Les bardes bakhsi du khorassan iranien
Institution:
Paris 10Disciplines:
Directors:
Abstract EN:
This research deals with the tradition of the bakhshi bards of northern khorasan, a region with a rich cultural background largely explained by its history. The most representative figure of its musical life is the bakhshi, a bard descended from a line of singers/narrators also found all over central asia, where they assumed two functions : that of the shaman healer, and that of the bard accompanied by the dotar (a long-necked luth with two strings). The latter are to be found in khorasan, where most of them can sing in three languages : persian, turkish and kurdish. The bakhshi is of a very ancient background. A professional musician formerly attached to the court of kings or local potentates, he also performs (even today) at village feasts, where he is highly respected for his art, his knowledge and his good memory. His repertoire mainly includes long narrative poems called dastan (literally : stories). They are epic or romantic and have alternate prose passages and songs in verse. Their models can be traced back to classical persian literature, which influenced them to a great extent. The repertoir of the bakhshi also contains popular quatrains and poems by local poets (such as ja'far qoli, a 19th century kurdish poet. A musical analysis of the locally collected corpus reveals the general rules of this music which, for exemple, uses melodic types. There follows a description of the situation of music in iran after the islamic revolution, showing the influence the latter exercised on the bards. After some difficult years of islamic censorship, they are beginning to enjoy official recognition, although this also serves political and nationalistic purposes.
Abstract FR:
La recherche presente la tradition des bardes bakhshi du nord du khorassan, region dont l'histoire explique pour une bonne part la richesse culturelle. Le personnage le plus representatif de la vie musicale y est le bakhshi, barde descendant d'une lignee de chanteurs/narrateurs que l'on retrouve dans toute l'asie centrale ou il assumait deux roles : dans l'un, chaman guerisseur ; dans l'autre, barde accompagne d'un dotar (luth a long manche a deux cordes). Rencontre au khorassan, ce dernier est a meme de chanter en trois langues : persan, turc et kurde. La presence du bakhshi est fort ancienne. Musicien professionnel attache jadis a la cour des rois ou des potentats locaux, il se produit aussi (et aujourd'hui encore) lors de rejouissances villageoises ou un grand respect l'entoure pour son art, sa science et sa grande memoire. Dans son repertoire figure principalement de longs poemes narratifs, appeles dastan (litteralement : recit), a caractere epique ou romantique ou alternent passages en prose et chansons en vers. La litterature persane classique, en tant que modele, y a exerce une notable influence. Le repertoire du bakhshi compte egalement des quatrains populaires et des poemes de poetes locaux (tels ja'far qoli, poete kurde du xixe siecle). Une analyse musicale du corpus recueilli sur le terrain permet de degager les regles generales de cette musique qui, par exemple, recourt a des melodies types. Est enfin fournie une description de la situation de la musique en iran apres la revolution islamique, detaillant l'influence qu'elle exerce sur la pratique des bardes qui, apres de difficiles annees de censure islamique, commencent a recevoir un debut de reconnaissance officielle, meme si celle-ci sert aussi des buts politiques et nationalistes.