he beauty of Persian hand woven rugs is not only in the final products themselves but also in the weaver’s and local customs and traditions around the weaving process. It gives Iranian carpets a particular aura and rooting in history rarely found in other regions. One of these enchanting customs is the ages-old singing that accompany weavers’ work in many different regions.
The Woven Sounds by Mehdi Aminian is a documentary exploring the Singing Culture of Carpet Weavers in Iran. “The Woven Sounds” project aims to document the intangible cultural heritage, the singing style, and music styles around the carpet weaving process in Iran. It focuses on Naqshe Khani (pattern singing) – a process in which a lead weaver with a loud and clear voice recites or sings the patterns from a map or memory to her/his co-weavers – and also on folk songs, tunes and prayers. Evidence suggests that this highly endangered practice has been a widespread tradition in Iran in the previous centuries. So far, there are little to no studies or presentations on this topic and this documentary movie is the first visual material that testimonies this vanishing culture.
“The Woven Sounds” is a research project at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW) within the Commission Vanishing Languages and Cultural Heritage (VLACH) in collaboration with Roots Revival.
