In December of the past year, UNESCO, a United Nations agency, recognized the preparation and performance art of the tar in Azerbaijan as part of humanity's intangible heritage. This caused protests among some musicians and music groups in Iran. The Iranian House of Music issued a statement, arguing that the tar should be recognized under the name of Iran, not Azerbaijan, and officially demanded the Iranian representation at UNESCO intervene in the matter. Tabriz-based musician Memmed Ansari spoke to Voice of America about the issue.
Memmed Ansari believes that the protests by Iranian musicians are not primarily based on art and culture but are more politically and nationally motivated. According to Mr. Ansari, the Azerbaijani tar and the Persian tar can be considered two different musical instruments due to differences in performance style, the shape of the instrument, and the number of strings. He adds that Iran itself is a multi-ethnic country, and the tar is also performed in the cities of Azerbaijan in Iran, just as it is in the Republic of Azerbaijan. In this context, Mr. Ansari mentions famous Azerbaijani tar players in Iran, such as Ali Selimi, the composer of the renowned piece “Separation,” Mahmud Shatiriyan, and Hasan Damirchi, whose music school was closed by the Iranian government.
According to Iranian media, Daryush Pirniyakan, the head of the Iranian House of Music, stated that there is no such thing as an Azerbaijani tar. He argued that 160-170 years ago, an Iranian musician named Mirza Ali Shirazi took the tar and kamancheh to the city of Shusha, where he taught his students and introduced the tar to the public. Memmed Ansari considers such statements to be “simplistic tales.”
Mr. Ansari notes that the history of the tar and primarily plectrum-based playing in the history of Azerbaijan and other Turkic peoples is ancient. He mentions Safi al-Din al-Urmawi, who lived in the 13th century, the musician Abdülkadir Meragi from a century later, and also the works of Farabi.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Məmməd Ənsari: Tarın Azərbaycanda qədim tarixi var
