New book and CD set on traditional Persian art music

Hi Folks,

I thought some of you might be interested to know that a new book and
five CD set of Persian music is now available. The book is called
"Traditional Persian Art Music: The Radif of Mirza Abdollah". I ordered
mine a couple of months ago (before it was available), and it just
arrived yesterday.

The book includes a little information about Persian tunings (giving
both a subset of 24 TET and an alternative tuning and explaining that
neither is completely satisfactory -- hence the moveable frets of the
tar and sehtar). :-)

The book also describes the combinations of different tetrachords used
in Persian music.

Here's a description of it from Mazda Publishers' web page:

http://www.mazdapub.com/Traditional-Music.htm
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This volume ... is a book of musical notation of the Persian
classical music repertory, the radif, as handed down by the
nineteenth-century master of the setar and tar, Mirza Abdollah, to
his students and children, along with a concise explanation of his
music. The book's musical notation and the explanatory material are
written by Dariush Tala'i. He has transcribed his entire performance
into musical notation so that a person who reads music can see
exactly what is being performed. Information is given in the
notations about fingering on the setar, how to pluck the instrument,
and what ornamentation to use. The accompanying written materials
will provide information about the radif, the modal system, and a
concise description of the characteristics of each of the two major
parts of the radif.

About the Compact Discs
This volume is accompanied by a set of 5 compact discs (CDs) with the
complete radif performed by setar virtuoso, Dariush Tala'i. The
recordings were made at the University of Washington in Seattle in
1992 while Mr. Tala'i was a Visiting Professor in the School of
Music.

Specifications:
1999: ix+597pp., includes 5 compact discs.
Bibliotheca Iranica: Performing Arts Series No. 3
ISBN:1-56859-039-3(hard cover book+ 5 CDs):$95.00
ISBN:1-56859-073-3 (CDs only): $65.00
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Cheers,
Christopher