A Sociological Analysis of the Concept of Cadness in the Field of Iranian Music Case Study of Vaziri-Aref Debate

The concept of sadness is one of the main debates among Iranian musicians, and many have argued whether it exists in Iranian music or not and whether it should be praised or criticized. One of the first manifestations of this debate occurred in 1925 when Ali-Naqi Vaziri, in opening concerts of his musical club, lectured about some elements of Iranian music among which sadness was pointed out as being against the spirit of an industrial society and how it should be reformed. Vaziri’s lectures provoked many reactions among cultural figures the most challenging one was Aref Qazvini, a famous singer-songwriter. Aref severely criticized Vaziri for ignoring the fact that Iranian musical modes are not altogether sad and if it is the case sadness is the essence of Iranian music, and one cannot remove it from the rest of Iranian music. However, the formation of sadness debate in Iranian music rarely has been the subject of a sociological study and the issue rather has been taken up by Iranian musicians who try to define their positions than being analyzed based on a sociological outlook. This study, based on Bourdieu’s field theory which investigates social actors’ position takings in different fields of activity with their own special rules of conduct, puts the debate between Aref Qazvini and Ali-Naqi Vaziri under a sociological case study investigation and attempts to answer the question how sadness debate in Iranian music is related to sociological mechanisms. Data for this historical sociological study is collected from memoirs, lectures, articles, and notes of the two main actors in the field of Iranian music. When necessary, Data is analyzed using discourse analysis as suggested by Norman Fairclough’s discourse analysis. The results show that the formation of the sadness debate begins with the social differentiation of this era and is formulated in the Iranian music field according to the different positions and habitus of the field’s actors. The Social differentiation mechanism of this era which resulted in the autonomy of the field of Iranian music subjected Iranian music to a new artistic discourse based on which the feelings embedded in Iranian music should be investigated and reformulated according to the modern nation-state expediencies, and sadness was a much-debated issue in this discourse. On another level, i.e. in the field of Iranian music, the issue of sadness was a pretext for position takings of different actors. Whether they were inclined toward the cultural pole of the field, which emphasized the artistic rules of musical compositions, or the economic pole, which relied upon the audience’s taste, they formulated the concept of sadness as they attempted to legitimize their strategy in the field. Therefore, Vaziri regarded sadness as an element non-congruent with an industrial society that should be reformed using western musical technics, and Aref emphasized the common language that is provided by such elements as the sadness of Iranian music. Aref used this language to communicate with the Iranian music audience which in-field analysis means the economic pole of the field, while Vaziri was acting toward the cultural pole.