Iran’s Shahriaran Rastakhize Opera: An Anthropological Interpretation

Year 2024, Issue: 39, 24 - 32, 31.12.2024

Alireza Ghobadi

Abstract

Mirzadeh Eshghi (1894–1924) was an innovative and patriotic Iranian poet. Mirzadeh is noted in the history of Iranian literature for pioneering a literary revolution and creating a new literary style. This qualitative study contemplates one of his literary innovations titled Iran’s Shahriaran Rastakhiz Opera, scrutinizing historical documents and employing ethnographic techniques. It expresses Mirzadeh’s concerns about the damage inflicted on the material and nonmaterial culture of Iranians after the Achaemenid era. This opera form utilizes four different genres of Iranian classical music, with six singers performing poems about cultural and social changes. Mirzadeh’s opera is a very attractive tool for inculcating social and cultural awareness, especially regarding Iran’s national and cultural identity. This study probes the diverse sociocultural and political functions accomplished by this dramatic work of art and simultaneously examines its problems.

Keywords

opera, Mirzadeh Eshghi, culture, Clifford Geertz, interpretation

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