The Penitent Guitar
SCULPTURE (2017)
One instrument which has prevailed extensively in the field of music in Iran in the past years is the advanced piece of musical gear known as the ‘electric guitar’ [1]. Despite the instrument’s intrinsically Persian roots [2], the more recent banal and decadent history of the ‘electric guitar’ [3] has provoked concern against the cultural landscape of the Islamic country [4]. In response to a sensitive social issue as such, Future-Islam™ has been drawing upon Islamic jurisprudential advice and treatise by the Maraji [5], to enable a purification and cleansing of this globally popular musical instrument [6].
By making the Islamic creed of Shahada [7] flow through the instrument, The Penitent Guitar is in attempt at blowing an Islamic-Iranian soul into the decaying carcase of the instrument. The Penitent Guitar is a testimony made through the instrument to the oneness of Allah and the prophecy of Muhammad (pbuh), thus and so re-directing the ‘electric guitar’ back towards the realm of Islam [8]. The Penitent Guitar streams the enchanting tune of Rahim Moazzen-Zadeh Ardabili’s Adhan [9] in pursuance of the liberation of the instrument from lahwi qualities [10], and the enhancement of its status within the Islamic society [11].
[1] Laudan Nooshin, ‘Underground, Overground: Rock Music and Youth Discourses in Iran’, (Iranian Studies (Special Issue: Music and Society in Iran), 38(3), 2005), 463-494
[2] Author Unknown, ‘آشنایی با تاریخچه و انواع گیتار’, (Hamshahri Online, 2011), http://hamshahrionline.ir/details/134942
[3] Robert Tait, “Iran’s ‘Culturally Inappropriate’ Rock Hopefuls Struggle To Be Heard”, (The Guardian, 2005), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/aug/23/iran.arts
[4] Author Unknown, ‘موسیقی متال شیطانپرستی را ترویج میدهد’, (The Fars News Agency, 2011), http://www.farsnews.com/printable.php?nn=13900930000184
[5] Author Unknown, ‘What Is Islam’s Ruling On Listening To Music?’, (IslamQuest, 2013), http://www.islamquest.net/en/archive/question/fa1590
[6] Author Unknown, ‘باید با استفاده از ابزار هنر با هجمه فرهنگی استکبار غرب مقابله کنیم’, (Islamic Consultative Assembly News Agency, 2013), http://www.icana.ir/Fa/News/218623/باید-با-استفاده-از-ابزار-هنر-با-هجمه-فرهنگی-استکبار-غرب-مقابله-کنیم
[7] Shahada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahada
[8] Repentance In Islam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repentance_in_Islam
[9] Rahim Moazzen Zadeh Ardabili https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahim_Moazzen_Zadeh_Ardabili
[10] Ali Khamenei, ‘موسیقی و غنا، اجوبه الاستفتائات’, (Khamenei.ir), http://farsi.khamenei.ir/treatise-content?id=99#1130
[11] Heather Rastovac, ‘Contending With Censorship: The Underground Music Scene In Urban Iran’, (intersections 10, no. 2, 2009), 59-82
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The Penitent Guitar is part of the Future-Islam™ (a fictional start-up company which renders a dystopian future in the Middle East as a result of the fusion of free-market capitalism and Islamic governance). The guitar melody in this piece is a contribution by the pioneering post-revolutionary Iranian musician Pouya Mahmoodi.
