Embraced by the Flowing Water: Oud as a Queer Ontology
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Abstract
Embraced by the Flowing Water: Oud as a Queer Ontology, is a multi- composition, research-based artistic exploration that imagines the oud as a fluid, shape- shifting identity, and queer body. Drawing from Sara Ahmed’s Queer Phenomenology, which explores how bodies orient and reorient in space, the project examines the oud’s historical disappearance from Iran, its transformation, and its evolving role in creative and jazz music. Through original compositions, critical research, arrangements, and collaborative performances, the project repositions the oud as both a soloist and a rhythm section instrument. Each piece engages with themes of memory, disorientation, migration, and identity. This project contributes to the oud’s growing presence in creative and jazz music while also initiating a pedagogical effort to transcribe and arrange early Iranian classical music repertoire, expanding the instrument’s future possibilities.
Publication Date
7-1-2025
Campus
Boston Campus
Recommended Citation
Badieitabar, Bahar. “Embraced by the Flowing Water: Oud as a Queer Ontology.” Master's thesis, Berklee College of Music, 2025. https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-global-jazz/178.