Sonic Tehran Network

We welcome anyone interested in urban sound to join the Sonic Tehran Network.

We meet (online) once a month to discuss writings on urban sound and creative work that engages with the historical and contemporary sounds of Tehran. If you'd like to join the network, do contact us.

The network includes sound enthusiasts, musicians, sound artists and others interested in the sounds of Tehran.

Meetings usually take place on Zoom, at 7.30pm Iran time.

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

Wednesday 6th March 2024

Mina Harandi, Mitra Harandi and Mehdi Aminian talking about the project ‘Woven Sounds’, music and carpet weaving

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PAST MEETINGS

(32) Tuesday 6th February 2024

Nazli Khatambakhsh-Tabatabai (Guildhall School of Music and Drama) talking about her PhD research

(31) Wednesday 3rd January 2024

Kamyar Salavati (University of Exeter) talking about his PhD research

(30) Monday 11th December. 2023

Masserat Amir-Ebrahimi talking about her work on Farhangsara-ye Bahman

(29) Tuesday November 21st 2023

Laudan Nooshin (City, University of London): 'Listening to Tehran: Sonic Palimpsests and Affective Historical Imaginaries'

(28) Monday October 16th 2023

Aref Hosseini (PhD candidate in Linguistics, University of Esfahan): 'Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of City as Text'

(27) Monday August 7th 2023

Golfam Khayyam (composer, and improviser) and Nikki Mousavi (cellist) discuss Golfam's recent work 'Among Streets, Windows, and Times', commissioned for the Sonic Tehran Project.

(26) Friday July 10th 2023

Armaghan Fakhraeirad (PhD candidate in ethnomusicology, University of Pennsylvania): 'Sound, Memory, and Trauma in the Port-Oil City of Abadan'

(25) Tuesday June 6th 2023

Sahand Athari (PhD in Architecture and Acoustics, ETH Zurich) will be talking about 'Urban Sound Propagation Modeling'

(24) Tuesday May 2nd 2023

Khamoosh Group talking about their collaborative project focusing on Iranian sonic heritage. More details about their work can be found at this link.

(23) Friday April 21st 2023

Siavash Rokni, talking about his research on Iranian fusion music (talfighi)

(22) Friday 17th March 2023

Mina Bozorgmehr and Hadi Kamali talk about the Sayyaareh project

(21) Tuesday 7th February 2023

Nourbakhsh talks about her compositional work

(20) Friday 6th January 2023

Hadi Bastani - 'Listening to Social Change in Ekbatan'

(19) Tuesday 6th December 2022

Discussion session on navigating research during times of crisis.

(18) Tuesday 8th November 2022

Ali Mousavi talking about his PhD research on the sounds of the Pardis housing complex in Tehran.

(17) Monday September 5th 2022

(16) Monday August 1st 2022

Part 1. Discussion of articles

Part 2. Members of the Sonic Tehran sound walks team talk about their work.

(15) Monday July 4th 2022

Part 1. Discussion of articles

Part 2. Speakers - Gascia Ouzanian, Christabel Stirling and members of the Sonicities team. https://www.soncities.org/

(14) Sunday June 5th 2022

Chair: Armaghan Fakhreirad

Part 1. Discussion of articles

Part 2. Speaker: Dr Khaghani, Lecturer, School of Architecture, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran.

(13) Friday May 6th

Part 1. Discussion of article and listening

Asma Mehan. “Manifestation of Power: Toopkhaneh Square, Tehran” in Spaces and Flows: International Conference on Urban and Extra Urban Studies, 2017

Listening: http://radionist.com/podcasts/ep28-meydantoopkhaneh/

Part 2. Debate on Tehran and sonic identity: Does Tehran have a (sonic) identity? Has it lost its identity? Speakers: Armaghan Fakhreirad, Paria, Kamyar Salavati, Payam Pilvar, Mona

(12) Weds April 6th 2022

Speakers: Mohsen Nourani and Armaghan Fakhreirad

(11) Monday March 7th 2022

Chair: Mohsen Nourani

Part 1. Discussion of articles

Hamshahri Memari: Architecture and Urbanism Magazine, No. 88: (Please read pages 31-35)

Spinetti, Federico. “Of Mirrors and Frames Music, Sound, and Architecture at the Iranian Zūrkhāneh.” In Music, Sound, and Architecture In Islam, 356–84. University of Texas Press, 201.

Part 2. Speakers Sara Sabet and Pouya Nekouie

(10) Wednesday February 9th 2022

Chair: Mina Harandi

Part 1. Discussion of articles and listening

Reading: Emily Thompson. 2004. “Noise and Modern Culture, 1900-1933.” In The Soundscape of Modernity: Architectural Acoustics and the Culture of Listening in America, 1900–1933.

Listening: https://www.soundinghistorypodcast.com/episodes/episode-7

Part 2. Speakers: Pirooz Arjomand and Mehrnoosh Mansoorgarakani

(9) Tuesday January 4th 2022

Chair: Payam Pilvar

Part 1. Discussion Session

Preparatory Reading:

Denise Gill, ‘The Listening Body in Death’, Sounding Out! (2017)

https://soundstudiesblog.com/author/deniseelifgill/

And listening:

The Animal Turn. S4E2: Sonic Methods with Jonathan Prior

https://theanimalturn.buzzsprout.com/1246910/9531496-s4e2-sonic-methods-with-jonathan-prior

Part 2. Speaker: Ramin Sadighi (Hermes Records)

(8) Monday December 6th 2021

Part 1. Discussion of articles:

Rennie, Tullis. “Power Struggles: The Politics of Composing with Sounds of Protest.” Leonardo Music Journal 25 (2015)
Rennie, Tullis. “Editorial: Socially Engaged Sound Practices.” Organised Sound 26, no. 2 (2021): 163–65.
Mackay, Sam. “Polite Applause: The Sonic Politics of ‘Clap for Carers.’” Organised Sound 26, no. 2 (2021): 211–18

Listening:

1. https://soundcloud.com/tullisrennie/womens-march-on-london-21st-january-2017

2. https://www.wallsonwalls.co.uk/godwincrowndale

Part 2. Speakers: Tullis Rennie and Iman Jesmi

(7) Monday November 1st 2021

Part 1. Discussion of articles

- Keivan Aghamohseni article on football sounds

- Two chapters from Keywords in Sound

Part 2. Speaker: Keivan Aghamohseni

(6) Monday October 4th 2021

Chair: Anna Rezaie

Discussion of three chapters from Keywords in Sound (2015), ed David Novak and Matt Sakakeeny: 'Introduction', 'Listening', 'Noise'

Discussion of translation project.

(5) Monday September 6th 2021

Chair: Kamyar Salavati

Part 1. Reading Discussion

Ja‘fari-Harandi, Minâ. 2016. 'Yek Gune-ye Tāzeh Motevalled Shode-ye Musiqi-ye Khiâbâni dar Tehrân' ('A Newborn Street Music in Tehran"'), Mahoor Music Quarterly, 70: 89-116.

Part 2. Speaker: Mina Harandi

Speaker: Solmaz Shakerifard, 'Interdisciplinary approach to sound studies in the 21st century: Ziad Fahmy, Ana Maria Ochoa-Gautier, Negar Mottahedeh, and Denise Gill'

(4) Monday August 2nd 2021

Chair: Armaghan Fakherierad

Speakers: Pantea and Leonie Roessler

Please listen to the below in preparation for the meeting

Leonie: The link below will take you to a page where you can listen to (stream without having to download or pay) three recordings related to the project Leonie will be talking about:

https://leonieroessler.bandcamp.com/album/tehrsfahan-a-sound-collage

Pantea:

Please watch the animation below made by Pantea and her friend Kate Foster, using headphones for the the audio if possible (I'm providing both the YouTube link and the Vimeo link here)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CX9rR_oOjdQ

https://vimeo.com/470092056

Please also read this essay, Pantea has written about a plant called Sundew from its own point of view and it's related to a part of her presentation about the more-than-human.

Pantea has also asked the following:

"Not necessary but if the group could think about a piece of sound/soundscape that they hear/listen to on an everyday basis (in the past or present), and can bring a recording of it, that would be wonderful. This will accompany an invitation I am going to propose."

(3) Monday July 5th 2021

Chair: Solmaz Shakerifard

Part 1. Reading Discussion

Ari Y. Kelman. 2010. “Rethinking the Soundscape.” The Senses and Society 5 (2): 212–34

Part 2. Speaker: Mahsa Pakravan: 'Soundscape, Sonic Experience, and Sonic memory in Iran: Jewish and Muslim Cultural Identity in Udlajan, Tehran' (please read the article below in advance)

Mahsa Pakravan. 2017. ‘Soundscape and Sonic Memory: Dynamics of Jewish and

Muslim Day-to-day Social Interactions in Udlajan, Tehran’, Sound Studies 3(2): 134-51.

Speaker: Kamyar Salavati: 'Songs of Brick and Clay: Worksongs of Qajar Architects'

(2) Monday June 7th 2021

PART 1. Readings for discussion

- 'Resounding the Campus: Pedagogy, Race, and the Environment’, Amanda M. Black and Andrea F. Bohlman (2017)

- ‘Soundmapping: Critiques and reflections on this new publicly engaging medium’ by Jacqueline Waldock (2018) https://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/214583/214584

Part 2. Speakers: Payam Pilvar and Talieh Attarzadeh

(1) Monday May 10th 2021

Introductory meeting and introduction to the network