The 4th Iranian Festival of Music Websites and Weblogs

The 4th Iranian Festival of Music Websites and Weblogs was held in Niavaran Cultural Center, in Tehran, Iran on Feb. 28th, 2015. The initiator of the festival was Sajjad Pourghanad, Iranian music writer, researcher, founder of the festival and Persian setar and tar player.

At the begenning of the program, the presenter of the last day of the festival, Younes Mahmoudi, came on the stage to invite Saeed Yaghoobian (Persian tar), Dr. Peyman Nasehpour (Azerbaijani dayereh), and Shayan Yazdizadeh (tonbak) to perform the Azerbaijani art music pieces on the stage. After this music performance, the clip specially made for the 4th Festival was presented. Then Mahmoudi invited Seyyed Abbas Sajjadi, the CEO of Niavaran Cultural Center to deliver his speech on the Center’s activities and the 4th Festival.

After Sajjadi’s speech, the Choir of Arasbaran Culture-House came on the stage to perform some pieces of Handel, conducted by Serjik Mirzaeian. After the performance of the Choir, Dr. Mohammad Reza Azadehfar came on the stage to give a speech as an agent of the Juries of 4th Festival.

After Azadehfar’s speech, Peyman Soltani (Persian tar), Mehdi Emami (vocals), and Shaahin Mohajeri (tonbak) gave a Persian art music performance. Then Shahram Saremi (Iranian kamancheh player and artistic director of Arasbaran Culture-House) was invited to come on the stage to be appreciated for his help to the previous annuals of Iranian Festivals of Music Websites and Weblogs by dedicating to him the Statue and Letter of Recognition of the Festival.

Then a couple of musicians and music researchers were invited to come on the stage to deliver the awards of winners listed as follows:

1. Music website winner: MusiceIranian.ir run by Ebrahim Molaie
2. Music weblog winner: Neyrizmusic.blogfa.com by Saeed Mostafizi

Winners of Research Articles: 1. Nasim Ahmadian 2. Jafar Goudarzi 3. Shaahin Mohajeri – Soudeh Mofidi

Winners of Journalistic Articles: 1. Vahid Eftekhar Hosseini 2. Hossein Salimi

Winners of Notes on Music: 1. Babak Valipour 2. Ali Najafi Maleki 3. Ali Sharifi

Winners of Music Critiques: 1. Saeed Yaghoobian 2. Farhoud Safarzadeh 3. Mohammad Javad Sahafi – Meysam Pourtajrishi

Other Winners of Festival include: Kamyar Salavati, Farshad Tavakoli, Mehdi Forouzian, Mohammad Khalilian, and Bita Yari.

The final part of the 4th Festival was the performance of Arghanoun Flute Ensemble conducted by Ebrahim Nazari. The Arghanoun Flute Ensemble performed some pieces such as “Ninay-va-Bi Nay”, a Lorestani folk song and “Raghs-e-Dayereh” composed by Heshmat Sanjari.

The website of this Iranian Festival for Music Websites and Weblogs is: MusicFestival.ir. This time, the juries for this competitive festival were Mohsen Ghanebasiri (Iranian an epistemologist, chemist, author and theorist on economy, culture, arts (cybernetics) and management), Shahram Saremi (Iranian kamancheh player), Dr. Mohammad Reza Azadehfar, Dr. Pirooz Arjmand, and Dr. Narges Zaker Jafari. Beside the helps of Shahram Saremi, one of the other musicians who also supported this festival was Dr. Mohammad Sarir, Iranian composer and pianist.

Farhad Poupel: The Voice of the Shahnameh in the Orchestras Around the World

In an era when almost no trace of contemporary Iranian music can be heard in international concert halls, except (so-called!) avant-garde works that owe their existence solely to the fashionable slogans of the “pseudo-intellectual” crowd who have seized the already meager resources for performing classical music from the true artists of the field, the numerous performances of Farhad Poupel’s works shine as a ray of hope for lovers of sincere musical art. Without resorting to trendy slogans, he has kept the flame of Iranian classical music alive purely through the power of his artistry.

Five Major Myths About Mozart’s Life

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the renowned Austrian composer, is undoubtedly one of the greatest geniuses in the history of classical music. However, his life is surrounded by numerous myths and legends, some of which are not based on facts. This article explores five of the most common misconceptions about Mozart’s life.

From Past Days…

Principles of Violin Playing (IX)

4.3.1. To practice playing of doubles of notes involving two different fingers, each note is played at separate bows with slow tempo, each note is played perfectly regarding its bass and tenor sounds and then the considered double is played at another bow while considering the resulted sound of the double.

Principles of Playing Violin (V)

3/1/2/5: When the first finger lands next to the nut, continuation of first phalange of this finger, on back of the hand, should be in line with continuation of the back of the wrist and the left hand; moreover, it should not pass them and bend at knuckles. Otherwise, an uncommon stretch is created in first finger’s knuckle also reducing the freedom of other fingers (especially the fourth finger) in finger placement.

Violin’s inner mold, an essential factor in developing the idea of violin

A part of the secrets of the masterpieces from the golden era lies in the special design of the instruments, as a result of a profound insight to and awareness of the significance of the precise calculation of the various components of the object of arts being created, such as making a violin or a bow.

Banan: the Artist of the Age

Gholam Hossein Banan was born in 1911 in Tehran. He was born in an affluent art-loving family who were Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (1848-1896)’s relative. The Qajar King was his mother’s uncle on her father’s side. He learnt his first lessons in music while his father sang Iranian avaz (improvised rhythmic-free singing), he then attended classes by the renowned Iranian composer, Morteza Neydavoud (1900-1990) along with his sisters; the composer is, therefore, considered as his first teacher. He then learnt Iranian avaz under the supervision of Mirza Taher Zia Resaee (Zia-o Zakerin) and Naser Seif in an oral manner.

Women and the Music Environment in Iran

The life territory of the female-male relations in the Iranian cultural context is basically a domestic territory and not a social-living one in the labour and leisure domains. To prove this, it only suffices to consider the Iranian men’s viewpoints about women. For the Iranian men, there are three perspectives regarding the women: mother, sister and wife. Mother represents the emotional territory; sister represents the logical territory at home while wife represents the sexual territory.

Negation of Changes in Iranian Music: Embracing Tradition

The perspective that denies any alteration or innovation beneath the realm of Iranian music, and more broadly, the performance and even the structure of Iranian music instruments, stems from the discourse of “tradition-oriented”* and the “return to self” movement in Iranian music. Given that some educators still adhere to this discourse and emphasize the necessity of preserving tradition, a perception is formed among art students that Iranian music, including Radif, lacks dynamism and is confined within a rigid framework.

“I Will Never Perform Just for Women!”: Golnoush Khaleghi Passes Away in Exile

Golnoush Khaleghi, first Persian woman conductor and daughter of legendary composer Rouhollah Khaleghi, passed away on February 14. She was 80. Golnoush Khaleghi was the conductor of the NIRT (National Iranian Radio & Television) Choir in the 1970s. Shortly after the 1979 Islamic Revolution Ms. Khaleghi moved to the United States and founded the Rouhollah…
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Farshad Sanjari, Forgotten Iranian Conductor Met His Tragic End

Farshad Sanjari, one of the most renowned Iranian conductors in the 1970s in Iran died after fire broke in his apartment in Vienna on November 22, 2019. Farshad Sanjari was not involved in politics; however, he was one of the victims of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, his name was never seen as the conductor of any programmes.

Jamshid Andalibi passed away!

Jamshid Andalibi, one of the most famous ney players in Iran, passed away on the fifteenth of Esfand, 1402, at the age of 66 due to a heart attack at his private residence. Andalibi was a member of a family that had a significant presence in the field of Iranian music in the sixties and…
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The First Saba Student Music Festival Concluded in Tehran

Preparations for Saba Student Music Festival started in the summer of 2016; the Student Music Festival will be held annually by the students of music at Arts University. The first part of the closing ceremony of the Festival was dedicated to the celebration of the life, work and strives by Maestro Hossein Dehlavi to upgrade the level of music as an academic discipline. The name of the award-winning students and ensembles were announced at the second part of the ceremony.