JAVS Summer 2021

Example 2. Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Veiled, mm. 59–64. The arrival point, where the vocal melody becomes “unveiled.” Note the increasing agitation, volume, sense of pulse, and dissonance until the resolution at rehearsal 8; at this point, the pre-recorded vocal track becomes the main melody, with the viola accompanying. © 2019. Used with permission.

force,” acting as both the arrival point of the first part of the piece, and a beginning for what comes next.

colors and sound effects for the work. According to Nourbakhsh, this melody leads to the final bold character of the piece, which to her resembles the cover image of the score: a girl standing on the dome of the mosque, without her hijab, holding balloons (fig. 1). 10 The emotional journey of Veiled, in addition to its technical ingenuity from an idiomatic perspective, makes it an appealing work for violists. The inspiration from Iranian music in melodies and ornamental techniques, the creative use of electronics, and the programmatic nature of Veiled make it a great work for violists to expand their horizons to new musical languages and styles.

This melody is improvisational, full of embellishments, and depicts the traditional style of singing in Iranian classical music by using slides, grace notes, and left-hand taps. The grace notes especially resemble the Iranian ornamental techniques of tekieh or eshareh. Tekieh (ex. 3) literally means “to lean against” and is an appoggiatura like ornament that happens at the end of the main note, right before moving to the next note. The performer slightly touches the upper neighbor note before continuing.

The unique timbres of the kamancheh, an Iranian bowed string instrument, inspired Nourbakhsh’s overall

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

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