ICMC BOSTON 2025
Online Listening Room
Curiosity, Play, Innovation - A 50th Anniversary Celebration of Creativity in Music, Science, and Technology
June 8-14, 2025
ICMC BOSTON 2025: Online Listening Room #4
ID#: 436
Rebellion (2024) ; 4:44
by Mahoor Pourmoghadam
Independent Artist
Rebellion was created during a time when Iranian society was facing deep social, political, and psychological crises, culminating in the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests. It reflects the emotions and idealism of many women and youth despite the ongoing suppression and violence. Given the ban on women’s voices in Iranian music, the piece features unique melodies and vocal techniques to express those silenced feelings.
The entire soundscape is built from the kamancheh, a traditional Iranian instrument, chosen for its strong ties to national identity. Its raw and mysterious tone is shaped with extended playing techniques and electronic effects to create a new electroacoustic texture. Layered bow strokes and brushed skin sounds, blended with effects, evoke deep emotional wounds and social trauma.
Inspired by the balance between mechanical precision and organic transformation, the piece fuses acoustic and electronic elements. The texture is intricate, immersive, and emotionally intense, with spatial sound shifts designed to deepen the listener’s experience. Every element has been carefully designed, recorded, and mixed in Logic Pro, echoing themes of transformation and resilience through sound.
Mahoor Pourmoghadam
Mahoor Pourmoghadam is a Persian Classical Singer, Composer, Kamancheh and Tanbour player. She graduated from the Art and Architecture of Tehran Azad University with a bachelor’s degree in Iranian traditional music. She studied Persian Classical Vocal with Hamidreza Nourbakhsh, Kamancheh with Mojdeh Jahangiri, Ardeshir Kamkar, Davood Ganjeie, and Mohammad Moghadasi, Tanbour with Kaykhosro Pournazeri, and Piano with Nasim Nabavi. She contributed as a kamancheh player to the published CD Sokhan Haye Nahan. She has also been learning contemporary and electronic music under Dr. Amir Sadeghi Konjani. Mahoor has composed music for two animations, including I and I, which won first place in Stop Motion Animation at the “Half Way There” Festival, Department of Electronic Media and Film, Towson University, USA. The second animation, The Meaning of Love, featured her as both composer and singer. Her electroacoustic piece Another World received the second prize in the Reza Korourian Awards (2016) and has been performed at prominent venues, including the Dastgah Festival, Theater and Media University of Hannover, Germany (2016); Eastman Audio Research Studio, Hatch Recital Hall, Rochester, USA (2018); NYC Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF) by NYU New Music Ensemble, USA (2019); 40th International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music General Assembly, Poland (2022); and the Autumn Waves Festival, Belgium (2022). The track was also included on the Engare CD as a selected piece of the RKA 2016. In collaboration with Dr. Esther Lamneck, she composed two pieces, Pass Away and Wind Trails, with the latter performed at the 2022 International Computer Music Conference in Ireland. Her piano and vocal piece Revolution was performed at Voice from Iran, Women Life Freedom, in Australia (2023). Currently, Mahoor is pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Design at HKU Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
* winner, Berklee College of Music internal music composition competition for ICMC Boston 2025
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