She has dedicated her life to the Qashqaei culture; from spotting new music talents to colleting love songs, double rhymes, and cradle songs.
Undoubtedly, it is because of the sacrifices of women like Parvin Bahmani that the culture and music of Qashqaei still has so much to say and so many fans. Without her devotion, we would have known little about this rich Iranian culture and tradition.
She was born in 1949, in the Qashqaei kinfolk. From an early age she fell in love with Qashqaei cradlesongs and music pieces. Her father himself was a musician and that’s where she got her influence from. She also learned music from other traditional musicians like Mohammad Hossein Kiani, Mohammad Qoli Khorshidi, Hadi Nakisa, Habibollah Gorginpour, and Hengameh Akhavan. But it was her love and affection for Qashqaei culture that inspired Bahmani to pay closer attention to her ancestors’ cultural practices and rituals.
Bahmani has for decades dedicated her life to the Qashqaei culture; from spotting great talents to colleting love songs, double rhymes, and long-forgotten lullabies. To this end, she formed the Hava Music Group in 2002 that solely plays Qashqai folk music. Following, she tells us about her life and profound passion for traditional music and more:
Tell us about those initial years.
I dedicated a great part of my life to the Qashqaei music and that of Boyer Ahmad and Bakhtiari. In those years, there was no one who wanted to do this, so I decided to take the lead. I introduced many unknown talents to the world of folk music and documented our own cultural traditions in the form of books and music records. This is because in those years everything you could hear, including folk music and fables, were oral, never documented, recorded, or published. I’m now living in the capital Tehran, but I have never stayed away from folk music and tradition.
As you just mentioned, most of the folk music and traditions is spoken or oral. How do you assess the situation for other types of folk music?
The same problems exist for other types of folk music in Iran. If it wasn’t for the efforts made by Mohammad Reza Darvishi, our folk music could have been disappeared a very long time ago. He contributed immensely to folk music and traditional culture. There are of course other local musicians who similarly promoted traditional cultures and communities. But their efforts went nowhere. People are now listening to imported music which has nothing to do with our culture or tradition. The truth hurts.
Your life is intertwined with folk music of your kinfolk. What about others? How do they connect with contemporary music?
For everything we used to have a song to sing or play. This made things easier in those difficult years. This included taking care of livestock, working as shepherd, or weaving carpets as woman. We used to do all these works while singing some soothing songs. In those years, there were no sleeping pills. So as kids, we would listen to our mothers sing lullabies before going to bed. Nowadays, many mothers can’t even sing a lullaby. We have to record our old-style lullabies before they are forgotten forever. This way, we could pass the tradition to new mothers. In many of my live performances, what captivates audiences the most is the traditional cradlesongs. Many small kids come to me after the show to thank me for singing them these beautiful songs. They ask me to record them so they could listen to them again. It means what it means. It’s never too late to save and promote our folk music, because there is still an audience for it. Many kids are fond of their traditional cultures, which is encouraging.
What bothers you the most these days?
What bothers me the most are career constraints. For instance, I cannot have duet with a male singer. I just don’t understand why this is yet to be solved. It doesn’t make any sense for a man to sing cradlesongs. My music and my place in my culture are crystal clear to all to see. Those who come to my shows are not looking for anything unusual. They know me and they are familiar with my culture and music. They know what they will hear. They come to listen to their own folk music. When I sing I picture the places I used to live as a little girl, including mountains and hilltops. I never think of anything else.
What about your cradlesongs. Is this about publishing them or the problems you face during live shows?
It’s about my shows. For instance, the Music Society asked me to sing lullabies to a live audience. Then some news websites ganged up against me and the whole idea collapsed. My mother worked many years to collect these beautiful cradlesongs. We still cannot get the permission to publish them as a collection. But we are working on it. The law says a woman can only sing lullabies alone. No male partner should be there. Make no mistake, if a man sings a lullaby to his kids, they can never sleep! The good news is that the Culture Ministry is on our sides. The ministry makes it clear that there are no restrictions to mothers singing cradlesongs for a live audience.
Apart from the cradlesongs, women also sing when they are working, like when they are weaving carpets. This kind of folk music needs to get permission for live performances as well. We have to change our mentality and the way our society thinks about traditional cultures. This includes traditional dancing or group dancing. This is part of our ancient traditions and festivities. We need national dialogue on this.
You once tried to form a Folk Music Association. What happened?
Back in 2003, I did try very hard to make this happen. We even wrote the articles of association and recruited board members. But they disqualified two members without giving any explanation. It was right then that we found out the association will never see the light of day. We are yet to have an organization that takes care of veteran musicians in this field. There are also many young musicians that no one knows anything about. The greatest concern for me is that these are the last generation of traditional musicians and no one is supporting them. If nothing is done soon enough, the tradition of Iranian folk music and culture will be gone for good. We need to protect the culture, the music, and the artists. For this, we must set up a Folk Music Association.
Translation by Bobby Naderi