Persian Classical: “Reng-e Saba” – Dariush Safvat, Iran (Santur)
A modular, rhythmic, and modal enactment of aesthetic agency, where the santur articulates a cosmic sensibility through intricate patterning, temporal elegance, and spiritually inflected formalism
Thinking Through Alfred Gell (1945-1997)’s Art and Agency
Introduction
“Reng-e Saba” is a renowned piece in Persian classical music—typically composed in the dastgah of Saba, associated with a gentle, lyrical, melancholic affect. The reng form is a light, rhythmic instrumental dance, often concluding a suite (radif), and this piece, performed by Dariush Safvat—a master of Persian spiritual aesthetics and founder of the Center for the Preservation and Propagation of Iranian Music—demonstrates profound clarity, restraint, and meditative fluidity.
The santur, a trapezoidal hammered dulcimer, is tuned in microtonal modes and struck with lightweight mallets (mezrab). In Gell’s Art and Agency, such music is not just ornamented sound—it is a ritualized field of acoustic intention, a system where tonal variation and temporal motion serve as indexes of cosmological thought, artistic mastery, and metaphysical sensibility.
The Artwork as Index of Modal Knowledge and Aesthetic Philosophy
For Gell, art indexes the agency of its maker. Reng-e Saba functions as:
A materialization of Persian modal logic, especially in the way notes and motifs evolve with nuanced variation,
A gesture of sonic geometry—each phrase unfolds like a drawing in space,
An index of the performer’s spiritual intent, as Persian classical music often assumes music as inner purification.
Each note or roll on the santur is not arbitrary decoration; it is a measured breath, a micro-decision in a language of refined thought-in-sound.
Distributed Agency: Santur, Dastgah, Rhythm, Performer
In Gell’s framework of distributed intentionality, we must consider:
The santur itself—a resonant body with 72–96 strings, microtonally tuned to multiple scales simultaneously, acting not merely as instrument, but as modal matrix,
The dastgah system, a complex modal system with gusheh (melodic fragments), which guides not just pitch but mood and ethos,
The rhythmic reng form, which provides temporal scaffolding—measured and elegant, yet open to inflection,
The player (Safvat), not performing to impress, but to commune with listeners and model contemplative clarity.
Thus, Reng-e Saba is not a solo—it is a relational invocation, where multiple agents—instrument, scale, memory, and touch—cohere into a field of musical presence.
Reng Form as Temporal Ornamentation
The reng is a rhythmic, often 6/8 or 3/4 form that traditionally ends a Persian suite (radif), marking:
A shift from spiritual density toward joyful lightness,
A structure that maintains elegant motion, without emotional excess,
A gesture of release, but not of climax.
Gell would interpret this form as a temporal ritual, organizing perception of time as aesthetic flow. Its lightness doesn’t undermine depth—it reframes seriousness into grace, and time into beauty.
Microtonality and the Technology of Enchantment
Safvat’s use of the santur in Reng-e Saba exemplifies Gell’s idea of enchantment through complexity:
Microtonal phrasing and delicate tremolos enchant not by grandeur, but by sublime detail,
The listener is drawn into aural intimacy, seduced by the subtle shifts of timbre and pitch,
The resonant overtones of the santur create a layered acoustic halo, expanding sound into surrounding space.
This is not overwhelming enchantment—it is meditative enchantment. Gell would see the santur here as a technology of spiritual perception, subtly altering awareness through aesthetic calibration.
Music as Philosophical Ritual
Safvat’s interpretation of the Persian classical tradition emphasizes:
Music as spiritual discipline—a form of inward refinement (tahzib-e-nafs),
Performance as contemplative action, not entertainment,
The relationship between melodic choice and ethical self-control—refusing excess, favoring nuance.
Gell would frame this as artwork-as-ritual-tool: the music does not represent mysticism—it enacts it. The performer, through restraint, becomes an ethical agent, and the sound becomes a reflection of refined soul.
Aesthetic Logic and Embodied Agency
Each phrase of Reng-e Saba:
Balances metrical clarity with melodic improvisation,
Grows organically—often from a small motif into a larger wave of expression,
Embodies the principle of tezhib—ornamentation as spiritual metaphor.
The performer’s hands become agents of embodied geometry, creating curves of intention in sonic space. Gell would see each strike, each pause, as an act of will materialized through matter—the player as philosopher-craftsman.
Conclusion
From Alfred Gell’s perspective, “Reng-e Saba” performed by Dariush Safvat is not merely a musical piece—it is a temporal, modal, and philosophical field of acoustic agency. Every note is an agent of presence; every gesture, a trace of intention.
The santur does not speak—it enacts. The modal progression does not describe emotion—it sculpts it, gently guiding the listener toward contemplative receptivity. Gell would call this an artwork that acts—not by force, but by form. An instrument not of sound alone, but of spiritual cognition, and a model for how aesthetic form becomes ethical structure.