Roozbeh Nafisi is a PhD student in musicology at the mdw. In his interdisciplinary doctoral work, he explores the instrument called the santur and the cultures in which it is played. Roozbeh is himself a santur player.

In April 2022, his PhD short-term mobility took him to the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre in Tallinn, the capital city. Doctoral candidates at the mdw have the opportunity to live and study in another European country for five to thirty days. Roozbeh chose Tallinn in order to conduct research into the kannel, a traditional Estonian instrument. The kannel is a box zither instrument related to the santur (a member of the dulcimer family) and played primarily in Finland and Estonia.

During his stay in Tallinn, Roozbeh conducted interviews with kannel players and experts at archives and museums. In archives, he took photographs of details of the instruments and spent a great deal of time at the National Library in Tallinn, the library of the Academy of Music and Theatre, and the library of the Estonian Literary Museum in Tartu, Estonia’s second-largest city.

Roozbeh is enthusiastic about the friendliness and openness of the people there:

The people I encountered were without exception very helpful. It was my first visit to Estonia, and I would gladly return there any time.

In addition to establishing contacts with other scholars and conducting research, he had sufficient time to explore the local culture—best done at a traditional Estonian dance club: “I’m normally not a dancer, but this was an incomparable experience. By the end of the evening, I had gained many new friends.”

Roozbeh taught himself a few Estonian words using online tutorials: “Knowing at least a few Estonian words helped me show people that I was seriously interested in their culture.” He was fascinated by the sound of Estonian language, which is related only to Finnish: “As a musician, I’m interested in the music of a language.” The class that Roozbeh attended at the Academy of Music and Theatre along with other international PhD students was held in English, of course.

In general, Roozbeh was very impressed by the level of quality at the academy and particularly by the strong improvisation department. Together with students and teachers, he also played an improvisation concert at the academy.

Roozbeh took long, aimless strolls through the city, often losing his way. But this actually pleased him:

I love encountering new places in a city and meeting people there by chance. You can learn so much from every person.

In a notebook he always carried with him, he made notes of everything he saw and heard. Locals gave him recommendations for things he absolutely had to try in Estonia, including the typical Estonian black sausages called verivorst and the chocolate-covered curd bars known as kohuke. And bear meat as well: “The taste is not as gamey as one might think; it was rather sweet and less fatty than I expected,” says Roozbeh.

He also had time to visit the village of Laulasmaa, the location of the Arvo Pärt Centre, dedicated to the life and work of the famous Estonian composer.

Roozbeh is completely satisfied with how his stay worked out and with the insights he gained. Aside from completing his doctoral work, his future endeavours include the musical project “Andante für die verbotene Stimme”, which addresses the ban on females singing in public in Iran, and which will be performed in part at the mdw in 2024.

Text: Isabella Gaisbauer