Quote Originally Posted by Eduorius
TA how is your search going? Have you looked out for Persian music, because I think that it happens the same as with Celtic music.
I think TA explained it in the best way. Traditional Iranian music is very aimed at vocals, and one could almost write an entire treatise on singing techniques alone. The tradition of singing is very deeply rooted in Iranian culture, and it is said that about 2,000 pieces of Sassanid folk music have passed on to us, including the works of Barbâd (Called "The Great"), Nakîsâ and Sarkâsh, through Farâbî. Since most Sassanian records were destroyed during the Islamic incursions, it hints at a very strong tradition of singing and the pieces being of such popularity as to have passed on by oral tradition. We have knowledge as to what instruments and what system of scales the Sassanians (Which we have reasons to believe that much of this was known during Parthian times as well) used, and it is remarkably alike Greek in many aspects. Even more sad is that a purely Iranian tradition has been misused under the facade of Sufism, denoting it as the music of dervishes and music of Iranian Islam... Someone shoot me already

Unfortunately, Iranian classical music is very much so driven by vocals and what is even more unfortunate is that Iranian classical music is declining. Shahram Nazeri, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Jalal Akhbari and Souroush Izadi are only a handful of artists today who are proficient in classical music. That is unless I start asking around among some pals of mine for some true traditional Kurdish, Lûr, Gûrgânî, Gîlânî, Balûchî and Bandarî music, sung by true herders, and nomads ... This is not music easily acquired to come by in an Iran where singing is largely prohibited, especially to women, and it's not like most of these simple people would carry around a studio for recording

I have a few instrumental tracks. Shahram Nazeri is one of the greatest artists in this field as the language he usually sings in was Kurmanji, a form of Kurdish, very similar to Pahlavî. His songs are very Daf-intensive, a form of a framedrum with rings connected to the edges, giving a very mesmerizing treble sound akin to soft, white noise while beating the hide (Often deer-skin). Traditional songs are either based on the tunbak (Goblet-drum) or the daf. Sometimes both are used, but the tunbak would be the dominant basis, while the daf would merely be percussion. There are other drums, but they are meant for specific styles, so the goblet and framedrums are the most generic.