Jean During

Biography

While getting acquainted with Iranian philosophy at the Academy of Philosophy in Teheran, he studied the târ and setâr and frequented the masters of traditional music, mainly N.A. Borumand, A.A. Shahnâzi, D. Safvat and Y. Forutan. Soon he definitively cut with Western music and in 1978 he won the prize of setâr at Bârbad Concourse organized by Iranian National T.V.
He has published twelve books on the musical traditions and cultures of Inner Asia, and more than a hundred articles Three of his books have been translated into Persian.
He spent five years in Tachkent as scientific secretary at the French Research Institute in Central Asia, and as Programme manager of the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia. From 2003 to 2005 he was at the head of the French Research Institute in Iran (Tehran). In 2006 he went back to France where he is director of research at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).1.
Books
 Musique et Extase. L’audition mystique dans la tradition soufie (new revised edition), Paris, Cerf, 2023.
 A sense of tradition in Eastern musical culture Four lectures on tradition and aesthetics in Islamic cultures through the bias of music. Nemo online special edition 2022.
 The Radif of Mirzâ ‘Abdollâh. The Canonic Persian Repertoire as Recorded by Nur ‘Ali Borumand, Tehran, Mahoor 2019. (New transcription and introduction).
 Musiques d’Iran. La tradition en question, Paris, Geuthner, 2010.
 La voix du chamane : étude sur les baxshi tadjiks et ouzbeks, en coll. avec Sultonali Khudoberdiev, Paris, L’Harmattan, 2007.
 The Radif of Mirzâ ‘Abdollâh. A Canonic Repertoire of Persian Music, Tehran, Mahoor, 2006 (New transcription, enlarged and revised).
 L’âme des sons. L’art unique d’Ostad Elâhi (1895-1974), Editions du Relié, Gordes. 2001.
 Musiques d’Asie centrale : l’esprit d’une tradition, Paris/Arles, Cité de la Musique/ Actes Sud, Musique du Monde, 1998.
 Quelque chose se passe : le sens de la tradition dans l’Orient musical, Lagrasse, Verdier, 1994.
 The Art of Persian Music, en coll. avec Z. Mirabdolbaghi et D. Safvate, Washington, Mage Publishers, 1991.
 Le répertoire modèle de la musique persane. Radif de târ et de setâr de Mirzâ ‘Abdollâh, Tehran, Sorush, 1991.
 Musique et extase : l’audition mystique dans la tradition soufie, Paris, Albin Michel, 1988.
 Musique et mystique dans les traditions de l’Iran, Paris, IFRI-Peeters 1989.
 La musique traditionnelle de l’Azerbayjan et la science des muqams, Baden-Baden, V. Koerner Verlag, 1988.
 La musique iranienne : tradition et évolution, Paris, Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1984.
 Islam. Le combat mystique, Paris, Laffont, 1975 (ouvrage grand public).