*By: Reza Vali* 

 

The cultures of the world, like the oceans, are all interconnected. Every culture bears traces of other traditions and heritages, and no single culture can or should claim to be superior to another. Some European civilizations, however, amassed enough economic and military might to conquer significant tracts of the earth beginning in the 16th century. By the time the 19th century rolled around, European countries occupied nearly the entire planet. Take Britain, for example; it’s a country half the size of Iran, and yet the English occupied about 25 percent of the landmass of the earth during the 1800s, giving rise to the saying “The sun does not set in the British Empire.”

To justify their colonialism, some European countries theorized that European culture is a “super culture” and that European humans were more advanced than Asian or African humans. This theory is at the core of what is known as “Eurocentrism.” Numerous books and articles have been written about the political, social, and cultural aspects of Eurocentrism, but there has been far less discussion of the artistic and musical implications of this issue.

Musicians and scholars often examine the structural elements of music — polyphony, monophony, form, rhythm — from a European perspective rather than in the context of their own historical development and significance. But pluralism can offer an alternative to this Eurocentric way of thinking. Also known as multiculturalism, pluralism is a state in which cultural diversity is valued over any single culture’s alleged superiority. It is the opposite of Eurocentrism, as the value of each individual culture is the same. Pluralist thinking suggests that the fundamental elements of music should be analyzed from broader perspectives, like that of the scientist or the humanitarian, with an eye that appreciates cultural diversity and embraces a more comprehensive approach.

Pluralist thinking suggests that the fundamental elements of music should be analyzed from broader perspectives, with an eye that appreciates cultural diversity and embraces a more comprehensive approach.

Here, I’ll illustrate some of the traces of Eurocentrism on music, and how we can reframe these issues with a pluralist approach:

Exportation and Internationalization of European Twelve-Tone Equal Temperament Tuning System (12tet)

The 12TET system originated in the early 18th century as European polyphony morphed from horizontal polyphony (based on the movement of individual voices) to vertical polyphony (based on chord progressions). 12TET provides a framework that allows for easier chordal movement and transposition between musical keys. Except for the standard interval of the octave, none of the equally-spaced 12TET intervals quite correspond to those found in natural tuning systems, which are proportionally based on the harmonic frequencies of sound waves.

Many cultures based their music on the natural tuning system, including Asian cultures such as the Far East, India, Iran, the Middle East, and so on. During the last two centuries, however, 12TET has proliferated all over the world and is now being taught in most conservatories and music schools. 12TET is also the tuning base for the various genres of the global music industry, especially pop and rock music. These genres permeate almost all radio, television, and internet social networks.

Due to its prevalence in both academia and the global music industry, this over-reliance on 12TET has created an environment where people around the world are forgetting their own cultures’ tuning systems and musical intervals.

After World War II, especially in the United States, American composers like Harry Partch and Ben Johnston rebelled against 12TET, rejecting this system in favor of employing natural tuning systems in their compositions. In recent decades, there has been a surge in interest around the world in returning to natural tuning systems and building music based on these systems. This trend is occurring in popular music as well, with some commercial musicians adopting the intervals, rhythms, and instruments of different cultures. Turkish musicians like Aynur Doğan have begun to use asymmetrical rhythms, Turkish music intervals, and Turkish musical instruments in popular music. This process is continuing in Iran with artists such as Homayoun Shajarian and Sohrab & Tahmoures Pournazeri, and in other countries as well.

*This article is derived from Chapter 2 of Reza Vali’s Return to the Origins, published in Nov. 2022 by The Sharmin and Bijan Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Iran and Persian Gulf Studies at Princeton University, and has been edited for content and length.

Courtesy: I Care If You Listen