Campus Directory

Division Arts Division

Department/ College/ Unit Music Department

Title PhD Student

Graduate Major Cross-Cultural Musicology

Affiliation Graduate

Mail Stop Music Center

Biography, Education and Training

Arya Tavallaei, is a PhD student in Cross-Cultural Musicology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As a Santour player, he holds a Bachelor’s degree in Iranian Classical Music and a Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology from the University of Tehran, Iran. His Master’s research examined the urban and popular music of Gilan, a northern province of Iran, with a focus on processes of modernization, ethnic cultural identity, musical hybridity, and the ways rural and urban cultures intersect through music. His current research expands these interests to Iranian popular music more broadly, with a particular focus on the visual dimensions in media. It explores questions of politics, modernity, femininity, and the role of music in forms of political ideology.

Summary of Expertise

Ethnomusicology; Iranian and Middle Eastern music; popular music and media; television and broadcasting; media policy; music, place, and identity.

Arya's research focuses on music and television in modern Iran, examining how broadcasting institutions and media policies have shaped popular music, cultural representation, and ideas of modernity, femininity, and identity. He also works on regional music of Gilan in Iran, particularly the relationship between music, place, and local identity.

Awards, Honors and Grants

• 2026  Art’s Dean Fund for Excellence and Equity, University of California, Santa Cruz
• 2025  Graduate Dean’s Travel Grant, University of California, Santa Cruz
• 2024  Regent’s Fellowship, University of California, Santa Cruz
• 2021  First Prize in Solo Santour Performance, 15th National Festival of Youth Music, Tehran, Iran
• 2020  Third Prize in Solo Santour Performance, 14th National Festival of Youth Music, Tehran, Iran

Selected Performances

• 2026a   Santour performance with the Iranian Ensemble, Ashkenazi Music and Dance Community Center, Berkeley, California
• 2026b   Santour performance with Central Asian Ensemble, Google Headquarters, Mountain View, California
• 2025a   Santour performance with Central Asian Ensemble, Celebration of Uzbekistan’s 34th Independence Day, Sponsored by the Embassy of Uzbekistan in the US, Organization of American States, Washington D.C.
• 2025b   Dormant Embres, Santour performance in collaboration with DelSol Quartet, Music Recital Hall, University of California, Santa Cruz
• 2025c   Santour performance with Central Asian Ensemble, Google Headquarters, Mountain View, California
• 2019a   Santour Performance with Zemestan Ensemble in Dastgah-e Segah, Avini Theater Hall, University of Tehran, Iran
• 2019b  Santour Performance with Zemestan Ensemble in Dastgah-e Segah, Motahari Theater Hall, University of Guilan, Iran
• 2018    Solo Santour Performance in Avaz-e Esfahan, Avini Theater Hall, University of Tehran, Iran

Selected Presentations

• 2026a  "From Lament to Dance: How Power Reshapes Narrative; Musical Narrative and Gendered Editing in the Gilaki Song ‘Rana,’” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Northern California Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology, San Jose, California
• 2026b  “The Politics of Sound and Sight: Popular Music, Visual Culture, and Modern Femininity on 1970s Iranian Television,” presented at the conference Sounding Iran: Musical Pasts, Presents, and Futures, University of California, Irvine
• 2025a  “Broadcasting Ethnic Identity: Cultural Resistance, Hybridization, and the Invention of Urban Gilaki Music in the Mid-20th Century Iran,” presented at the International Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Atlanta, Georgia
• 2025b  “Visualizing Popular Music: Politics, Modern Femininity, and Attitudes toward Musical Shows of Iranian Television in the 1970s,” presented at the Annual Meeting of the Northern California Chapter of the American Musicology Society, San Jose, California

Selected Publications

• 2023a  "Zamineha-ye Peydayesh-e Musiqi-ye Shahri-ye Gilan: Tavalod-e Yek Sonnat Ebdaei” (The Origins of the Urban Music of Gilan: The Birth of an Invented Tradition). Journal of Fine Arts: Performing Arts and Music 28(3): 67-77.
• 2023b  “Musiqi-ye Radioyi-e Gilaki: Musiqi-ye Mardom Pasand-e Boomi” (Gialki Radio Music: Local Popular Music). Mahoor Music Quarterly 25(100): 129-147.
• 2021  “Sakhtarha-ye Moshabeh dar Musiqi-ye Avazi-ye Gilan” (The Similar Music Structures in the Vocal Music of Gilan). Farahang Quarterly 3(7): 42-57.