Sound, Identity, and Resistance: Music and Sonic Practices in Marginalized Communities in Iran
Chair(s): Azadeh Vatanpour (Emory University,)
This panel explores the role of sound and music in shaping communal identity, religious practice, and political resistance among minoritized communities in Iran. By examining the ritual music of the Yārsān, the sonic legacy of Kurdish singer Hasan Zirak, and the sacred soundscapes of Yārsān spirituality, these studies collectively explore how musical and vocal practices become sites for cultural expression, social cohesion, and defiance against hegemonic forces. The first paper analyzes Yārsān ritual music through Thomas Turino’s participatory performance framework, demonstrating how Jam ceremonies foster spiritual ecstasy and reinforce communal solidarity. The second paper investigates Hasan Zirak’s vocal aesthetics and their deep association with Kurdish identity in Iran. It explores how his distinctive vocal style serves as an auditory marker of Kurdishness and as a rejection of state-imposed cultural assimilation. The third paper examines the Yārsān sacred soundscape, applying R. Murray Schafer’s concept of soundscape and Edward Said’s antithetical discourses to explore how sound is both a spiritual medium and a form of resistance against dominant auditory hegemony. Together, these papers illustrate how sound—whether through participatory music-making, iconic vocal timbre, or sacred soundscapes—functions as a powerful tool for identity formation and political resistance. This panel contributes to broader discussions on music, sound, and power, demonstrating how minoritized communities reclaim their sonic spaces to assert cultural and religious autonomy.
Presentations in the Session
Music, Ritual, and Community: Participatory Performance in Yārsān Religious Practice
Sirvan Manhoobi
N/A
This study investigates how participation in the ritual music of the Yārsān, an ethno-religious community in western Iran, within the sacred space of the Jamkhānah, continuously redefines their collective identity. As a faith in which music is central to spiritual expression and social cohesion, the Yārsān tradition offers a rich case study for understanding the interplay between collective musical practice, religious devotion, and community building. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Kerend-e Gharb, Sarpol-e Zahāb, and Gahvāreh, this research explores how Yārsān musical traditions shape communal life and spiritual experience, emphasizing the transformative power of participatory performance. Central to Yārsān practice is the performance of kalām, sacred texts recited with tanbur, a lute-like instrument believed to bridge the material and spiritual realms. The Jam ceremony, a key communal gathering, exemplifies participatory music-making through cyclical melodies, repetitive structures, and collective engagement. Participants of varying musical proficiency contribute through singing, clapping, and instrumental accompaniment, fostering inclusivity and reinforcing spiritual ecstasy (sarkhowashi) and social solidarity. Applying Thomas Turino’s framework of participatory music to the Jam ritual, this study challenges the assumed boundaries between performer and audience. The findings position Yārsān music as a model of participatory performance, illustrating its role in sustaining religious devotion and strengthening community bonds. This research deepens understanding of Yārsān spirituality and contributes to broader discussions on the role of music in fostering inclusivity, collective identity, and transcendent experiences across cultures.
Sounding Kurdish, Singing Kurdishness: The Cultural Connotation of Hasan Zirak’s Voice in Iran
Kajwan Ziaoddini
University of Maryland
This study examines the relationship between the timbral qualities of Hasan Zirak’s voice (1921-1972) and the imaginaries of Kurdish identity in Iran. Whether heard as background music in teahouses, accompanied by the rattling of teaglasses, or emanating from the speakers of shared taxis and minibuses, Zirak’s voice remains a defining feature of the Kurdish soundscape, extending into radio dramas and films produced in Iran. More than fifty years after his death, his voice continues to serve as an index of Kurdish identity and is actively imitated by those who want to sound more “Kurdish” in Iran. This study explores the meanings that musicians and cultural actors attribute to Zirak’s vocal timbre and investigates why his vocal quality has been so closely associated with Kurdish identity. I employ ethnographic methodology and draw on ethnomusicological theories that examines how voices are heard, used, and imagined in various discourses (Weidman, Harkness). I argue that, by building his career in Iraqi radio, Hasan Zirak’s vocal aesthetics diverged significantly from those of assimilated Iranian-Kurdish radio singers—a divergence interpreted as a rejection of state-driven hegemonic identity politics imposed on Iranian Kurds. These interpretations drive musicians to imitate Zirak's vocal quality when they seek to sound more Kurdish. By situating Zirak’s voice within broader discursive ideologies, this study illustrates how seemingly authentic musical aesthetics may be shaped by these discourses and how music can serve as a powerful site for the practice of identity politics.
Sounding the Divine: Yārsān Sacred Soundscapes and the Politics of Sonic Resistance in Iran
Azadeh Vatanpour
Emory University
This study examines the sacred soundscape of the Yārsān, an ethno-religious minority in Iran, and its role in fostering a sense of belonging while resisting state-imposed hegemonic forces. In Yārsān cosmology, sacralization extends beyond the physical landscape to encompass the aural environment, where sound—particularly music and tanbur performances—bridges the spiritual and material realms. By invoking divine presence through sound, the Yārsān construct a sacred soundscape that reinforces their communal spiritual identity and amplifies their marginalized voices within Iran’s sociopolitical landscape. Drawing on R. Murray Schafer’s concept of soundscape, this study argues that the Yārsān actively shape their aural environment rather than passively inhabiting it. Through the invocation of divine beings and the performance of sacred maqāms on tanbur, Yārsān music serves as both a medium for divine communication and a repository of communal memory. Methodologically, this research employs semi-structured interviews and textual analysis to examine how these sound practices sustain Yārsān identity. Furthermore, this study applies Edward Said’s theory of antithetical discourses, which examines how marginalized voices construct counter-narratives in response to dominant ideological frameworks. The Yārsān’s sacred soundscape, in this context, functions as an auditory form of resistance against the state’s cultural and religious hegemony. By analyzing the relationship between divine sound, musical performance, and identity formation, this research illustrates how the Yārsān soundscape not only preserves cultural heritage but also reclaims auditory space as an act of defiance against hegemonic structures.
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