Earliest records Music in Iran, as evidenced by the "pre-Iranian"
archaeological records of
Elam, the oldest civilization in southwestern Iran, dates back thousands of years. Iran is the birthplace of the earliest complex instruments, which date back to the third millennium BC. A number of
trumpets made of
silver,
gold, and
copper were found in
eastern Iran that are attributed to the
Oxus civilization and date back between 2200 and 1750 BC. The use of both vertical and horizontal
angular harps have been documented at the archaeological sites of
Madaktu (650 BC) and
Kul-e Fara (900–600 BC), with the largest collection of
Elamite instruments documented at
Kul-e Fara. Multiple
depictions of horizontal harps were also sculpted in
Assyrian palaces, dating back between 865 and 650 BC. They performed for their audiences at royal courts and in public theaters. (32.3), they praised their national heroes and ridiculed their
Roman rivals. Likewise,
Strabo's
Geographica reports that the Parthian youth were taught songs about "the deeds both of the gods and of the noblest men". Parthian songs were later absorbed into the Iranian national epic of
Šhāhnāmeh, composed by 10th-century Persian poet
Ferdowsi. It is also mentioned in
Plutarch's
Life of Crassus (23.7) that the Parthians used
drums to prepare for battle. He may have invented the
lute and the musical tradition that gave rise to
dastgah and
maqam. He has been credited to have organized a musical system consisting of seven "royal modes" (), 30 derived modes (), and 360 melodies (). The theories these
modal systems were based on are not known. However, writers of later periods have left a list of these modes and melodies. Some of them are named after epic figures, such as ("Vengeance of Iraj"), ("Vengeance of Siavash"), and ("Throne of Ardashir"), some are named in honor of the Sasanian royal court, such as ("Garden of Shirin"), ("Garden of the Sovereign"), and ("Seven Treasures"), and some are named after nature, such as ("Bright Light"). The ninth century Persian poet
Rudaki, who lived under the reign of the
Samanids, set his own poems to music. At the court of the
Persianate Ghaznavid dynasty, who ruled Iran between 977 and 1186, 10th-century Persian poet
Farrokhi Sistani composed songs together with
songster Andalib and
tanbur player Buqi.
Lute player Mohammad Barbati and songstress Setti Zarrin-kamar also entertained the Ghaznavid rulers at their court.
Modern era from the time of
Qajar ruler
Naser-ed-Din Shah, depicted by
Kamal-ol-molk. in 1949. In the post-medieval era, musical performances continued to be observed and promoted especially through princely courts,
Sufi orders, and modernizing social forces.
Ali-Naqi Vaziri, a respected player of numerous Iranian and western instruments who studied western
musical theory and composition in Europe, was one of the most prominent and influential musicians of the late
Qajar and early
Pahlavi eras. He established a private
music school in 1924, where he also created a school orchestra composed of his students, formed by a combination of the tar and some western instruments. Vaziri then founded an association named
Music Club (), formed by a number of progressive-minded writers and scholars, where the school orchestra performed concerts that were conducted by himself. He was an extraordinary figure among the Iranian musicians of the 20th century, and his primary goal was to provide music for ordinary citizens through a public arena. The
Tehran Symphony Orchestra () was founded by Gholamhossein Minbashian in 1933. It was reformed by
Parviz Mahmoud in 1946, and is currently the oldest and largest symphony orchestra in Iran. Later,
Ruhollah Khaleqi, a student of Vaziri, established the Society for National Music () in 1949. Numerous musical compositions were produced within the parameters of classical Iranian modes, and many involved western
musical harmonies.
Iranian folkloric songs and poems of both classical and contemporary Iranian poets were incorporated for the arrangement of orchestral pieces that would bear the new influences. New western influences were introduced into the
popular music of Iran by the 1950s, with
electric guitar and other imported characteristics accompanying the indigenous instruments and forms, and the popular music developed by the contributions of artists such as
Viguen, who was known as the "
Sultan" of Iranian pop and jazz music. Viguen was one of Iran's first musicians to perform with a guitar. Women were banned from singing as soloists for male audiences. In the 1990s, the new regime began to produce and promote pop music in a new standardized framework, in order to compete with the abroad and unsanctioned sources of Iranian music. Under the presidency of
Reformist Khatami, as a result of easing cultural restrictions within Iran, a number of new pop singers emerged from within the country. ==Genres==