The history of musical development in Iran dates back thousands of years.
Archaeological records attributed to the
Elam in the southwest and of
Oxus in the northeast, demonstrate musical traditions in
prehistoric times. , an Iranian musical instrument from the 6th century BC, kept at the Persepolis Museum. Little is known about the music of the classical Iranian empires of the
Medes, the
Achaemenids, and the
Parthians. However, an elaborate musical scene is revealed through various fragmentary documents, including those that were observed at the
court and in public theaters and those that accompanied
religious rituals and battle preparations. bowl.
musicians plate, kept at the
British Museum. The history of
Sasanian music is better documented than the earlier periods, and the names of various instruments and court musicians from the reign of the
Sasanians have been attested. Under the Sasanian rule,
modal music was developed by a poet-musician of the court named
Barbad, who is remembered in many documents. He may have invented the
lute and the musical tradition that was to transform into the forms of
dastgah and
maqam. He has been credited to have organized a musical system consisting of seven "royal
modes" (), 30 derived modes (), and 360
melodies (). Iran's academic classical music, in addition to preserving
melody types attributed to Sasanian musicians, is based on the
theories of sonic aesthetics as expounded by the likes of Iranian
musical theorists in the early centuries of after the
Muslim conquest of the Sasanian Empire, most notably
Avicenna,
Farabi,
Qotb-ed-Din Shirazi, and
Safi-ed-Din Urmawi. During the late Qajar and the early
Pahlavi eras, numerous musical compositions were produced within the parameters of classical Iranian modes, and many involved western
musical harmonies. The introduction and popularity of
western musical influences in the early contemporary era was criticized by traditionalists, who felt that traditional music was becoming endangered. It was prior to the 1950s that Iran's music industry was dominated by classical musicians. In 1968,
Dariush Safvat and Nur-Ali Borumand helped form an institution called the
Center for Preservation and Propagation of Iranian Music, with the help of
Reza Ghotbi, director of the
National Iranian Radio and Television, an act that is credited with saving traditional music in the 1970s. The "Radif of Iranian music" was officially inscribed on the
UNESCO Representative List of the
Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009, described as "the traditional repertoire of the classical music of Iran". ==Characteristics==