Fieldwork
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“They Took the Heart of Mugham!”
“They Took the Heart of Mugham!” Azerbaijani Musicians Finding Authenticity in Iranian Traditions by Polina Dessiatnitchenko The performance is remarkable for many reasons. On the centerstage of the Mugham Center in Baku, Azerbaijan, singer Fergana Gasimova is sitting cross-legged, and as she sings, her body sways sideways, her eyes close in ecstasy, her arms thrust upward, and her head moves poignantly to the well-defined poetical meters. Instead of the usual Azerbaijani instruments, […]
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Connecting through Nava
by Mukaddas Mijit Connecting through Nava: Documenting Shared Musical Heritage with Uzbek and Uyghur Musicians in Tashkent, March 2025 In March 2025, we embarked on a one-week field trip exploring the connections between Uzbek Maqam and Uyghur Muqam practices with few outstanding musicians. Our journey led us to the Yunus Rajabi Institute of Traditional Music in Tashkent- a landmark institution for Uzbek musical heritage. For this initial phase of our project, we […]
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Giovanni De Zorzi: Istanbul fieldwork 2024-25
From May to July 2024, and subsequently from April to June 2025, I conducted fieldwork in Istanbul, focusing on the current state of Ottoman-Turkish art music (makam). Given our project’s ‘beyond nation’ scope, I proposed that the concert scheduled for November 20, 2024, in Venice should feature compositions by ‘foreign’ composers—referred to as acemler, acemī, or acemīyūn, and generally regarded as ‘Persians’—found in 17th and 18th-century treatises by Bobowski, Cantemir, and Kevserī. Consequently, […]
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Creative research in Iran / Oct 2024
Dr. Saeid Kordmafi recently concluded an extensive two-month research in Iran, from October to December 2023. This constituted part of the practice-based strand of the “Maqam Beyond Nation” project. The primary objective of this undertaking was to finalise the composition, arrangement, and refinement of a classical Iranian music suite by Dr. Kordmafi, partly through rehearsing the repertoire with a select ensemble of accomplished Iranian musicians. Composed based on a cross-cultural and […]
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Field trip in Uzbekistan / Sept 2024
Dr. Saeid Kordmafi conducted one-month fieldwork from September to October 2023 in Uzbekistan, as an integral component of his engagement in the “Maqam Beyond Nation” project. Delving into the rich musical culture of Central Asia, Dr. Kordmafi travelled to various cities across Uzbekistan, including Bukhara, Samarkand, Fergana, and Tashkent, engaging with esteemed music institutes and master musicians of the venerable traditions of maqam. This field trip was underpinned by a […]