بازتاب ناخودآگاه جمعی در روایت‌های آیینی موسیقی نواحی ایران بر اساس آرای یونگ (مطالعۀ موردی: موسیقی عاشیقی آذربایجان، آیین زار و نوحه‌خوانی بوشهر)

 Introduction: Iranian folk music extends beyond aesthetics and entertainment, serving as a dynamic medium for the transmission of oral history, mythological belief, and the psychological lifeworld of various ethnicities. Evolving from collective rituals and historical lived experiences, these traditions encapsulate the collective unconscious, which is a psychological layer containing archetypes shared by all humans based on Carl Gustav Jung’s analytical psychology. Through narrative, melodic, and rhythmic structures, this music embodies archetypes such as the hero, Anima, Shadow, Wise Old Man, Mourning Mother, and Death-Rebirth. Despite extensive research in ethnomusicology, there remains a noticeable lack of a psychological perspective that interprets the musical structures of ethnic groups as processes of individuation and encounters with the unconscious. Accordingly, this study addresses how the collective unconscious and Jungian archetypes are reflected in the narrative and ritual structures of Iranian folk music. Three distinct case studies, Azerbaijani Ashiq music (focusing on the Ashiq Garib narrative), the southern Iranian Zar healing ritual, and Bushehr’s noheh khani (mourning chants), are examined to analyze the integration of the individual psyche with collective memory and the psychological functions of musical rituals.
Objective and Questions: This study adopts Carl Gustav Jung’s analytical psychology, in which the collective unconscious consists of instincts and archetypes that precede individual experience. Archetypes are innate dispositions for perceiving the world in a specific way, expressed in art and myth. Individuation is the psyche’s developmental path toward integration and self-awareness, requiring confrontation with unconscious contents. The study also adopts Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, which closely parallels Jung’s individuation: the hero is called, crosses the threshold, faces trials and shadows, and returns with a gift that restores balance to the community.
Methodology: This basic qualitative study employs a descriptive-analytical approach. Data were collected from literature, historical archives, ethnomusicological texts, and audiovisual recordings of the target rituals. The analytical corpus comprises three Iranian musical-ritual phenomena: the Ashiq Garib and Shah Sanam narrative in Azerbaijan, the Zar ritual in Hormozgan and Qeshm, and the noheh khani and sineh zani (chest-beating) of Bushehr. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis and thematic coding; specifically, the textual, musical, and ritual structures of the three samples were mapped against Jungian archetypal components and the stages of the hero’s journey.
Results: The analysis shows an organized presence of archetypes across three examples:

Azerbaijani Ashiq music (Ashiq Garib Romance): This narrative embodies the hero’s journey and the process of individuation. Ashiq Garib, the hero, is summoned by the dream of Shah Sanam. In this reading, Shah Sanam represents the archetype of the Anima (the feminine dimension of the male psyche), serving as the hero’s inner guide toward psychic wholeness. On his journey, Garib confronts his rival, Shah-Valad, who symbolizes the Shadow, the repressed and dark side of the psyche. Using the qopuz as a medium of contact with the sacred, and through enduring separation and suffering, Garib overcomes the trials and attains spiritual fulfillment.
The Zar ritual of southern Iran: In this healing rite, malevolent winds that haunted the patient are interpreted as manifestations of both the collective and individual Shadow. The afflicted person, thrown out of psychological balance, begins a heroic journey toward healing. The Baba-zar or Mama-zar, in the role of the Wise Old Man, directs the ritual as an embodiment of unconscious wisdom. The rhythmic music of cymbals and drums induces trance, comparable to the temporary collapse of conscious boundaries and the eruption of the unconscious. Ultimately, rather than suppressing the Shadow, the Zar ritual, through sacrifice and the acceptance of the wind, creates a space for integration and peaceful coexistence with it.
Bushehr noheh khani: This collective mourning tradition provides a setting for the projection of historical archetypes. Imam Hussein is the embodiment of the sacred sacrifice and the self-sacrificing hero, whose death brings about the spiritual rebirth of the community. Hazrat-e Zeynab and the grieving women embody the Mourning Mother archetype, representing profound grief and the acceptance of existential suffering. The cyclical, synchronized rhythms of Bushehri sineh zani (wahid) and the mournful noheh khani produce a form of catharsis (purgation of the emotions), releasing accumulated tensions and purifying the communal psyche.

Conclusion: The findings show that Iranian folk music is not merely an artistic or entertaining form, but a symbolic, therapeutic, and equilibrating system that supports the collective psyche of ethnic communities in confronting existential crises. A Jungian reading of these traditions reveals that stages such as the call to the journey (the dream in Ashiq music, illness in Zar, and mourning in noheh), the encounter with the Shadow and the psyche’s darkness (Shah Valad, the Zar winds, and the ashqiya), and the attainment of psychic wholeness and integration through symbolic mediators (qopuz, the Wise Old Man, and the sacrificial hero) are embedded in their musical and narrative structures. Music thus enables psychic catharsis and cultural continuity across generations.