Iranian Female Composers Association, Courtesy of the artists | Classical Post

On April 26, 2020 the Emruz Festival: Virtual Series presented “Iranian Female Composers Association Meet Up: Conversation & Music Performance” via Zoom. Around 30 members of the Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA) joined Bridgid Bergin (panel moderator) for an hour-long conversation. The conversation led to a longer form piece, showcasing how composers have been navigating quarantine life, interrogating gender identity and societal issues in Iran (as well as the broader new music scene), and highlights how IFCA has cultivated a community all within the digital realm, becoming an organization that truly amplifies and celebrates Iranian female-identifying composer voices.

Working Through COVID-19

Bridgid Bergin: Artists have taken a huge financial and emotional hit due to COVID-19. How has this crisis affected your work? How has your methodology and practice changed?

Negin Zomorodi: Throughout the course of my artistic career, I get inspired by times like this when life is full of limitations. It is almost as if I want to examine myself in order to fully comprehend and know my capabilities and abilities as an artist. These coronavirus days seem like a limbo to me. Therefore, I decided to choose the name LIMBO for my new project to show the moments of human life in the contemporary era, to portray and be the sound of a "worldly limbo." LIMBO is a reaction to passive modern human beings who are in suspension from the moment of birth until death. Expressing sympathy with all humankind, regardless of any nationality or geography is the purpose of this project. This artwork is a "proposal" to the audience and is a result of the collaboration of several artists alongside me as a designer, creator, and composer.

Atefeh Einali: Lockdown has had both negative and positive effects on my life as a composer and santoor player. On the negative side, my colleague and I were supposed to hold a concert for our ensemble (Avazad fusion ensemble) and now everything has been canceled. On the other, I have found performers and other composers are more free these days and that makes time for them to collaborate with others. So, I have started new pieces for piano solo and voice and I have this chance to get them performed even in isolation!

Bita Bell: I was in California for rehearsals with Pussy Riot then our entire US tour got canceled. The first two weeks in quarantine was to process the shock and loss of such a unique opportunity in my career, and of course a huge step towards financial stability which all came crashing down. After a few weeks in quarantine, I noticed that the best way to cope is to return to my body. It was difficult to move in complete solitude – I was missing dancing with other dancers in a studio. I started a project called "Duet While Solo": an Improvisational Duet on Instagram Live. So far, I have danced with dancer friends all across the US (New York, DC, Boston, Alabama) as well as Argentine and Austria. I am going to be editing these 20-30 minutes performances into a short film and compose a soundtrack for it.

Becoming A Composer & Music Composition In Iran

BB: What interested you in composing and becoming a composer? What is the state of women performing and composing music in Iran? How does it compare to when you were growing up?

Nilufar Habibian: Composers have the ability to talk to people of all times, express their emotions and ideas and tell stories through their music. Composing liberates me and gives me the opportunity to express my feelings, ideas and tell my stories. It seems to me that being a female performer/composer is certainly easier now than when I was growing up and even compared to 10 years ago when I was living in Iran and working as a qanun player. Looking at social media platforms, one can see that the number of female instrumentalists and composers seem to have grown considerably. Despite all the limitations and problems in Iran, you can find many great active female musicians around. It seems women are becoming more aware of their own power in different art forms, especially music.

Nina Barzegar: Creating makes me deeply feel my existence. For decades, Iran’s art has suffered from censorship and women have been the main target. There have been many discriminatory laws and women have faced a wide-range of restrictions in the arts. Dancing and singing for women are still defined as a crime in Iran’s penal code. Solo female singers are prohibited from recording or giving public concerts. They can have solo performances only for all-women audiences. Instrumentalists must be careful about observing dress codes on stage, particularly in religious cities. However, many things have changed and such rules are not observed strictly everywhere. For instance, it has been around for one decade that female classical singing has been permitted but it is not written in our constitutional laws and can be banned tomorrow! Women have begun to sing in the virtual world and distribute their music videos or some female singers hold their concerts outside of Iran. Despite all these hardships, Iranian female artists are still fighting in a peaceful struggle and try to overcome obstacles creatively.

Martyna Kosecka: I notice that there are significantly more women in performing arts, especially as performers of traditional Iranian music. There are, however, fewer women involved in classical music, especially women composers living inside of Iran. The performance of music by women composers inside Iran is underrepresented. Tehran Contemporary Music Festival tries to change this situation by programming a lot of music by women composers internationally and nationally, but we are just a drop in an ocean of needs that need to happen inside Iran. The more festivals that start to program music by Iranian women composers, the bigger chance there is that with time, the repertoires will become more gender diversified.

New Music Community

BB: From your own perspective and experiences, how do the new music scenes, geographically, compare and interrelate with each other?

Nina Barzegar: In terms of academic education, music is a new major in Iran, less than 30 years have passed since its establishment. At the beginning of the 1979 revolution, there was no music department at the universities and no music institute. Musicians have been toiling and working hard to promote music in the country again. Now we have many music institutes and some universities around the country have music departments. However, we don’t have different types of music degrees like conducting, singing, music education, film score etc, and different genres like jazz, pop, rock are just taught in private institutes. The most important common point between artists is that they are always seeking for new ideas, this has led to more interaction of artists from different parts of the world. The communication and collaboration of artists with different cultural backgrounds has created works with a new perspective and approach.

Aftab Darvishi: What really shapes the contemporary music scene is how international the scene is – if you go to Amsterdam, or if you go to New York, you can find composers from all over the world with different backgrounds, they come from jazz scene, pop, classical, contemporary music, and from every cultural background, though this is not necessarily the case in Iran. It's also the way that the audience perceives your music and that totally depends on their cultural and geographical memory, I think. The essence I would say is the same everywhere because new music is new music. At least for me, I've been trying to create a sort of music that is not academic and that does not attract only like a certain group of people but can speak to everybody. Of course, everyone would receive it differently, in their own language and perception. And that's a good thing.

Being A Part Of IFCA

BB: What does being a part of IFCA mean for you?

Lily Shababi: Through IFCA, there is opportunity to collaborate with Iranian composers/performers and compare/contrast our new music scenes (which have been historically divided due to the various subcategories within new music). My experience as an Iranian that was born and raised in the United States influences the ways in which I do (or don't) interact with non-Western subgenres within new music. (Is it my place? Not feeling as Iranian as others, etc.) So personally, IFCA provides an Iranian-American such as myself, a way to connect with my Iranian heritage.

Nilufar Habibian: When women come together and support each other they can make a huge difference. IFCA challenges this stereotypical view that there is no musical education for women in Iran and women are not active in music. IFCA proves that Iranian female composers are actually very capable and despite all difficulties and barriers that they have faced, can contribute a great deal of fresh ideas and strong works to the musical world.

Niloufar Iravani: Being part of IFCA means being part of a community that its members support, promote, and encourage one and other. IFCA has provided an opportunity to present Iranian female composers to the world. I believe that together we are stronger and can more easily achieve our goals and objectives.

The following questions were asked by viewers during the livestream of the panel.

Supporting Underrepresented Composers Inside & Outside of Iran

Knowing IFCA's mandate to support underrepresented composers, to what extent is IFCA open to including people identifying as non-binary gender? How can we engage composers living inside Iran, who may be needing the support of organizations like IFCA more?

Niloufar Nourbakhsh: IFCA is dedicated to supporting all female identifying composers that also identify as Iranian. Whatever being Iranian means to them. We have second generation Iranian composers, Immigrant composers, and also artists who are raised, born, and based in Iran. The process of membership for our composers is simple: if you would like to be a member, we add your email to our list, and follow you on Facebook and Instagram to get us closer in the virtual world.

Aida Shirazi: IFCA is committed to supporting non-binary composers and we are definitely committed to supporting members who are based in Iran. It just so happens that the majority of our members live and work outside of Iran. We have commissioned, presented, curated, and recommended the music of our Iran-based composers on multiple occasions and continue to do so. In addition, we facilitate collaborations between our Iran-based composers, and international performers, ensembles, and organizations.

Anahita Abbasi: We do hope that day by day, more artists of the younger generation who need our support join us, and the least we can do is put them in touch with organizers and ensembles and be their advocate. It would also be very helpful if ensembles and organizations in Iran know about us and encourage younger artists to join us. We are hoping to start a series of workshops, and/or regularly based meetings, seminars and gatherings in which we provide masterclasses on the topics most needed.

Creating A More Inclusive Music Scene

What would be the strategy to reach female composers from all generations in Iran and outside (of course with the focus on Iranian composers)? How do you think you can find ways to convince the Iranian music scene to be more inclusive?

Aida Shirazi: Technology has been our friend and we are lucky that the majority of our members use platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and SoundCloud, so we could find them relatively easily. In many cases, composers approach and introduce themselves and their music to us because somehow they know where to find us. Sometimes, our current members introduce new composers to us, which I find incredibly exciting. We keep our eyes and ears open and embrace new ways of discovering and connecting with composers across generations and helping the community expand. We keep promoting, and in the case of our young members, introducing the music of IFCA composers to the scene inside and outside of Iran.

Anahita Abbasi: Publishing has been one of the first focuses from the very first days of IFCA. In collaboration with the International Contemporary Ensemble, we do have this long-term plan to have an online library of the works by IFCA members, so that other organizers and ensembles can search and get to know their work. As far as publishing opportunities inside Iran, I do believe that would only be possible if our male colleagues open the line of communication and show a genuine desire to collaborate and involve female composers in their circles. This can all be realized, if people of each community would be eager to welcome others in the circle! In a country like Iran, this is even more complicated… but not impossible!

A Focus On Gender Imbalance And Equity In The Field

Does IFCA have plans to keep the focus on promoting women Iranian composers, but also present male Iranian composers, who are also being marginalized as a result of lack of diversity in the music scene at least in Europe?

Niloufar Nourbakhsh: We really take pride in our success to be asked to advocate for all Iranian identifying composers; however, our main focus is to elevate female-identifying and non-binary Iranian composers. Having said this, if there are male Iranian composers interested to collaborate with us and their proposal is in line with our values, we will be more than happy to engage with such projects, but it is not our priority to actively go and look for male Iranian composers and advocate for them.

Aida Shirazi: I strongly believe in creating a dialogue between the music of composers of different identities and backgrounds. To our delight, a few months ago, we were approached by a few organizers and ensembles about curating concerts of works by Iranian female and male composers. Unfortunately, the pandemic put a halt to these projects, but we will resume our work as soon as the situation is back to normal. I find it incredibly empowering that although IFCA has focused mainly on music by female composers thus far, it is actually recognized as THE organization to refer to and inquire with when it comes to presenting and promoting work by Iranian composers in general! I believe that the Iranian new music community, which by no means is small anymore, should do a better job of supporting its members, especially when it comes to young artists regardless of their gender, profession, or location. I also believe that support has to be mutual, or we will fall short. Miracles happen when the rest of the community with access to power and resources stands up for inclusion, diversity, and fairness in other areas.

Anahita Abbasi: Our focus on female and non-binary composers, is due to the fact that the gender imbalance is unfortunately too big. We found it necessary to create a welcoming platform, in order to give them a chance to be heard and seen regardless of their skills, esthetics, and practice. It is actually part of our mission to support those who still need help in finding their distinctive voice. I do believe that all artists regardless of gender and cultural background should support each other and be willing to collaborate and exchange ideas. This is how I found my voice as a composer. Now that I am in the position to help others and unfortunately I can see how huge the gender imbalance in composition is, I help those who need this support the most and that’s why IFCA was established. It is all about trying to close this huge gender gap and because of that, specifically targeting those who were not given the chance to present themselves.

Bridgid Bergin: One thing that has really stuck with me from this panel is to think more equitable instead of equal. As mentioned by almost everyone in IFCA during the panel, the female voice is still hidden and not amplified in both private and public spaces within Iran. IFCA, at its mission core, is a platform to amplify and bring together these voices. Rather than an exclusion, IFCA creates opportunities for the most marginalized voice within the scene to be heard and expressed.

Full Panel Discussion

Iranian Female Composers Association

The Iranian Female Composers Association (IFCA) was established in 2017 by three female-identifying Iranian composers, Anahita Abbasi, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, and Aida Shirazi. IFCA’s mission is to support Iranian female composers throughout their careers and to inspire organizers and ensembles to commission female composers and engage with them for future collaborations. In 2017, Nourbakhsh started thinking of creating an association that builds a community between the first generation of active Iranian female composers, as she lacked a mentorship herself growing up in Iran. She started the work for the first concert to feature all Iranian female composers at National Sawdust and reached out to Anahita Abbasi and Aida Shirazi via social platforms. Their partnership grew and the three composers established IFCA together. IFCA currently has more than 40 composers as its members who live and work across the globe. Since 2017, IFCA’s music has been featured at numerous festivals and venues including the Direct Current festival in Washington, DC and Mostly Mozart Festival in Lincoln Center.