The Music Museum of Iran

Musical Practices: Documentation and Mediation

The Music Museum of Iran (founded in 2006) owns approximately 25,000 recordings of Iranian music, recorded from 1906 to 1979, including radio recordings, Persian and Afghan pop music and important shellac records from the era of the last Khajar ruler Ahmad Shah Qajar (1906-1925). In addition, there are almost 1,500 Iranian musical instruments, an extensive video collection and 2,000 historical photographs. At the present time, the museum represents the only Iranian institution committed to being a place of documentation and mediation of the country's musical past and present. Since 2012, the sound archive has been digitally secured with funding from the Federal Foreign Office and the Foundation of Lower Saxony and in cooperation with the Center for World Music.

Website of Music Museum of Iran.

Year of acquisition

2013 Digital copies handed over to CWM

Collector/Donor

Music Museum of Iran, Tehran

Material and number

approx. 3000 shellac records, focus on early recordings of Iranian music

Status of acquisition

partially completed (in progress)

Status of digitisation

Completed (scans and audio digitisations)

Location of the collection

physical: Music Museum of Iran, Tehran

Project funding

For indexing: Funding for initiation: MWK Wissenschaftliche Zusammenarbeit mit dem Ausland; for digitisation and indexing: Stiftung Niedersachsen and Cultural Preservation Programme of the Federal Foreign Office (2013-2022)