What it means
نوازنده (navâzande) means “musician,” specifically one who plays an instrument. The word is built from نواز (navâz), the present stem of نواختن (navâkhtan) “to play (an instrument), to strike,” plus the agentive suffix ـنده. Pure Persian. A singer is a خواننده (khânande); the navâzande is the one with the instrument.
The verb نواختن (navâkhtan) literally means “to strike” and historically applied to plucking, hitting, or sounding any instrument. The same stem gives نواز (navâz) “caress, gentle stroke,” linking music to a softer kind of touch.
How to use it
- پسرم نوازنده تاره (pesaram navâzande-ye târe) “My son is a tar player”
- نوازنده سنتور (navâzande-ye santur) “santur player”
- یه نوازنده حرفهای (ye navâzande-ye herfei) “a professional musician”
- نوازندههای گروه (navâzande-hâ-ye goruh) “the band’s musicians”
- نواختن یاد گرفتم (navâkhtan yâd gereftam) “I learned to play (an instrument)”
- این نوازنده استاد بزرگیه (in navâzande ostâd-e bozorgiye) “This musician is a great master”
The instruments
Persian classical music is built around a small family of instruments. The تار (târ) is the long-necked lute, six strings, the most identifiable Persian classical sound. Hossein Alizadeh is the towering tar navâzande of the modern era. The سنتور (santur) is the hammered dulcimer; Faramarz Payvar systematized its modern playing. The سهتار (setâr) is smaller and quieter, the lute of intimate evening rooms. The نی (ney) is the reed flute. The دف (daf) is the large frame drum, central to Sufi music.
Women, music, and the 1979 ban
This is where the word gets political. Since 1979, women in Iran have been banned from performing solo musical instruments to mixed-gender audiences. Female navâzande-hâ can record, can teach, can perform in all-female venues, can perform in groups where their part is one of many. Solo public performance for a mixed crowd is illegal. The ban has held for 45 years.
Female Iranian musicians who want to play freely have built their careers in the diaspora. Mahsa Vahdat, Sahba Motallebi, Ladan Sadeghi: most of their concert footage is filmed outside Iran. Saying “navâzande zan” (female musician) inside the country still carries the weight of that restriction.
Related words
- موسیقی (musiqi) “music”
- خواننده (khânande) “singer”
- ساز (sâz) “musical instrument”
- کنسرت (konsert) “concert”
- دستگاه (dastgâh) “the modal system of Persian classical music”
References
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