Literary Arts (Jun 2016)
A study on the mutual relationship between Sa’di’s ghazals and Iranian vocal music
Abstract
Abstract Persian poetry forms –at least since the time of Rudaki- have played a significant role in Iranian’s lyrical music. In most of Iranian songs since the time they were recorded on gramophones to day are seen pieces of sa’di’s ghazals. Sometimes it is so outstanding as if there has been no other means more suitable to the singer or player mood than sa’di’s ghazals. The question now is “why sa’di’s ghazals are deeply ingrained in Iranian music?” or “what feature in sa’di’s poetry has caused his ghazals to be favored in relating Iranian music?” It seems as if sa’di himself has composed his ghazals just for this purpose and he has been familiar with Persian present radif of music. Unlike poets such as Manouchehri, Rudaki, Farrokhi and … who have explicitly expressed they are singers and players, Sa’di has no claim in knowing music. So what is that which has made his poetry more suitable to Persian radif of music than that of those poets who claim are familiar with Iranian radif of music. The present paper emphasizing content analysis is an effort to answer the question. Based on the evidence found in sa’di’s works, there is no doubt that he took part in music gatherings as a listener and enjoyed benefited them and also was familiar with musical instruments and music terminology. What ever the music at the time of sa’di, it has been so far away from its present systematized (standardized) trend (style), but this revolution is not in violation of the claim that Sheikh of Shiraz, sa’di, purposefully has used specific meters and rhythms in such a way that most of them despite their being Mozahaf are eloquent and suitable for music tonse. This has caused men of art to have a tendency towards using sa’di’s ghazals in todey’s radif of music. In fact, although there is a very wide gap between sa’di’s ghazal and our present music, concerning enjoying musical mysteries and elegance as well as poetry essence, it has an undeniable closeness to today’s radif of Awaz. What comes in the following tries to explain these mysteries and elegance. Simplicity and eloquence: Sa’di’s poetry is the epitome of simplicity and eloquence. The giving of many implications using a small number of words and innovation in the usage of simple words and at the same time enjoying eloquence is at the highest degree in sa’di’s poetry. Additionally, sentence structure, poetry structure and the kind of musical expression in sa’di’s ghazal all provide the singer with a variety of melodies. Unity of topic and theme (toner) sharing: Often when sa’di finds a topic suitable to be related, he describes it considering the possibilities of the subject. Choosing the topic means foaming the plot of what he wants to say. What happens in musical works due to sa’di’s talent in ode- writing (composing lyrics) and the musician’s skill is that the poem is a message the poet expresses by means of artistic images and ideas and then a theme suitable for music and its melodies is derived. Flowing rhythm: Rhythm in poetry and music is considered one of the effective factors stimulating human hearing sense. From among about 637 ghazals, according to Forouqi version, involving “Mozahafat”, rhythms Ramal, Hajaz, Mojtass, Mozare’, Khafif, Rajaz, Monsareh with 215,152,124,95,38,29 and 28 ghazals respectively have the highest usage. All these rhythms are viewed as having enjoyable meters used widely. Relating (reporting) an event: The reason for writing poetry is to enlighten (explain) the tenor. If the structure of a ghazal is viewed as one of the poetic forms, we can find a reasonable arrangement form the beginning to the end intended to depict the event the poet has witnessed. Although such a trend by nature can be seen in any poetry, in rhymed writing which is formed using forms of imagination, it is made more enjoyable and tangible. Relating the event in sa’di’s ghazal has a particular feature in which he moves from the parts to the whole and as a result, such a trend gives an artistic dynamism to the development of the thought in ghazal couplets. Position of phonemes: Language features also play an essential part in why men of music welcome the great Sheikh’s ghazals. In the course of speech, each sentence, word and syllable involves some degrees of high and low pitched voice. In poetry, phonemes in addition to the role they play in the musical beauty of the poem, sometimes in harmonious with other parts induce meaning. It is in such a situation where the poet, using words with certain letters, creates with those letters the image he wants to present. Impressiveness of ghazal rhythm: The beauty of a word is a result of the suitable choice and collection of that word in the poem. In sa’di’s ghazals the poet’s word possibilities and his awareness of words and their different forms are so vast that they make his poetry uniform and that the sequence of its parts can be guessed. Sa’di’s ghazals enjoy uniform and rhythmic tone and they regardless of the way the poet relates the event, in musical expression follow a particular order, too. Exchange of couplets and musical melodies: The main purpose of the present paper is investigating the mutual relationship between couplets of sa’di’s ghazals, Naqarat and melodies of musical tones. This type of ghazal due to its magic tone and its suitability for the radif of music is the most famous one and has become popular among people. The tone of the lover’s call, request, submissiveness and helplessness, yearning and pain of love, the lover’s unconditional compliance and the beloved’s undeniable dominion and … in sa’di’s ghazals has been shown in such a way that they are in complete agreement with elegances of Persian vocal “Gooshes” and can be conveyed in the best way to the listener. It is all these features that have made Sa’di’s ghazals preferable in connection with Persian present music.
