Maqam Saba on Santur – Iran (Traditional)
A sonic enactment of melancholic agency, where the maqam system, instrument, and performer together generate a resonant structure for affective transmission, spiritual depth, and temporal suspension
Thinking Through Alfred Gell (1945-1997)’s Art and Agency
Introduction
Maqam Saba is a well-known mode in both Arabic and Persian classical traditions, though realized differently in each. In the Iranian context, it shares modal and emotional affinities with dastgah systems such as Chahargah and Nava, but its performance—especially on the santur—is shaped by microtonal inflections, modal progression, and deeply expressive phrasing. The santur’s shimmering, harp-like tone lends a distinct emotional texture to Saba, a maqam often associated with nostalgia, longing, and melancholic dignity.
For Alfred Gell, such a performance is not a representation of mood, but a field of enacted agency, where sound, mode, and rhythm act upon the listener, shaping perception, memory, and inner state. Maqam Saba on Santur is an artwork that does—not says.
Art as Index of Introspective Agency
According to Gell, the artist’s agency is traced within the artwork. In this context:
The performer does not “express sadness” in the Western sense—rather, the modal architecture itself is sorrow-laden,
Each phrase within Maqam Saba is an index of a deeper, culturally shared emotional grammar,
The articulation of pitches, microtonal bends, and ornamental turns (e.g. tahrir, ghamz) serve as acts of meaning, not decorations.
Thus, the performance becomes a temporal archive of feeling, a sounding trace of memory, preserved not in words but in modal vocabulary.
Distributed Agency: Maqam, Instrument, Performer, Listener
Gell’s concept of distributed agency is vital here:
The maqam system is not a scale—it’s a temporal-spatial field with internal pathways and character,
The santur, with its dual-stringed courses and echoic sustain, adds resonance and sonic doubling,
The performer invokes and varies gusheh (melodic cells) within Saba, weaving an emotional narrative,
The listener responds not to an external story, but to modal logic that acts directly on affective perception.
The performance becomes a shared ritual, where cultural and individual agencies overlap, mediated by the sound.
Temporal Structure and Modal Flow
Maqam Saba typically unfolds in:
Slow, meditative introduction (daramad),
Gradual elaboration through motivic variation and rhythmic pulse,
Often leading into related maqamat for expansion or contrast.
Gell would highlight how this creates non-linear time:
There is no climax or endpoint—only emotional deepening,
Time becomes qualitative, not quantitative—it is shaped by tone and silence,
The audience is held not in a narrative, but in acoustic duration—a modal now.
Ornament as Agentive Gesture
On the santur, ornamentation is not additive—it is constitutive:
Left-hand dampening or sliding subtly modifies decay and color,
Phrasal ornaments such as trills, tremolos, or grace notes act as calls or sighs,
Melodic phrases unfold like calligraphy, each curved with intention.
Gell would describe these as gestural indices of intention: not simply techniques, but aesthetic decisions that act upon listener emotion and temporal awareness.
The Santur as Affective Tool of Resonance
The santur, with its tuned bridges and hammer-struck strings, offers:
A balance between clarity and blur—allowing emotion to appear both precise and suspended,
A timbral quality that seems to dissolve into air, making each note a vanishing agent of memory,
A physical playing method (with mezrab) that externalizes breath and thought into motion.
Gell would treat the santur as a prosthetic extension of agency—not just an instrument, but a resonant device for shaping inner states into acoustic form.
Enchantment Through Modal Truth
The experience of Maqam Saba on santur often elicits:
Stillness, inner reflection, or tears—not through performance drama, but through modal honesty,
A feeling of shared memory, even without words,
A kind of quiet captivation, where one listens as if overhearing the soul speaking.
This is Gell’s technology of enchantment in its most refined form: no illusion, only depth made audible. The enchantment lies not in trickery, but in modal precision and emotional truth.
Conclusion
From Alfred Gell’s perspective, a performance of Maqam Saba on Santur is not decorative—it is a structured sonic ritual, where mode, memory, instrument, and intention enact melancholic presence. It is a sonic act of becoming, where the artist’s inner world meets the listener’s attention through a shared grammar of tone and timing.
This music is not “about sadness”—it acts sadness, traces longing, and calls forth empathy through agency embedded in sound itself. Gell would see it as a pure form of aesthetic action, where the listener is not a spectator but a participant in enacted emotion.