Music of a Thousand Years

“Ann E. Lucas very effectively combines historical analysis, ethnomusicology, and musicology to provide a broad, holistic explanation for complex, nuanced processes of change. The book is very well written and highly original in its approach and is a major contribution to the field. I found answers to many questions I had been pondering for years—not only about technical aspects of the twelve maqam and radif systems, but also about broader historical patterns of change in the music traditions of Iran and the Persianate world.”—Kamran Scot Aghaie, Associate Professor of Iranian History, University of Texas Music of a Thousand Years presents an innovative narrative of Persian music history and also provides important new perspectives on how to analyze the meaning of music and culture in historical perspective. Ann E. Lucas’s research and analysis offer a new basis for understanding the significance of Persian music history in relation to the larger contexts that define Persian history.—Mohsen Mohammadi, Lecturer in Ethnomusicology, University of California, Los Angeles Lucas turns the standard history of Persian music on its head, proving it is not a story of the survival of an ancient tradition, but rather the story of the invention of tradition. Revisionist in the best sense of the word, this book is a case study of how the present creates the past it needs. An important contribution not only to ethnomusicology, but to the discipline of history and the field of nationalist studies.—James L. Gelvin, author of The Modern Middle East: A History