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.

Transition to Enlightenment: Six Lectures on Mozart’s String Quartets (3)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a musical prodigy of the Classical era, was deeply influenced by the intellectual currents of the Enlightenment. His exposure to Enlightenment ideas was multifaceted, shaped not only by the cultural milieu of his time but also by the relationships within his family and his own interactions with prominent figures of the Enlightenment. This exploration will delve into Mozart’s acquaintance with Enlightenment ideas through his father’s relationships and his own encounters with influential personalities of the era, including Christian Fürchtegott Gellert, Baron Melchior Grimm, Madame d’Epinay, and Joseph von Sonnenfels. Additionally, the essay will examine the impact of Joseph II’s reforms on Mozart’s life and artistic endeavors.

Journey to Iran Revisited: Celebrating 20 Years of Guity Adjoodani’s Return to Persian Roots

This year marks the 20th anniversary of “Journey to Iran,” an album by Iranian pianist Guity Adjoodani that has resonated with audiences worldwide. Released two decades ago, this album is a beautiful tapestry of twenty Persian folk songs, each carefully selected from the rich musical traditions of various regions in Iran. It also features four notable compositions by the esteemed Javad Maroufi (1915-1992): “Prelude,” “Jila Fantasia,” “Golden Dreams” (Khaab-haa-ye Talaayi), and “Isfahan Rhapsody.” Additionally, the album includes the beloved song “Kiss Me” (Maraa Bebous) by Majid Vafadar (1912-1975), adding depth to an already impressive collection.

From Past Days…

Music education in third-world countries

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Developments in Iranian Music Since Qajar Era (II)

Santour:
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The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (VII)

Conclusion

“Daf” is one of type of percussion instruments that has a long history and is commonly known as circular instruments (with a rim). In some tribes, Daf was used as the main instrument in festivity and joy ceremonies; in another tribe it was used as the main instrument for war and campaign ceremonies and some others used it for ritual and religious ceremonies.

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.

Ali Rahbari & Recording Iranian Symphonic Compositions

In the few days prior to the New Iranian year (March 2015), the news of the revival of Tehran Symphony Orchestra under Ali (Alexander) Rahbari’s conductorship was announced. Ali Rahbari, who served as assistant to Herbert von Karajan in Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra at a very young age, was also invited to conduct Tehran Symphony Orchestra in 2005; however, the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government put an end to his collaboration with this Orchestra. Recently, it was announced that Rahbari is invited to conduct an orchestra in the U.S.

The Mystery of Messiah

Antonio Stradivari (1644 – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and is considered the most significant and greatest artisan in this field.

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Translated by Mahboube Khalvati The article you are about to read was written by Rouhollah Khaleqi (1906-1965), composer, and conductor of Golha Orchestra (established in 1956). Khaleqi was one of the most prominent promoters of polyphony for the Iranian music and is one of the best representatives of the school of Ali Naghi Vaziri. In…
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Music as an art has its own special history; emergence of a singer, of an instrumentalist and then the emergence of the strong character of a composer covers three significant phases of the art of music. With the emergence of composer which was simultaneous with the emergence of the language of music, this art managed to offer a domain for criticism for its composer; a procedure which led to a magnificent variety and evolution in musical production. Even though the conflicts between singers and instrumentalists have not met their end in the Iranian society and while singers can achieve high, instrumentalists have yet to play behind curtains . In a special era, with the efforts of musicians such as Ali Naghi Vaziri (1887-1979) and Rouhollah Khaleghi (1906-1965), glimmers of a composing era started to glow bearing fruit in Khaleghi’s achievement as Iran’s first professional composer. Khaleghi made his reputation as a composer while Vaziri deserved to pioneer this path. By then Vaziri was well-known as a Tar player.

Is the Iranian National Anthem a Copy? (I)

The alleged similarity between the Iranian and South Korean National Anthems has been a matter of discussion among musicians in Iran for several years. Earlier in 2021, the issue was taken to the media again with not only claims that the anthem is very similar to another song but also the suggestion that its musical content should draw more on the Iranian national music. Some even went to the extent to suggest replacing it with the song “O, Iran” composed by the late Rouhollah Khaleghi. Before delving more into the main issue, it would not go amiss to consider some technical characteristics of the song “O, Iran” composed in 1944.