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
(40) Monday 3rd March 2025
Amir Moosavi (Rutgers University): 'Reading the Belliphonic in the Literature of the Iran-Iraq War'.
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PAST MEETINGS
(39) Tuesday 11th February 2025
Michelle Assay (University of Toronto/King's College London): 'When Puppets Sing in Iran: Reconfiguring Iran's "National" Opera'.
(38) Tuesday 21st January 2025
Talieh Warner-Attarzadeh: 'Music in Iranian Television Puppetry Shows'.
(37) Tuesday 10th December 2024
Mohsen Mohamadi (UCLA): 'The Challenges of Historical Research in Iranian Music'.
(36) Tuesday 12th November 2024
Amin Hashemi (University of Aberdeen, UK): 'Creativity, Subjectivity and Migration: Musicians with Iranian Backgrounds in the UK'.
(35) Tuesday September 3rd 2024
Shaghayegh Shahparast speaking about her research on the sounds of Ahvaz.
(34) Saturday June 22nd 2024
Amir Eslami, composer and musicians based in Vancouver talking about his music and work.
(33) Wednesday 6th March 2024
Mina Harandi, Mitra Harandi and Mehdi Aminian talking about the project ‘Woven Sounds’, music and carpet weaving
(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:
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Rennie, Tullis. “Power Struggles: The Politics of Composing with Sounds of Protest.” Leonardo Music Journal 25 (2015)
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Rennie, Tullis. “Editorial: Socially Engaged Sound Practices.” Organised Sound 26, no. 2 (2021): 163–65.
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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
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