Last Year under the Light of Music

Written by Hadi Sepehri

Almost three months into the new Iranian year (starting March 21), it is still not too late to have a look at the last year and the challenges that the musicians faced. The following article was published on the first day of the New Year in the Persian edition of the HarmonyTalk journal.

It is March 21st, 2023 today; a solar year has passed with myriads of problems for Iranians including musicians. I would like to briefly go through these bitter events. It is needless to say that music concerts are not allowed on at least 120 calendar days due to religious mourning occasions. There are many obstacles on the way of getting permits for live or recorded concerts and new paragraphs might have been even added to the existing shoulds and shouldn’ts. With regard to musical training, music institutes and centers struggle with lots of problems including lack of coordination in asset departments, imposing high taxes and stopping tax waivers, high municipality levies, exorbitant property rents and the decreasing number of pupils caused by ever-increasing cost of musical instruments which has led to the exclusion of groups of people who cannot afford buying them. Basically arts and music have never been a priority which is understandable under the circumstances that people’s basic needs are not fulfilled.

The unpleasant developments since September 2022 even led to more unfortunate incidents in the Iranian musical scene ranging from refraining to hold any concerts by musicians to their arrests and filing lawsuits against hundreds of them. Although many of them were bailed out and later pardoned, these incidents badly affected their families while they are still struggling with their lingering consequences. Forced shut down of music institutes led to heavy financial losses and disoriented their businesses.

In the second half of the year, many musicians, residing in Iran or abroad, composed, re-arranged or adopted hundreds of vocal or instrumental pieces, old or new, Iranian or foreign to protest the status quo and shared them on the social media. Under these circumstances, staging commissioned concerts or presenting concerts at Fajr Music Festival provoked musicians’ harsh criticisms. Consequently, many members of orchestras boycotted these events. Additionally, a song by a young Iranian musician won him a Grammy Award. Probably the only positive development in this situation was the publishing of several books on music (scores, training material, research and analysis) as well as research papers.

In conclusion, I would like to reminisce about the musicians who passed away during the last year: Hassan Nahid, Ali Akbarpour, Davood Jafari Omid, Ebrahim Ghanbari Mehr, Saeed Tahvildari and Abol Hassan Mokhtabad.

Post a Comment

Required fields are marked *
*
*
Your email is never shared.

The Legacy of Khosrow Jafarzadeh

This year marks the fifth anniversary of the passing of Khosrow Jafarzadeh (Khosrow Djafar-Zadeh), a distinguished architect and pioneering researcher of Iranian music, whose contributions to the magazine “Harmony Talk” have left an indelible mark on the field. The absence of this remarkable individual has significantly impacted the expansion and advancement of his theories, which are heralded as some of the most progressive in the history of Iranian music

Whose dream?! Whose reality?!

(A review of the “So Faraway” album; Tar and Tonbak duet; Siavash Imani, Pedram Khavarzmini)

From Past Days…

Iranian Fallacies – Global Performance

One of the most important criteria for measuring the quality of a piece of classical music is number of times the piece has been performance by different ensembles and orchestras in different eras. This belief has become so pervasive in some societies, such as Iranian society, that it is considered the only criterion for measuring the quality of a piece of classical music.

History’s Impact on Evaluating a Work of Art

With this description, we have automatically included a criterion called “History”, Until we know the time of the creation of a work of art, we cannot judge whether it has been easy to create or not. Suppose that, in a historical study, we find a musical work that is similar in compositional techniques (including form, melody, context, and orchestration) to a minor work of the nineteenth century; however, our research proves that, this work dates back to 200 years prior to that date. Can we still consider this work insignificant? Definitely not! So this is where the first use of history-based judgment comes into play.

Lilly Afshar, Iranian Guitar Legend, passed away

The text you are reading is about Hamed Fathi, a guitarist and one of Lilly Afshar’s students, which was previously published on the Persian website HarmonyTalk.com:

Layla Ramezan, Iranian Pianist

Iranian pianist Layla Ramezan has always sought to create a connection between her Persian origin and the contemporary music which she encounters daily. Sound, phrasing, a particular sense of rhythm and a refined understanding of the “time of musical development” are the foremost qualities of her interpretations. Her musical and pianistic education began in Tehran at the age of 8 with Mostafa-Kamal Poortorab. Having moved to Paris and received a scholarship from Albert Roussel Foundation, she integrated the classes of Jean Micault and Devi Erlih at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot, where she received a Diplôme de Virtuosité in piano performance and chamber music.

A Persian Nocturne for Piano

A Night in a Persian Garden is the name of a Nocturne composed by the Persian (Iranian) contemporary composer Behzad Ranjbaran. This Nocturne, published recently by the Theodore Presser Company in the US, was performed for the first time in 2002 in New York City by the young Persian pianist Soheil Nasseri and has enjoyed many performances by other pianists.

Musical Sense or Technique?

One of the most popular terms used by Iranian instrumentalists is the existence or a lack of musical “sense”. Both musicians and fans of music consider having “sense” while playing music as an important principle to the extent that they use it vis-a-vis having technique.

New Technique for Playing Classical Guitar (I)

Joint application of the two techniques of “Lip” and “Nose” could be effectively applied for hearing and playing far-away intervals, by the Classical Guitar. Before this, a Classical Guitar player had to waive playing intervals not possible with the left hand, and had to replace or eliminate some notes, making it possible to play such intervals; specifically the capability of the left hand of the musician, was also a factor in such a selection. These methods are hereby illustrated by photographs and a video-file, in order to provide optimum comprehension of applying these methods, invented by the author; specifically the “Lip” technique, which is considered to be a more significant technique, emphasized by the author.

The Role of Arts in Development of Societies

Mr. Mohsen Ghanebasiri, author and critic in the field of economy, culture and arts, as the next speaker, highlighted the role of arts, specially the music, in development of societies: “As far as the individual upbringing is concerned, a newborn baby is absolutely dependent. The relation between the baby and the parents is based on orders. There is lots of relativity in these orders; therefore, they are political orders. In the economy, however, the relations are mutual and based on common logic; hence, the formation of the concepts of democracy and individuality.

Ali Rahbari’s collaboration with Naxos as a Composer

Concertino for Violin and Orchestra entitled Nohe Khan was composed by Ali (Alexander) Rahbari while he was studying music in Vienna in 1972. This piece was composed having in mind the Ashoura events and inspired by the music which is used during the Ashoura ceremonies. The piece was first performed and recorded by Bijan Khadem…
Read More »

Illusion or Ingenuity?

Mohsen Renani in the preface of his book entitled “The Political Economy of nuclear conflict; an introduction to traversing the civilizations” writes: