Persian Folk Music

Persian folk music comprises the regional traditions of Iran — the musiqi-ye navahi played outside the classical dastgah system — across the country's provinces and ethnic communities. Its forms include the epic singing of the Khorasan bakhshi bards to the two-string dotar, Kurdish tanbur music tied to Ahl-e Haqq ritual, Azeri ashiq balladry on the saz, and the kamancheh and sorud traditions of Lorestan and Baluchestan. Repertoires are local in language — Persian, Kurdish, Azeri, Baluchi, Lori — and in scale and instrumentation, and they are maintained by hereditary and community musicians for weddings, rituals and seasonal gatherings.