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.

Forthcoming Meetings

Friday April 21st 2023

7.30pm Iran time (4pm UK time) (on googlemeets)

Speaker: Siavash Rokni

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PAST MEETINGS

(1) Monday May 10th 2021

Introductory meeting and introduction to the network

(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

(3) Monday July 5th 2021

Chair: Solmaz Shakerifard

Schedule

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'

(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."

(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'

(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

(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

(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

(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)

(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

(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

(12) Weds April 6th

Speakers: Mohsen Nourani and Armaghan Fakhreirad

(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

(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.

(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/

(16) Monday August 1st 2022

Part 1. Discussion of articles

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

(17) Monday September 5th 2022

(18) Wednesday October 5th 2022

Cancelled due to events in Iran

(19) Tuesday 8th November 2022

7.30pm Iran time (4pm UK time) (on googlemeets)

Speaker: Ali Mousavi on his PhD research on the sounds of the Pardis housing complex in Tehran.

(20) Tuesday 6th December 2022

7.30pm Iran time (4pm UK time) (on googlemeets)

Discussion session on navigating research during times of crisis.

(21) Friday 6th January 2023

7.30pm Iran time (4pm UK time) (on googlemeets)

Speaker: Hadi Bastani - 'Listening to Social Change in Ekbatan'

(22) Tuesday 7th February 2023

7.30pm Iran time (4pm UK time) (on googlemeets)

Speaker: Niloufar Nourbakhsh talks about her compositional work

(23) Friday 17th March 2023

7.30pm Iran time (4pm UK time) (on googlemeets)

Speakers: Mina Bozorgmehr and Hadi Kamali talk about the Sayyaareh projecct