A photo of Ali Balighi taken on Tech’s campus by The Hub@TTU contributor Venus Bayat.
By Venus Bayat
Ali Balighi is an international music composition student at Texas Tech from Tehran, Iran. He is an experimental music composer who, in most cases, composes works inspired by Iranian folklore and traditional music. Much of his work as a composer focuses on “micro-tonality,” novel instrumental approaches, electronic- and electroacoustic music.
Balighi began studying music at the Tehran University of Art. There, he was influenced by University of Art Music Dean Hamidreza Dibazar, former Dean Sharif Lotfi, and prominent Iranian cellist Karim Ghorbani among others. As a member of the composition master classes of Ahmad Pejman, Dr. Dimitri Papageorgiou and Joachim Heintze, Balighi also studied with composers Kiawasch Saheb Nassagh and Mohammadreza Azin. Further, Balighi studies composition at Tech under the tutelage of Dr. Peter Fischer, Professor Hideki Isoda and Dr. Jennifer Jolley.
In addition to winning a Reza Korourian Award for electronic music and the Radio Javan composition competition, Balighi was also awarded a residency and a grant from The Saari Residence for individual residencies for Finland in 2022. His music has been featured at music festivals in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Portugal, Canada, Poland, Lithuania, Belgium, Switzerland and Iran.
VB: What made you choose Texas Tech University as your educational institution?
AB: “The School of Music at Texas Tech University is a good place for contemporary composers because it offers students the chance to focus on both music technology and their own musical language. Additionally, the music school’s composition faculty welcomes international students and new music languages. As a student of Dr. Jolley and Dr. Fischer, I learned how to write contemporary score and to manage my ideas so that I could get the best possible results from my education.”
VB: You mentioned the music technology at Tech, I am very interested in learning those details.
AB: “Professor Hideki Isoda is director of the School of Music’s media production department and assistant professor of composition. In selecting music equipment for students, he is very precise. Additionally, the music school offers great courses in music technology, such as Music Informatics and Music Portfolio. In my first semester of music informatics, I invented a new device inside the piano. Software parts of the device were written in Max/MSP and Arduino language using Arduino hardware. For my master’s thesis, I used this new device. On the Texas Tech University campus, students are encouraged to be more creative in both contemporary music and music technology. I think TTU is an ideal place for pioneering composers because of this reason.”
VB: Your compositions have been performed around the world, including the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Finland. Is there a particular specialty of your music that international ensembles in the U.S . and Europe prefer to perform?
AB: “Contemporary music requires new perspectives on both technique and music language. I would rather learn about philosophy and musical creativity from other composers than copy them. Among my favorite composers are George Crumb, John Cage, Luigi Nono, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Gyorgy Ligeti. It takes me a lot of time to learn and study their music and scores. To begin with, I focus on the techniques, I try to figure out how they use them. In addition, I would like to understand their musical ideas by thinking like them when I analyze their music. Furthermore, I come from an Iranian family with a rich musical heritage. In my music, I use the logic and theory of this genre to create a unique music language, and this particular specialty is attractive to international ensembles because they are interested in discovering new music.”
VB: You compose a lot of music, I know. What was the last piece you wrote?
AB: “My lastest piece is [titled] ‘A Song Below Water.’ Numerous composers have created music based on bird and jungle sounds, including Olivier Messiaen and Panayiotis Kokoras. During the writing of this piece, I explored fish sounds, which led me to choose the title.
“The acoustic instruments used in this piece are alto saxophone, bassoon, timpani, and piano. A variety of extended techniques are used to create imitations of fish sounds and underwater sounds, primarily using woodwind instruments, such as the alto saxophone and bassoon, although timpani and piano sounds are also used. There are three additional sound sources used, the first being an extra-musical device that sets up sympathetic vibrations on selected strings, thereby creating long tones that can be turned on and off. In addition, an AMBIENT ASF-1 MK II hydrophone for fixed media was used to record sound underwater. As a third medium, sound design synthesis was developed. The underwater ambience plays the most important role in the fixed medias of the piece.”
VB: What is the process of your composition?
AB: “To compose, I always begin with simple questions, such as ‘What is music?’ ‘I compose for what reason?’ I try to find a correct answer to these questions. By organizing my musical ideas in the answers, I am able to write music more quickly. The process of writing a piece may take a lot of time, but when I see the basic rules both artistically and technically, I can complete it over time in a coherent manner.”
VB: I find it very interesting. How would you define music?
AB: “Music is a very difficult phenomenon to describe. The topic would need to be discussed from a variety of perspectives, including linguistic, biological, psychological, philosophical, historical, anthropological, theological, and even legal and medical perspectives, as well as the universal/world term music, used in its broadest sense.
“Moreover, the concept and the boundaries of music differ by culture, historical period, and social context. The quantity and diversity of discussions on the nature of music indicates the variety of attitudes; but it also indicates that ideas on the nature, definition, character, shape, and conceptualization of music have been consistently expanding. In contemporary Western culture, one may argue whether the following examples are music any more than the singing of birds—the sounds of an orchestra tuning up, or John Cage’s work, 4′33″, in which no sound is heard (other than the ambient sound experienced during the duration of the work), or the sounds produced by computer programs.
“Although several lexicons and encyclopedias discuss and explore the meaning of music in various cultures, as a contemporary composer, I must have my own perspective. Therefore, for me, music has a ‘float’ concept, which means that it has a different meaning in different cultures, as well as in different pieces written by the same composer.”
VB: What is your next step as a composer?
AB: “As soon as I finish my master’s degree, I will begin my [Doctor of Musical Arts program] at Texas Tech University. The opportunity to learn more from Dr. Fischer and Professor Isoda is very exciting to me. During this time, I have many plans for research and composition.”
VB: Where can one listen to your music?
AB: “You can listen to my music on my personal website, or you can find it on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and iHeart.”
Venus Bayat is a first-year student in the Master of Arts in Mass Communication program at the College of Media and Communication.
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