JAVS Summer 2021

Example 1. Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Veiled, opening section. The pre-recorded electronics are cued by notes in the score; the performer controls the software with a pedal. © 2019. Used with permission.

includes sound effects and a female singing voice. In her composition process, Nourbakhsh created a sound world and characters through specific attention to pitch, register, and timbre. Veiled begins with a shrill timbre and a feeling of sonic anticipation with a glissando on the A string. The high-pitched live electronics create a chilling atmosphere, awaiting the first melody which has a faded, quiet, and lonely sound (ex. 1). Nourbakhsh, born in Tehran, grew up listening to Iranian classical music and was strongly influenced by it. The inspiration can be seen in the way she writes melodies, specifically in their improvisatory characters and in their structure, which can be traced back to Iranian modes. The beginning motif of Veiled resembles the mode of chahargah , one of the twelve dastgahs (modes) of Iranian music. 8 While Nourbakhsh does not strictly follow the chahargah intervallic structure, this melody resembles the motivic qualities of the mode in general.

As the piece continues, the characters and sounds become bolder, bigger, and at times even aggressive and anxious. Different colors in sound, the electronics (both live through the contact mic, and pre-recorded sound effects and female singing voice), and the motivic cells throughout the piece create a polyphonic texture. Nourbakhsh structures the piece in a way that every detail leads to an arrival point where, for the first time, the female voice is prominent and becomes “unveiled.” The build-up and crescendo (ex. 2, mm. 59–63) finally releases and resolves at this arrival point, when the mood changes completely as the pre-recorded voice melody comes to the fore. The vocal melody performs multiple roles: telling a story about Iranian women, depicting a feeling of being silenced, and trying to break free. Nourbakhsh explains that she sought a sense of “granulation of the sounds; a quality that can be described as a feeling of suffocation, fighting (or singing) with your last breath.” 9 In addition, it also joins the viola to create what Nourbakhsh describes as a “collective

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 37, 2021 Online Issue

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