Persian Traditional Music

The art-music tradition of Iran, built on the dastgah modal system and the radif repertoire, and realised through improvised performance on tar, setar, santur, ney, kamancheh and tombak, or through singing that sets the classical Persian poetic canon of Rumi, Hafez and Saadi. It encompasses courtly, devotional and concert settings, an ethics of master-disciple transmission, and a performance ideal in which fixed repertoire and spontaneous elaboration are inseparable; its leading modern exponents include *Mohammad Reza Shajarian*, *Hossein Alizadeh* and *Kayhan Kalhor*.