Description
Book SynopsisQuestions of creativity, and particularly the processes which underlie creative performance or 'improvisation', form some of the central areas of interest in current musicology. Yet the predominant discourses on which musicological thought in this area are based have rarely been challenged. In this book Laudan Nooshin interrogates musicological discourses of creativity from the perspective of critical theory and postcolonial studies, examining their ideological underpinnings, the relationships of alterity which they sustain, and the profound implications for our understanding of creative processes in music. The repertoire which forms the book's main focus is Iranian classical music, a tradition in which the performer plays a central creative role. Addressing a number of issues regarding the nature of musical creativity, the author explores both the discourses through which ideas about creativity are constructed, exchanged and negotiated within this tradition, and the practice by which
Trade ReviewWinner of the British Forum for Ethnomusicology (BFE) Book Prize, 2016.
'Iranian Classical Music is an important addition to the recent studies of music-making in related traditions. As a commendable example of scientific analysis that is theoretically grounded, the book will also appeal to a wider audience that is interested in the innate creativity of the human condition.'
-- John Morgan O'Connell, Cardiff University, Oxford Journal
Table of ContentsContents: Preface. Part I Musicological Narratives of Creativity: Approaching the study of musical creativity: musicologies, discourses and others. Part II Creativity in the Iranian Context: Discourses and Structures: Discourses of creativity in Iranian classical music; Disciplining creativity: the radif of Iranian classical music. Part III Beyond Discourse: The Practice of Creativity: Creative performance in Iranian classical music; Postlude: ’Roots in the past and a view towards the future’: contemporary developments in Iranian classical music performance. Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
