Anthropological Study of Folk Music in Gilan Province in Iran (Instrumental Music)

Abstract

Ethno-musicology is an academic field encompassing various approaches to the study of music that emphasize its cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dimensions or contexts instead of its isolated ‘sound' component or any particular repertoire. The term ‘Ethno-musicology' became common in1950, although the emergence of the field can be traced back to the late nineteenth century. Anthropological study of folk music of Gilan province, in Iran with regards to its richness and long history is the subject of this paper. Folk music of Gilan is a part of folklore since it represents the type of thoughts, feelings and behavior of Gilanian People. Nowadays, some Gilani music is on the verge of ‘getting forgotten' The problem is not only the loss of a kind of music but it is feared that this change will cause another change in thinking and behavior, Therefore, the task is to identify, document and analyze Gilani folk music. In this paper, Informal interview and participant observations comprise the methods of data collection. Functional theory has been used for analysis.