Instrument as living archive

Updated: 2026.01.07 22D ago 1 sources
Performing endangered traditional instruments functions as an active method of cultural preservation: each performance transmits repertoire, technique and contextual memory that can substitute for, and prompt recovery of, lost documentary archives. — This reframes cultural policy to treat living practitioners and museum commissions as frontline heritage infrastructure deserving of funding, legal protection, and digitization support.

Sources

Persian tar: a living instrument
Aeon Video 2026.01.07 100% relevant
Hamed Sadeghi’s tar performance and his explicit framing of playing as ‘reclaiming’ lost Iranian radio archives after 1979.
← Back to All Ideas