Impression and Presence in Badakhshan and Beyond

Writers in Arabic and Persian have used notions of impression, effect, or influence, ta’sīr, to express how qualities of human character correspond to the sounds of music and poetry, and argued that the latter can actually shape the former.  Focusing on the tradition of singing in the region of Darvoz—literally the gateway to the mountainous historical region known as Badakhshan in Tajikistan and Afghanistan—Richard Wolf will make two points:  1) the relation of “presence” to “impression” is concretized through different forms of musical transmission, and 2) texts are seen to impress themselves on listeners by particular musical means.
For more information, please contact Emera Louise Bridger at elbridge@syr.edu. Co-sponsored by the Department of Art and Music Histories and Central Asia and the Caucasus Research Group