Blog Post 4

So I checked out a Googoosh performance titled “Hamseda” on youtube. At least I am hoping that’s the title and not just a word in Farsi used to describe something else…in any case here’s the link

There were a few elements of Iranian classical music that I was able to pick out in the performance, the primary one being the presence of multiple gusheh, or base melodies, that were then expanded upon throughout the piece. It was easy to tell them apart because the beat would often change suddenly in the song; some gusheh were very rhythmic, others seemed almost non-pulsatile to me. I don’t know if they were long enough to qualify as true gusheh or if they were all sections of one, but the style was definitely there. There was a lot of ornamentation both vocally and instrumentally; I don’t know if I’d necessarily call the vocals melismas, which the book described as a staple of Arab music, but it was definitely in that neighborhood, with a lot of undulation in the notes.

I thought it showed many elements of other Arab music as well. Horns and flute were quite prominent, along with what sounded like small drums; to me it resembled the ensembles described as components of Arab pop music. It’s hard for me to hear as I have little practice in hearing quarter tones, but some of the intervals used did not seem to be standard western, and were more in tune with an Arab scale. As for other influences, it definitely would have helped to be able to understand the lyrics, and see whether they were more traditional Iranian, Arab, or even more western. Finally, I thought I could hear some Latin rhythms in the more pulsatile sections; whether it was influenced by the west or it’s an effect of Latin music being influenced by the Arab world, the world (or at least I) may never know…