In the late 1960s, under the supervision of the national radio and television organization, Dariush Safvat (1928-2013) established a center aimed at inviting master musicians who preserved classical Iranian music traditions and training young generations through these masters to protect and propagate the remaining treasures of music based on the traditional radio system. This institution, known as the Center for the Preservation and Propagation of Iranian Music, continues to influence the field of Iranian classical music to this day through its collection and recording of valuable works from traditional masters and its enrichment of the Iranian classical music canon.
After the Islamic Revolution, contrary to previous policies that promoted maximum dissemination of music through all cultural institutions, the very existence of music became a serious question. Since the revolutionaries ultimately took control at the people’s behest, and given that most Shiite scholars’ religious edicts deemed music forbidden, the initial decision was to eliminate all music from radio and television broadcasts. However, through the efforts of Seyyed Mohammad Beheshti (1928-1981) to maintain radio and television operations, music broadcasting resumed at a minimal level out of necessity. Before the revolution, some former members of the Center for Preservation and Propagation had separated from it and continued their activities while maintaining the structural framework of Iranian classical music based on the Center’s teachings. These individuals included Mohammad Reza Lotfi, Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Parviz Meshkatian, and Hossein Alizadeh, who, amid the revolution and in alignment with popular movements, established an organization called the Chavosh Artistic and Cultural Foundation and began producing works with revolutionary themes and content. After the revolution, the new government’s inclination leaned more toward popular and revolutionary music aimed at mobilizing society toward revolutionary goals, consequently presenting challenges for artists from other musical genres, including some members of the Center for Preservation and Propagation.
This research employs Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theories as its theoretical framework, chosen for their alignment with the research objectives and coherence of results. Bourdieu’s key concepts - including field, sub-field, habitus, Conflict, and Hysteresis - are analyzed and examined about this topic. Given the research subject, this study is developmental in terms of its objective, employing a sociological approach with a historical perspective. The methodology combines descriptive and analytical approaches, while data collection relies on document review and analysis, drawing from oral history interviews and direct quotations from samples through library research methods. As this is a qualitative study, the sampling method is purposive or criterion-based. The research samples consist of five individuals who were students at the Center for Preservation and Propagation and continued their activities there until the eve of the revolution. These samples include Ata Jangouk, Dariush Talaei, Fatemeh Vaezi (known as Parisa), Mohammad Ali Kianinejad, and Maliheh Saeidi.
This research examines four key aspects of Bourdieu’s theories. First, it analyzes the position of agents within the sub-field of preservation and propagation, where they operated as students under the supervision of masters and directors, engaging in musical performance and activities. The study also explores how individual actions were shaped by habitus and the rules governing the socio-political field. For those with conservative dispositions before the revolution, their social actions through artistic production aligned with both the rules of the preservation and propagation sub-field and, by extension, the socio-political field of the previous government. In examining Conflict, the research addresses how the Center’s fundamental purpose was rooted in its opposition to other musical sub-fields, including radio music and popular music. The study also notes internal conflicts within the preservation and propagation sub-field. Finally, the research confirms the emergence of Hysteresis, particularly evident in the timing of the studied samples’ return to official activities - approximately a decade after the socio-political field changes brought about by the Islamic Revolution. This Hysteresis particularly affected the Center’s conservative members who had continued their activities until the very eve of the revolution based on the rules of both the preservation and propagation sub-field and the socio-political field of the former government.
Since few sociological studies have been conducted in the field of music, one of the goals of this interdisciplinary research is to express the importance and role of awareness in the direction of establishing the taste of consumer music in society, and this is only possible through the expansion of sociological studies in the society under investigation and its associated challenges. Relevant organizations and institutions can enhance public awareness by implementing policies that address their shortcomings.