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The Golha Project
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Digital archiving of all the Golha radio programmes for access by academic researchers of Persian music and literature and the public at large.
Sponsored by
Iran Heritage Foundation
Supported by
PARSA Community Foundation
Project Management
Jane Lewisohn with Aydin Azizzadeh
Project Overview
The music and literary repertoire of the programmes known generally as Golha, 'Flowers [of Persian Poetry and Song]' was a series of weekly radio programmes aired on Iranian radio between 1956 and 1979 which covered the entire history of classical as well as contemporary Persian poetry, giving expression to the whole gamut of traditional Persian music and poetry. The foremost and best musicians, vocalists, literary critics, poets and announcers performed on the programmes, thus providing a unique - and still the best and most poetically diverse - recorded collection of the classical corpus of Persian music and poetry made in the 20th century.
This project proposes to construct a digital archive of the series for access by academic researchers of Persian music and literature and the public at large. The first phase of the project, which was to compile and digitalize a complete archive of all the Golha radio programmes, was completed in 2008 by Jane Lewisohn under the auspices and support of the Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library where a copy of the complete digital archive is currently kept in the National Sound Archive World Music Section there.
Iran Heritage Foundation will be involved in the second phase of the project which aims to create a searchable, relational database of the entire archive including bio-bibliographical data on the performers and authors, musical notation for the songs, transcription of the poetry and the commentaries included in the programmes. This database will be made available over the internet by means of a purpose-built website linked exclusively to the IHF website.
The archive as a whole will be a unique cultural resource which can both be enjoyed by students and lovers of Persian culture and also used as a teaching tool for both Persian music and Persian literature.
This project proposes to construct a digital archive of the series for access by academic researchers of Persian music and literature and the public at large. The first phase of the project, which was to compile and digitalize a complete archive of all the Golha radio programmes, was completed in 2008 by Jane Lewisohn under the auspices and support of the Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library where a copy of the complete digital archive is currently kept in the National Sound Archive World Music Section there.
Iran Heritage Foundation will be involved in the second phase of the project which aims to create a searchable, relational database of the entire archive including bio-bibliographical data on the performers and authors, musical notation for the songs, transcription of the poetry and the commentaries included in the programmes. This database will be made available over the internet by means of a purpose-built website linked exclusively to the IHF website.
The archive as a whole will be a unique cultural resource which can both be enjoyed by students and lovers of Persian culture and also used as a teaching tool for both Persian music and Persian literature.
Project Duration
3 Years - 30% of the work already completed
Video
This 6-minute film introduces IHF's Golha Project.
Enquiries
Please support this valuable programme
The Iran Heritage Foundation (IHF) is raising funds for the Golha project. This project will create a free online database containing the complete archive of all 1,616 Golha radio programmes produced between 1956 and 1979, a veritable encyclopaedia of classical Persian poetry and music. This musical archive will be available in perpetuity to a worldwide audience. The archive’s custom software will allow users to search the database by different categories, including musician, vocalist, composer, reciter, and poet, as well as by dastgah, gusheh, poem, literary and musical genre, and poetic meter. It will include biographies of all the poets and artists included in the programmes. In addition, it will offer users the opportunity to download the musical notes for the taranas.
In the past music lovers, and particularly students and scholars of classical Persian poetry and music, have had very limited access to this vast and rich collection of Iranian masters and artists. This online archive will provide them with a valuable research tool and learning resource, which will have a lasting impact on Iranian studies.
This unique and ambitious project is projected to cost IHF £100,000 to complete. Every single contribution, however small or large, is important in helping us reach this goal. Please contribute generously and help us save this rich part of Iran’s cultural heritage, and make it available to future generations.
Through Virgin Money Giving, you can sponsor this project and donations will be quickly processed and passed to IHF, earmarked specifically for this project. Virgin Money Giving is a not for profit organisation and will claim gift aid on behalf of IHF where the donor is eligible for this.
In the past music lovers, and particularly students and scholars of classical Persian poetry and music, have had very limited access to this vast and rich collection of Iranian masters and artists. This online archive will provide them with a valuable research tool and learning resource, which will have a lasting impact on Iranian studies.
This unique and ambitious project is projected to cost IHF £100,000 to complete. Every single contribution, however small or large, is important in helping us reach this goal. Please contribute generously and help us save this rich part of Iran’s cultural heritage, and make it available to future generations.
Through Virgin Money Giving, you can sponsor this project and donations will be quickly processed and passed to IHF, earmarked specifically for this project. Virgin Money Giving is a not for profit organisation and will claim gift aid on behalf of IHF where the donor is eligible for this.
