Persian Music

The history of musical development in Iran [Persia] dates back to the prehistoric era. King Jamshid, is credited with the "invention" of music. Fragmentary documents from various periods of the country's history establish that the ancient Persians possessed an elaborate musical culture.

Archeological evidence reveals musical instruments that were used in Persia during the Elamit era around 800 BC. Little is known about the Persian music of the ancient world, least of all about the music of the Achaemenid Empire. Alexander the Great is said to have witnessed many melodies and instruments upon his invasion, and music played an important role in religious affairs. Music played an important role in the courts of the kings of the much later Sassanid Empire. Of this period, we know the names of various court musicians like Barbad and the types of various instruments that were used like harps, lutes, flutes, bagpipes and others. Under Sassanid rule, modal music was developed by a highly significant court musician, Barbad, called the khosravani. While today's classical music tradition in Persia bears the same names of some of the modes of that era it is impossible to know if they sound the same because there is no evidence of musical notation from the Sassanid period.

Today's traditional Persian music began to develop after the advent of Islam in Persia in the Medieval era, and the creation of today's formal, classical musical tradition is directly linked to the music systems in use under the Safavid dynasty. Under the later Qajar dynasty, the classical system was restructured into its present form mostly through the efforts of two legendary musicians of that time, Agha Hossein-Ghoul and Mara Abdullah.