خشی از سری تاریخ کمبریج ایران که برای استفاده عموم تصویر برداری و حروف برداری کردم. این مقالات به طور کامل در اینترنت وجود ندارند. این بخش در مورد تفریحات و سرگرمی های عمومی و رسانه ای در ایران قرن بیستم است.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=241250109270390&set=a.101545226574213.2069.100001562074692&type=1&ref=nf
CHAPTER 2 I
POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND
SOCIAL CHANGE IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY
IRAN
The 2oth century has witnessed a dramatic change in the kind and form of entertainment in Iran. This is particularly true of the period sil-ice World War 11. Some traditional entertainments have disappeared, others have undergone radical transformation, some are dving. New foreign forms have appeared and become popular. The crucial point, however, is that for the majoritv of the population, especially those living in towns, their major entertainment is no longer connected with the seasonal festivals such as the spring solstice and the autumn harvest, nor with religious holidays. Entertainment has become more a leisure pastime unrelated to calendar determinants. These changes result ftom rapid urbanization, increased means of communication, and the overall shifts in the socioeconomic and political structure.
Festivals from pre-Islamic times and connected with the seasons, like Barnisbastan-i Kfisa (the ride of the beardless man), which used to take place on a cold dav at the beginning of spring, had alreadv died out bv the opening of the centurv,l as had Afir-i NaurF4.Zi (the Prince of the New Year). - Umarkusb@n, a farce plaved out in town streets from the i6th century onwards, is now forgotten.2 Kbaima:yiSbab-bi.Ti, the puppet theatre, with glove-dolls and mario-
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND SOCIAL CHANGE
nettes, is on the wane, although this tradition has been adapted and used bv some contemporary playwrights. Tamisb4i: acrobats and conjurers, snake charmers, monkev tamers, and Lfitis who performed in the public squares and coffee houses are only now rarely seen. Pardadtiri is storv-chanting with the aid of a huge illustrative painting on a canvas usually measuring 3 x i I metres, and held 2
up between poles at both ends. The pardad@r would point to various episodes as he sang the progression of the storv. The paintings could illustrate the tragedv of Karbald or a tale from the national legends and could be rolled up for ease of transportation. In recent years it has become fashionable for private collectors to buy these paintings. Verv few pardaddrs now survive.3
Naqqiili- (story telling) originated long before the Islamic period and plaved an important r6le in disseminating literature, folktales, legends, and current information. This is also a one-man show encompassing pantomimic gestures and vocal modulations which move the audience to tears and laughter. In the last decade naqq@ls have found fewer and fewer candidates to train as apprentices.
Thev are being replaced by more sophisticated amusements which have come
to pervade the cities and towns. Traditional forms such as Ta - Z@a and Ri4hauZ'ihave not died out, but have moved from their natural urban surroundings to the rural areas where thev still persist in a modified, less glamorous form.
Qahvakbtina, the coffee house, has plaved a verv important r6le in the development of entertainment, either as a place for NaqqdlT, the improvisatory comedic theatre R6hau@i, or for feasts following Rama@an fasting davs. As Qahvakhina are usually located along travelled routes and on the outskirts of towns and villa es where these functions came into plav, thev are now generall @ 9 only bus stops along the highways, where passengers use the facilities and eat.4:
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND SOCIAL CHANGE
The new kinds of entertainment which have done much to change Iranian manners are films and, to a lesser extent, the theatre, while radio and television function countrywide; the offspring of the Naqqdli is the transistor radio.
In the larger cities, especially Tehran, night clubs and cabarets have sprung up for the well-to-do. Popular singers, live, or on radio and television and records and cassettes, have become young people's favourites.5 Singers with amplified voices also provide entertainment at urban weddings. One huge cabaret in Tehran called Sbikfifa(-Yt) Nau not only showed traditional dances and the songs of various parts of the country but featured modern cabaret troupes from all over the world. As in traditional Iranian entertainment all classes of society happilv mingled in the audience.6
The Daura are small groups of friends meeting in each others' houses sequentially, not oniv to eat, talk politics and business, but also to play cards and backgammon and listen to music and poetrv recitations. Daura activities are particularly common in provincial towns.
The ZT4rkb@na (the traditional gymnasium of pre-Islamic origin) which later I)ecame interwoven with Shia rituals and beliefs, in recent years unfortunately became a mere showcase for foreign tourists in the main cities.
Though the Zarkhdna group-displavs and individual competitions provided a breath-taking and visually pleasing spectacle, the main purpose of the Z6rkhdna was as a service to the community, and for individual character building. As A. Reza Arasteh aptINr puts it:
Traditional sports, which were connected with the Z6rkhdna, like wrestling and weightlifting, have now been adapted to contemporary world norms and standards, and geared into international competitions, manv Iranians winning international recognition and Olympic medals in them. In Tehran thousands of people attend soccer matches. This sport is popular nationwide, even at the village level. Audience participation is highly emotional, whether during live action or when matches are watched on television or heard on radio.8
When at the beginning of the centurv the majoritv of the (predoniiiiantly illiterate) Iranian population was scattered in villages throughout the countrv, thev had limited means of communication with the urban centres. There were neither roads nor telephones, nor means of transport other than quadrupeds. On the other hand, religious institutions such as a mosque, a madrasa, a Husain@ya, a F@tim4
'ya, or a kl)iiniqtil) provided centres of local social and political information in addition to their religious functions, moulding the ideas and perceptions of the people.
A change occurred in the zoth centurv when the press began to have a great impact on the people, mainlv in the urban centres. Even in small towns and villages a copy of a newspaper would be read aloud to groups, although it might have been considerably out of date. Since World War 11, radio started to gain wider distribution. In the last twentv vears there has been a dramatic change in the means of communication: new roads, automobiles, rail and air transport, telephone and telegraph, and finally radio and television have spread over the whole countrv. To the major media, controlled bv the government, werc added cassettes, tapes, and photocopies, which were free of government regulation.
Modern media and entertainment have created a major change in the whole life-pattern of society. However, traditional means of communication have not been entirelv eliminated, as was demonstrated bv the 1978 9 revolution, when
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND SOCIAL CIIANGE
mass mobilization was activated bv a crossing of modern with traditional means of communication and ritual. William 0. Beeman sums it up aptly in connection with traditional performances:
Iranian traditional performance forms have been able to survive and retain a degree of vitatitv because thev,,ire important to the lives of the people who support them; not just as a kind of residual "escape valve", but as part of the complex of cultural institutions which provide the meaningful svmbotic material helping the public deal with the realities of their own situations in the idealized past, the harshiv real present, and the uncertain, variable future.9
In recent vears playwrights have been most active, and more plays have been written than there were theatres to show them. Audiences were also still lacking and unprepared for drama. 10 The future for dramatic production lies rather in radio and television, which are not only government-controlled means of communication, but are also now the chief forms of entertainment. The Islamic Revolution of 1978-9 brought about major political, social, cultural, and artistic changes, as well as alterations in the recent life-style of the Iranians, particularly in the urban centres. These changes have naturally had a great impact on popular entertainment and the media.
It is impossible to predict the future. However, emphasis may be placed on the fact that the revolution reversed "progressive" trends: the vear 1979 was unusually rich and creative, but now manv places of entertainment have been eliminated or closed. The new and stringent forms of religious, political, and moral censorship have led Iranians back to their own homes, where banned music or tapes of various kinds, card-playing or other disallowed activities may take place privately among family members or close ftiends. On the other hand, the street provides the spectacle and the excitement of countless pro-andcounter-revolutionary marches and rallies, to arouse cathartic sentiments among a multitude of spectators, participants and passersby, for whom many other kinds of entertainment have been curtailed.
The following is a description of four major forms of entertainment in zothcentury Iran. Two are traditional, Ta'ziya and Rilhau@i. Two are western imports, the drama and the film. It is difficult to speculate on what will become of the traditional modalities. After a period of decline, there were attempts recently to preserve the indigenous forms. The above-mentioned traditional forms have had a great impact on the imported modalities, although much more than has been could be derived from them.
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND SOCIAL CHANGE
The progression of this chapter, ftom Ta@ziva to RCihauz'i, to drama, to film, is intended to show that the indigenous forms of entertainment have survived, and indicate the impact it has had on imported forms. The vignette on Parviz 5avyad is meant to form a bridge between the past, the present, and the future, shown by means of one familv. The treatment of radio and television at the end of the chapter is brief, due to limited available information.
MUHARRAM OBSERVANCES; RAUZA-KHWANI; DASTA-GARD@NI;
TAcZIYA-KHW,iNY
The tragedv of the murder of Husain, his sons and his followers, on the plain of Karbald in A.D. 68o became the prototype for the onlv indigenous dramatic form in the world of Islam. During the month of Muharram, Husain, the third Iniam of the Shl'is and the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was on his wav to the Kfifa community, whose leader he was to become. He was ambushed in the desert by the troops of the Umayyad Sunni Caliph, Yazid. After refusing to surrender his claim to the Shl'T legitimacy, and according to tradition, after a siege of ten days on the blazing sands of Karbal5 without water for his familv and followers, a battle ended on the dav of cashilrd in the massacre of all the Shici men. The women and children were taken captive and brought to Damascus together with Husain's head, which was displayed to the Caliph.
For several hundred years there were pilgrimages to Husain's tomb in Karbali, followed in the ioth century by parades during the month of Muharram stimulated bv the Persian Sh-i'l Bfiyid dvnastv.11 These reproduced the bloodv scenes of the death of the martyrs for the benefit of mourning and loudlv lamenting crowds. When in the i6th century Shicism became the state religion of Iran under the Safavid kings, these parades became elaborate: the martvrs were represented bv men bleeding and with missing limbs, mounted on caparisoned horses or camels. Funerarv music accompanied floats graphically representing the scenes of Karbald, while the bystanders beat their breasts and moaned "O Husain, King of the martyrs".
The processions are known as dasta. Until the present time they constitute the major Muharram observances. Groups of men and boys rhythmically beat their heads and breasts with their palms or else with swords, knives, or stones. Backbeating with chains is still common. These blood-letting activities are often interspersed with mournful chants initiated by a leader. Others carry elaborate
MUHARRAM OBSERVANCES
standards, called 'alams, which are symbolic of Husain's army, so that the standard-bearers and participants of the parade become the equivalent of Ijusain's troops, readv for self-sacrifice.
The dramatic modality of the Husain passion is based upon the movement and theatricality of the annual parades and also upon the dramatic accounts of the tragedv written bv Husain Vi'iz Kdshif-i in the early years of the 16th century, under the title Ka ' f al-Sbuhadii ("The Garden of the Martyrs"). In U-za
early days the public recitation ftom that book gave birth to Rau@a-khw@ni,12 but soon this modality began to serve as a framework for professional narrators who improvised creatively upon the suffering and deeds of many Shl'i martyrs.
Rau@a-khwdnT, popularly called rau.'Zg, is participated in by all classes of societv and takes place in special black tents erected in the public squares of a town or a village. Performances also take place in mosques, or in the courtyards of private houses, as well as in special buildings known as Husainiyya or Takya. These places are usuallv well carpeted and decorated with black mourning standards and flags as well as with a varietv of weapons reminiscent of the battle at Karbald. In private houses refreshments are provided by the hosts for the rauza participants.
There could be a whole range of Rau@a-khwdni for the general public, either elaborately grandiose, or on a small scale in private for housewives. The main activities of Rauz'a-khwdni take place in the month of Muharram and the following month of Safar, but the performances may take place at any time of the year, especially on Thursdav evenings. There may be a rotary arrangement in which Rauz'a occurs in the same household on a periodic basis, or a group of guild members or neighbours may sponsor performances in their various households.
Rau'za usually begins with the singing of panegyric to the Prophet and the saints by a man called Madd@h (encomiast). It is a combination of recitation and singing in slow cadences. This paves the way for a Rau'za-khwini (also known as Vd@iz) who is a well-trained preacher who alternates storytelling with songs about Husain and the attendant martvrs. Through the choice of episodes and the modulation of his voice, he is able to excite and manipulate the emotions of the audience and to arouse among the participants a unity of feelings of great intensity, so that they identify with the sufferings of the martyrs, who, in turn, will serve as intercessors for the participants on the day of the Last judgement.
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDLA AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Rapid chanting in a high-pitched voice is interrupted bv sobbing and crying. Towards the end of the performance, when ttie audience has been aroused to intense emotion, weeping, breast-beating and flagellation mav occur. The Rau@a-khwdni ends with congregational singing of dirges called nauba. The performances may last for several hours to the end of the day and well into the night, with alternating characters. The Rau@a-khwdn may be considered a preserver of classical Persian musical forms, singing them alternately with his recitations.
Muharram mourning observances, like Rauz'a-khw5n! and Dasta-gard5n!, are regarded as manifestations of devotion and pietv, but they should not be excluded from the category of entertainment. After many interviews during i963-6 with informants across the countrv, it became evident to this writer that people, particularly in small towns and villages, long for the month of Muharram and for the time when they mig'nt participate in these rituals. Rauiakhwdni recitations also became a niedium for the exposition of current local and governmental problems for the benefit of the audience.
Around the middle of the i 8th centurv the fusion of the movementl3 and the costumes of the parades with the text of The Garden qf the AIarors produced the Ta Z4a plays which, some hundred vears later, in 1879, were described bv Sir Lewis Pelly in the following words: "If the success of drama is to be measured by the effects which it produces upon the people for whom it is composed, or upon the audience before whom it is presented, no play has ever surpassed the tragedv known in the Muslim world as that of Hasan and Husain."14
During the presentation of the Ta'ziva passion lavs, the identification of the p ,
people with the performance is such that present time and place merge imperceptibly with the past, while the niartvrdom of f ' lusain leads to breast-beating and tears in an identification with the suffering of the martyrs centuries ago.
In the second half of the i gth centurv, Taziya not onlv received support from the roval court of Nisir al-Din Shdh but became the centrepiece of entertainment and devotion across the nation. The aristocracy and well-to-do in the towns competed for the best actors and tried to outshine each other in the splendour of their production and the decoration of the areas where the performances were held. This is also the period when many special edifices were built, known as Takya or Husainiyya. The grandeur of those buildings, the forceful production of the plays, and above all the active participation of the spectators in the plays themselves, produced an immense impact on the Westerners who either wit-
NIUHARRAM OBSERVANCES
nessed or read about this theatrical activitv. Suffice it to mention that the Comte -Joseph-Arthur de (;obineau, in i865, Samuel G.W. Benjamin, in i887, and Matthew Arnold, in I 8 7 1, all wrote moving accounts of the Ta'ziya pageants and staging."
The plavs were at that time not confined to the mourning months of Muharram and Safar, but were performed all the year round. The number of plays not directlv related to the mart@,-rdom of Husain and his followers was greatlv increased. Dramas about various local saints took the lead in expanding the Ta zin,-a repertory. These, however, were linked to the Karbaid tragedv bv a device which is known as gur7.Z (digression). Other stories were taken from the Qur 5n and national legends, but even profane stories could be incorporated into the Ta" ziya framework. Bv this device, the sagas of non-religious heroes were reduced to shallow and unimportant events vis-@-vis the supreme Karbald martyrdom. Moreover, audience participants were enabled in their private guriz to compare their own personal suffering with the supreme martyrdom of Ilusain.
Basicallv, ttie Taziya performance is "theatre in the round". The action takes place on a central stage and expands onto a track surrounding it, usually utilized for duels and battles. Further expansion of the acting space can be made on auxiliary stages on the periphery to the audience, and even beyond the audience. This principle applies to the open air performances or to those in a Takva under an awning. 1 6
The actors are divided into good and bad characters. The protagonists sing their parts and are dressed mainlv in green, whereas the villains wear red and recite their lines. In the i gth century, th2nks to roval and upper-class patronage, the costumes, although svmbolic, were highly elaborate. Twentieth-century troupes could not afford such finery. The villagers make do with whatever wearing apparel is available. Women are alwavs plaved bv veiled men.
It has been a tradition that there are nD stage props other than svmbolic ones, such as a bucket of water standing for the River Euphrates.
Pivotal to the Taziva drama is the proximity of the audience, enabling the participatory reliving of the Husain legend. The genius of Ta'ziya drama is that it combines immediacy and flexibility with universality. Uniting rural folk art with urban and roval entertainment, it admits no barriers between the archetype
POPULAR ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND
SOCIAL CHANGE IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY
IRAN
The 2oth century has witnessed a dramatic change in the kind and form of entertainment in Iran. This is particularly true of the period sil-ice World War 11. Some traditional entertainments have disappeared, others have undergone radical transformation, some are dving. New foreign forms have appeared and become popular. The crucial point, however, is that for the majoritv of the population, especially those living in towns, their major entertainment is no longer connected with the seasonal festivals such as the spring solstice and the autumn harvest, nor with religious holidays. Entertainment has become more a leisure pastime unrelated to calendar determinants. These changes result ftom rapid urbanization, increased means of communication, and the overall shifts in the socioeconomic and political structure.
Festivals from pre-Islamic times and connected with the seasons, like Barnisbastan-i Kfisa (the ride of the beardless man), which used to take place on a cold dav at the beginning of spring, had alreadv died out bv the opening of the centurv,l as had Afir-i NaurF4.Zi (the Prince of the New Year). - Umarkusb@n, a farce plaved out in town streets from the i6th century onwards, is now forgotten.2 Kbaima:yiSbab-bi.Ti, the puppet theatre, with glove-dolls and mario-
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND SOCIAL CHANGE
nettes, is on the wane, although this tradition has been adapted and used bv some contemporary playwrights. Tamisb4i: acrobats and conjurers, snake charmers, monkev tamers, and Lfitis who performed in the public squares and coffee houses are only now rarely seen. Pardadtiri is storv-chanting with the aid of a huge illustrative painting on a canvas usually measuring 3 x i I metres, and held 2
up between poles at both ends. The pardad@r would point to various episodes as he sang the progression of the storv. The paintings could illustrate the tragedv of Karbald or a tale from the national legends and could be rolled up for ease of transportation. In recent years it has become fashionable for private collectors to buy these paintings. Verv few pardaddrs now survive.3
Naqqiili- (story telling) originated long before the Islamic period and plaved an important r6le in disseminating literature, folktales, legends, and current information. This is also a one-man show encompassing pantomimic gestures and vocal modulations which move the audience to tears and laughter. In the last decade naqq@ls have found fewer and fewer candidates to train as apprentices.
Thev are being replaced by more sophisticated amusements which have come
to pervade the cities and towns. Traditional forms such as Ta - Z@a and Ri4hauZ'ihave not died out, but have moved from their natural urban surroundings to the rural areas where thev still persist in a modified, less glamorous form.
Qahvakbtina, the coffee house, has plaved a verv important r6le in the development of entertainment, either as a place for NaqqdlT, the improvisatory comedic theatre R6hau@i, or for feasts following Rama@an fasting davs. As Qahvakhina are usually located along travelled routes and on the outskirts of towns and villa es where these functions came into plav, thev are now generall @ 9 only bus stops along the highways, where passengers use the facilities and eat.4:
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND SOCIAL CHANGE
The new kinds of entertainment which have done much to change Iranian manners are films and, to a lesser extent, the theatre, while radio and television function countrywide; the offspring of the Naqqdli is the transistor radio.
In the larger cities, especially Tehran, night clubs and cabarets have sprung up for the well-to-do. Popular singers, live, or on radio and television and records and cassettes, have become young people's favourites.5 Singers with amplified voices also provide entertainment at urban weddings. One huge cabaret in Tehran called Sbikfifa(-Yt) Nau not only showed traditional dances and the songs of various parts of the country but featured modern cabaret troupes from all over the world. As in traditional Iranian entertainment all classes of society happilv mingled in the audience.6
The Daura are small groups of friends meeting in each others' houses sequentially, not oniv to eat, talk politics and business, but also to play cards and backgammon and listen to music and poetrv recitations. Daura activities are particularly common in provincial towns.
The ZT4rkb@na (the traditional gymnasium of pre-Islamic origin) which later I)ecame interwoven with Shia rituals and beliefs, in recent years unfortunately became a mere showcase for foreign tourists in the main cities.
Though the Zarkhdna group-displavs and individual competitions provided a breath-taking and visually pleasing spectacle, the main purpose of the Z6rkhdna was as a service to the community, and for individual character building. As A. Reza Arasteh aptINr puts it:
Traditional sports, which were connected with the Z6rkhdna, like wrestling and weightlifting, have now been adapted to contemporary world norms and standards, and geared into international competitions, manv Iranians winning international recognition and Olympic medals in them. In Tehran thousands of people attend soccer matches. This sport is popular nationwide, even at the village level. Audience participation is highly emotional, whether during live action or when matches are watched on television or heard on radio.8
When at the beginning of the centurv the majoritv of the (predoniiiiantly illiterate) Iranian population was scattered in villages throughout the countrv, thev had limited means of communication with the urban centres. There were neither roads nor telephones, nor means of transport other than quadrupeds. On the other hand, religious institutions such as a mosque, a madrasa, a Husain@ya, a F@tim4
'ya, or a kl)iiniqtil) provided centres of local social and political information in addition to their religious functions, moulding the ideas and perceptions of the people.
A change occurred in the zoth centurv when the press began to have a great impact on the people, mainlv in the urban centres. Even in small towns and villages a copy of a newspaper would be read aloud to groups, although it might have been considerably out of date. Since World War 11, radio started to gain wider distribution. In the last twentv vears there has been a dramatic change in the means of communication: new roads, automobiles, rail and air transport, telephone and telegraph, and finally radio and television have spread over the whole countrv. To the major media, controlled bv the government, werc added cassettes, tapes, and photocopies, which were free of government regulation.
Modern media and entertainment have created a major change in the whole life-pattern of society. However, traditional means of communication have not been entirelv eliminated, as was demonstrated bv the 1978 9 revolution, when
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND SOCIAL CIIANGE
mass mobilization was activated bv a crossing of modern with traditional means of communication and ritual. William 0. Beeman sums it up aptly in connection with traditional performances:
Iranian traditional performance forms have been able to survive and retain a degree of vitatitv because thev,,ire important to the lives of the people who support them; not just as a kind of residual "escape valve", but as part of the complex of cultural institutions which provide the meaningful svmbotic material helping the public deal with the realities of their own situations in the idealized past, the harshiv real present, and the uncertain, variable future.9
In recent vears playwrights have been most active, and more plays have been written than there were theatres to show them. Audiences were also still lacking and unprepared for drama. 10 The future for dramatic production lies rather in radio and television, which are not only government-controlled means of communication, but are also now the chief forms of entertainment. The Islamic Revolution of 1978-9 brought about major political, social, cultural, and artistic changes, as well as alterations in the recent life-style of the Iranians, particularly in the urban centres. These changes have naturally had a great impact on popular entertainment and the media.
It is impossible to predict the future. However, emphasis may be placed on the fact that the revolution reversed "progressive" trends: the vear 1979 was unusually rich and creative, but now manv places of entertainment have been eliminated or closed. The new and stringent forms of religious, political, and moral censorship have led Iranians back to their own homes, where banned music or tapes of various kinds, card-playing or other disallowed activities may take place privately among family members or close ftiends. On the other hand, the street provides the spectacle and the excitement of countless pro-andcounter-revolutionary marches and rallies, to arouse cathartic sentiments among a multitude of spectators, participants and passersby, for whom many other kinds of entertainment have been curtailed.
The following is a description of four major forms of entertainment in zothcentury Iran. Two are traditional, Ta'ziya and Rilhau@i. Two are western imports, the drama and the film. It is difficult to speculate on what will become of the traditional modalities. After a period of decline, there were attempts recently to preserve the indigenous forms. The above-mentioned traditional forms have had a great impact on the imported modalities, although much more than has been could be derived from them.
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDIA AND SOCIAL CHANGE
The progression of this chapter, ftom Ta@ziva to RCihauz'i, to drama, to film, is intended to show that the indigenous forms of entertainment have survived, and indicate the impact it has had on imported forms. The vignette on Parviz 5avyad is meant to form a bridge between the past, the present, and the future, shown by means of one familv. The treatment of radio and television at the end of the chapter is brief, due to limited available information.
MUHARRAM OBSERVANCES; RAUZA-KHWANI; DASTA-GARD@NI;
TAcZIYA-KHW,iNY
The tragedv of the murder of Husain, his sons and his followers, on the plain of Karbald in A.D. 68o became the prototype for the onlv indigenous dramatic form in the world of Islam. During the month of Muharram, Husain, the third Iniam of the Shl'is and the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was on his wav to the Kfifa community, whose leader he was to become. He was ambushed in the desert by the troops of the Umayyad Sunni Caliph, Yazid. After refusing to surrender his claim to the Shl'T legitimacy, and according to tradition, after a siege of ten days on the blazing sands of Karbal5 without water for his familv and followers, a battle ended on the dav of cashilrd in the massacre of all the Shici men. The women and children were taken captive and brought to Damascus together with Husain's head, which was displayed to the Caliph.
For several hundred years there were pilgrimages to Husain's tomb in Karbali, followed in the ioth century by parades during the month of Muharram stimulated bv the Persian Sh-i'l Bfiyid dvnastv.11 These reproduced the bloodv scenes of the death of the martyrs for the benefit of mourning and loudlv lamenting crowds. When in the i6th century Shicism became the state religion of Iran under the Safavid kings, these parades became elaborate: the martvrs were represented bv men bleeding and with missing limbs, mounted on caparisoned horses or camels. Funerarv music accompanied floats graphically representing the scenes of Karbald, while the bystanders beat their breasts and moaned "O Husain, King of the martyrs".
The processions are known as dasta. Until the present time they constitute the major Muharram observances. Groups of men and boys rhythmically beat their heads and breasts with their palms or else with swords, knives, or stones. Backbeating with chains is still common. These blood-letting activities are often interspersed with mournful chants initiated by a leader. Others carry elaborate
MUHARRAM OBSERVANCES
standards, called 'alams, which are symbolic of Husain's army, so that the standard-bearers and participants of the parade become the equivalent of Ijusain's troops, readv for self-sacrifice.
The dramatic modality of the Husain passion is based upon the movement and theatricality of the annual parades and also upon the dramatic accounts of the tragedv written bv Husain Vi'iz Kdshif-i in the early years of the 16th century, under the title Ka ' f al-Sbuhadii ("The Garden of the Martyrs"). In U-za
early days the public recitation ftom that book gave birth to Rau@a-khw@ni,12 but soon this modality began to serve as a framework for professional narrators who improvised creatively upon the suffering and deeds of many Shl'i martyrs.
Rau@a-khwdnT, popularly called rau.'Zg, is participated in by all classes of societv and takes place in special black tents erected in the public squares of a town or a village. Performances also take place in mosques, or in the courtyards of private houses, as well as in special buildings known as Husainiyya or Takya. These places are usuallv well carpeted and decorated with black mourning standards and flags as well as with a varietv of weapons reminiscent of the battle at Karbald. In private houses refreshments are provided by the hosts for the rauza participants.
There could be a whole range of Rau@a-khwdni for the general public, either elaborately grandiose, or on a small scale in private for housewives. The main activities of Rauz'a-khwdni take place in the month of Muharram and the following month of Safar, but the performances may take place at any time of the year, especially on Thursdav evenings. There may be a rotary arrangement in which Rauz'a occurs in the same household on a periodic basis, or a group of guild members or neighbours may sponsor performances in their various households.
Rau'za usually begins with the singing of panegyric to the Prophet and the saints by a man called Madd@h (encomiast). It is a combination of recitation and singing in slow cadences. This paves the way for a Rau'za-khwini (also known as Vd@iz) who is a well-trained preacher who alternates storytelling with songs about Husain and the attendant martvrs. Through the choice of episodes and the modulation of his voice, he is able to excite and manipulate the emotions of the audience and to arouse among the participants a unity of feelings of great intensity, so that they identify with the sufferings of the martyrs, who, in turn, will serve as intercessors for the participants on the day of the Last judgement.
ENTERTAINMENT, MEDLA AND SOCIAL CHANGE
Rapid chanting in a high-pitched voice is interrupted bv sobbing and crying. Towards the end of the performance, when ttie audience has been aroused to intense emotion, weeping, breast-beating and flagellation mav occur. The Rau@a-khwdni ends with congregational singing of dirges called nauba. The performances may last for several hours to the end of the day and well into the night, with alternating characters. The Rau@a-khwdn may be considered a preserver of classical Persian musical forms, singing them alternately with his recitations.
Muharram mourning observances, like Rauz'a-khw5n! and Dasta-gard5n!, are regarded as manifestations of devotion and pietv, but they should not be excluded from the category of entertainment. After many interviews during i963-6 with informants across the countrv, it became evident to this writer that people, particularly in small towns and villages, long for the month of Muharram and for the time when they mig'nt participate in these rituals. Rauiakhwdni recitations also became a niedium for the exposition of current local and governmental problems for the benefit of the audience.
Around the middle of the i 8th centurv the fusion of the movementl3 and the costumes of the parades with the text of The Garden qf the AIarors produced the Ta Z4a plays which, some hundred vears later, in 1879, were described bv Sir Lewis Pelly in the following words: "If the success of drama is to be measured by the effects which it produces upon the people for whom it is composed, or upon the audience before whom it is presented, no play has ever surpassed the tragedv known in the Muslim world as that of Hasan and Husain."14
During the presentation of the Ta'ziva passion lavs, the identification of the p ,
people with the performance is such that present time and place merge imperceptibly with the past, while the niartvrdom of f ' lusain leads to breast-beating and tears in an identification with the suffering of the martyrs centuries ago.
In the second half of the i gth centurv, Taziya not onlv received support from the roval court of Nisir al-Din Shdh but became the centrepiece of entertainment and devotion across the nation. The aristocracy and well-to-do in the towns competed for the best actors and tried to outshine each other in the splendour of their production and the decoration of the areas where the performances were held. This is also the period when many special edifices were built, known as Takya or Husainiyya. The grandeur of those buildings, the forceful production of the plays, and above all the active participation of the spectators in the plays themselves, produced an immense impact on the Westerners who either wit-
NIUHARRAM OBSERVANCES
nessed or read about this theatrical activitv. Suffice it to mention that the Comte -Joseph-Arthur de (;obineau, in i865, Samuel G.W. Benjamin, in i887, and Matthew Arnold, in I 8 7 1, all wrote moving accounts of the Ta'ziya pageants and staging."
The plavs were at that time not confined to the mourning months of Muharram and Safar, but were performed all the year round. The number of plays not directlv related to the mart@,-rdom of Husain and his followers was greatlv increased. Dramas about various local saints took the lead in expanding the Ta zin,-a repertory. These, however, were linked to the Karbaid tragedv bv a device which is known as gur7.Z (digression). Other stories were taken from the Qur 5n and national legends, but even profane stories could be incorporated into the Ta" ziya framework. Bv this device, the sagas of non-religious heroes were reduced to shallow and unimportant events vis-@-vis the supreme Karbald martyrdom. Moreover, audience participants were enabled in their private guriz to compare their own personal suffering with the supreme martyrdom of Ilusain.
Basicallv, ttie Taziya performance is "theatre in the round". The action takes place on a central stage and expands onto a track surrounding it, usually utilized for duels and battles. Further expansion of the acting space can be made on auxiliary stages on the periphery to the audience, and even beyond the audience. This principle applies to the open air performances or to those in a Takva under an awning. 1 6
The actors are divided into good and bad characters. The protagonists sing their parts and are dressed mainlv in green, whereas the villains wear red and recite their lines. In the i gth century, th2nks to roval and upper-class patronage, the costumes, although svmbolic, were highly elaborate. Twentieth-century troupes could not afford such finery. The villagers make do with whatever wearing apparel is available. Women are alwavs plaved bv veiled men.
It has been a tradition that there are nD stage props other than svmbolic ones, such as a bucket of water standing for the River Euphrates.
Pivotal to the Taziva drama is the proximity of the audience, enabling the participatory reliving of the Husain legend. The genius of Ta'ziya drama is that it combines immediacy and flexibility with universality. Uniting rural folk art with urban and roval entertainment, it admits no barriers between the archetype
No comments:
Post a Comment