A Listening Companion
Hear the Musical Legacy of Iranian Jews
Four recordings from one of the world's oldest Jewish communities, selected and annotated by filmmaker, scholar, and musician Alan Niku.
Twenty-seven centuries, four songs
The Jews of Iran are among the oldest living Jewish communities in the world, with roots in the lands of Iran reaching back more than two and a half millennia. Across those centuries, their music grew up alongside Persian classical music, sharing the modal language that Qajar-era masters would eventually codify as dastgah, while carrying Hebrew prayer, piyyut, and Judeo-Persian song through the synagogues and homes of Esfahan, Shiraz, and Tehran, and onward to diaspora communities from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv.
Ahead of his two-session course, instructor Alan Niku has chosen four recordings that open a door into this sound world: a wedding song still sung at Persian celebrations today, a Shabbat table melody carried from Shiraz to Jerusalem, a psalm played in a mode that Persian ears know intimately and western ears rarely encounter, and a beloved popular song written by two Jewish brothers whose name entered Persian classical music itself. Press play, read along, and come ready to hear more.
Recording One
Shelah Goel
Traditional wedding piyyut · Performed by Jeanette Yahudayan
“Shelah Goel” is a beloved traditional Persian Jewish wedding song, sung in a mixture of Persian and Hebrew depending on the version. To this day, many Persian weddings and other joyous occasions include the singing of this piyyut, usually offered by an elderly member of the community. It is sung in a musical mode distinctive to the Jews of Iran. This version is performed by Jeanette Yahudayan, whose family comes from Esfahan.
Listen for
The mode itself. This melodic language belongs to Iran's Jewish communities, handed down voice to voice, and it still rings out at Persian weddings today.
Recording Two
Eshet Hayil
Woman of Valor · Sung by Ehud Banai
Not everyone who knows the Israeli rock star Ehud Banai knows that his family hailed from Shiraz, and that their family synagogue in Jerusalem is still in use. “Eshet Hayil (Woman of Valor),” is sung in the home on Friday evening before Shabbat dinner. In this recording, Banai brings to life more westernized versions of the tunes he heard growing up, including this Persian, or Persian-inspired, melody for the beloved Shabbat song.
Listen for
A liturgical tune in western clothes. Banai sets a familiar Sabbath text to the sounds of his family's Shiraz, filtered through an Israeli songwriter's ear.
Recording Three
A Psalm in a Persian Mode
Psalm 6 · Traditional Persian instruments
A Persian tune for Psalm 6, played on traditional Persian instruments by anonymous musicians. The melody moves in a mode that is common throughout Persian classical music and strikingly unusual to western ears, a sound world this course will teach you to hear.
Listen for
Notes that fall between the keys of a piano. If the tuning sounds unfamiliar, that is the point: you are hearing a musical system with its own logic and its own beauty.
Recording Four
Māh-e Man Shāh-e Man
My Moon, My King · Written by Morteza and Moosa Neydavoud
“Māh-e Man Shāh-e Man (My Moon, My King),” is beloved by Iranians of all religions. It was written and first performed by the famous Jewish Iranian musician brothers Morteza and Moosa Neydavoud, whose family name means Reed Flute of David, reflecting an Iranian Jewish tradition of continuity with the music of King David himself. The Neydavouds were so prominent as musicians, in the Qajar court and in the modern recording era, that their very Jewish last name became attached to one of the major sub-modes of Iranian classical music. This tune is in the Esfahan mode and has been covered by many of Iran's most famous artists. Alan will explore more of the family's repertoire across the two sessions.
Listen for
The Esfahan mode in full flower. A melody by Jewish composers so woven into Persian music that the whole country sings it.
Your Instructor
Alan Niku
Alan Niku is a filmmaker, writer, and scholar of Mizrahi culture based in Los Angeles. He heads The Dreamy Kalimi, a video channel dedicated to explorations of Iranian Jewish history, culture, and tradition. A native speaker of Persian, he spends his time learning related Jewish languages, deciphering Judeo-Persian manuscripts, and interviewing community members about their stories.
His research focuses on the literature, liturgy, and musical traditions of the Jews of Iran and neighboring regions, with a particular emphasis on recovering overlooked chapters of the Persian Jewish diaspora. He also plays several string instruments, and he brings both gifts to this course: the scholar's sources and the musician's ear.
There's more where this came from
Join Alan Niku for two evenings of music, history, and culture, from the synagogues of Esfahan to the Iranian Jewish diaspora today.
Register for the Course