Anushirvan - Epic Iranian Music

Music and vocals and Farya Faraji. Artwork by J.F Oliveiras, please check out his work on Artstation or Instagram, he makes the most beautiful accurate visual reconstructions of Ancient Iranian cultures. Please note that this isn't reconstructed music from the Sasanian Era, it's entirely modern Iranian music but with a historical theme.

Khosrow Anushirvan was the Shahanshah (King of Kings) of the Sasanian Empire from 531 to 579. Widely regarded as one of the greatest kings of the Sasanian dynasty, if not the greatest, to the point where his name, Khosrow, would become a synonym for the term "King," a reality still in use in Modern Persian, where terms like "kingly" or "royal" are often derived from Khosrow. His reign was marked by ambitious construction projects, and a flourishing of architectural and urban projects, as well as cultural ones.

Much of his reign was characterised by the intense rivalry with the Eastern Roman "Byzantines," who would fight him for control of regions such as the Caucasus and Lazica.

He would make the Academy of Gondishapur, a centre of knowledge and sciences flourish, and it is argued that under his reign, the Sasanian Empire may have been the most developed power of the Old World in technological and cultural terms. The knowledge in various fields of sciences he promoted would serve as one of the bases from which the later Islamic Golden Age would become possible in the first place, and his character would become synonymous, even in Roman thought, as the epitome of the Philosopher King.

The instrumentation consist of a daf, tombak, a barbad, qanun and ney, most of these instruments having existed in some form during the Sasanian Era. The mode used is Shur, one of the principal modes or maqams of Iranian music. The time signature is 9/8, one sometimes found across parts of Iran, and the lyrics are in Middle-Persian, except for the Anushirvan epithet which is a later New Persian form of anūšag-ruwān, which means "Immortal Soul."

Lyrics in Middle-Persian:
Drod abar tō, Husrow,
Abarwez ud perozgār,
Čašm ud sare Eran,
Sāyag e Auramazda,
Čašm ud sare Eran,
Anushirvan

Edon nibišt estad ku,
Pas az marge e Kawād
Husrow Shāhānshāh bud,
Shah i Eran ud Aneran

Edon nibišt estad ku,
Husrow Shah e Wuzurg bud,
Husro Anushirvan,
Yazdān tōhm winārdār

English translation:
Salutations upon you, Khosrow,
Glorious and victorious,
Eyes and head of Iran,
Shadow of Ahura Mazda,
Eyes and head of Iran,
Immortal Soul

Thus it is written,
That after Kavad's passing,
Khosrow was King of Kings,
King of Iranians and non Iranians,

Thus it is written,
Khosrow was a great King,
Khosrow the Immortal Soul,
Restorer of the Gods