordinate their expertise with popular and governmental expectations and limitations are then analysed. In this way, a fascinating yet little studied area in the anthropology of Iran at the time of research is addressed.
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The Sounds of Music in Tehran
Soheila Shahshahani
In Anthropology of the Middle East
- Published (Print):
- 01 Mar 2013
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 24–39 (16 total)
Stars without the money
Sakha ethnic music business, upward mobility and friendship
Aimar Ventsel
The Sakha have had their own popular music since the 1970s. During the Soviet era, music culture was controlled by the state. Starting in the 1990s, new pop-music institutions and venues emerged and new entrepreneurs entered the music business as club owners, managers, producers, DJs, etc. In this article, I examine multiple social relations in the music business. Music has become a possibility for village youth to leave their villages and gain fame as artists. The Sakha music world contains various networks where criminal structures, artists, businessmen and media are interlinked. Through this linkage, music is used to gain a community's support for semi-legal business activities. At the same time, both the artists and producers present themselves to the public as the custodians of Sakha 'national' culture. The article discusses ways in which the artists' popularity is connected to their position in the music business, and how ethnic symbols are used to gain success.
Staging Sassoun
Memory and Music Video in Post-Soviet Armenia
Rik Adriaans
population for nearly a century. While these singers are mostly trained in the folk music department of Yerevan’s conservatory, their songs are characterized by the use of electronic beats and arrangements more characteristic of pop music. The audience for
Beyond the Glittering Golden Buddha Statues
Difference and Self-transformation through Buddhist Volunteer Tourism in Thailand
Brooke Schedneck
surprised by the technology monks used, as he thought Buddhism valued silence and contemplation. In an interview he said: “The monks don’t follow the rule about entertainment and are clapping, singing, dancing, especially to K-pop [Korean pop music].” He was
A Ritual Demystified
The Work of Anti-wonder among Sufi Reformists and Traditionalists in a Macedonian Roma Neighborhood
Galina Oustinova-Stjepanovic
television, which was strange because in other homes television generated a perpetual background noise, intermittently broadcasting pop music, Turkish soaps, and Islamic prayers. Baba Muarif was reclining on a pile of cushions on the carpeted floor. As a
In Religion and Society
- Published (Print):
- 01 Sep 2019
- Article Type:
- Research Article
- Pages:
- 30–43 (14 total)