Kayvan Mirhadi and O.R.P Qaurtet

Establishing O.R.P. Quartet is Kayvan Mirhadi’s latest activity as a guitarist, composer and conductor of Kamerata Orchestra. Besides working with this Quartet, Mirhadi is busy these days recording and mixing some of his own works as well as some pieces by 20th century composers. O.R.P Quartet performed a concert in Rasht, Gilan Province in late May 2016 and offered a master class.
A description of the establishment and the performance of the orchestra along with its members brief biographies follows:
Ordinary Routine People Quartet (O.R.P Quartet)
Kayvan Mirhadi: Classical Guitar
Amin Nili: Double Bass
Farzam Hassani: Drums
Matin Ladani: Piano
O.R.P quartet was founded in 2013 to perform French Claude Bolling’s Guitar Concerto exclusively. Kayvan impressed by this work began to work on his first album in exactly the same ensemble of Bolling’s. So he released an experimental – Jazz “LIKOO” through the label “OIDO records” in 2013.
Matin (24) is the youngest among us and is originally a superb classical pianist and the winner of the first prize of “International Fadjr Music Festival”. Farzam (25) is a CEO of a Tour Agency and holds a degree in engineering. Amin (31) is an IT expert who has been focusing on playing double bass. He plays guitar as well as the double bass. Kayvan (56) holds an M.A. in arts research methodology and is the eldest member of the Orchestra. Kayvan is former professor at various Iranian universities and music colleges. He is considered as a member of the second generation of Iranian classical guitarists.
Claude Bolling’s Guitar concerto is one of the best examples amongst its peers. The trend was popular during 60s and 70s in Europe and although the neo classical approach is being merged with Jazz, Blues and Swing but the catchy hybrid ambient is unique. It is interesting to know that the other Bolling’s works which he wrote for the best performers of the time convey a “suite” title and not a “concerto”. Virtuosos like J.P.Rampal, M. Andre, YoYo Ma and P. Zukermasn collaborated for the recordings of the suites along with Bolling.
The guitar concerto is dedicated to the late “Alexandre Lagoya” then the Spaniard Guitarist Angel Romero instigated the “Finale” and finally the seven – part concerto was officially released in 1978.
Hoagland Carmichael (US/1899-1981) along with Duke Ellington and Scott Joplin is one of the three greatest American Jazz musicians of the 20th century. His career was divided into three main and influential periods. “Hoagy” a Jazz Maniac, first released his album with Louise Armstrong. He spent the second period of his life in Georgia, south east of the US where he was wandering with the great musicians.
The album “Under the Missouri Sky” is one of the memorable and extrovert of the kind of Pat Metheny and late Charlie Haden. It contains a series of amazing duos for double bass and guitar. It is worth mentioning that the prominent flamenco guitarist “Tomatito” also has an impressive and warm version of this track.
Born in the US Andrew York (60) is still performing world class and releases his videos and tracks. There was a time when “John Williams” performed his “sunburst” and after that Andy was popular around the world. He has been performing and composing in L.A quartet for a while and his compositions are standards in classical guitar repertoire and music festivals.

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Leading the Charge in Censorship

Davoud Pirnia, writer and musicologist was the founder of “Golha” (Flowers of Persian Song and Music) programs on Tehran Radio (1956-1966). He received his early education from his father, Hassan Pirnia (Moshir al-Douleh), and several tutors of the time (Taraghi, interview, July 1989) and continued his studies at Saint Louis School in Tehran and then in Switzerland and graduated in law. While studying law, Pirnia got acquainted with European classical music. Upon returning to Iran, he was employed by the Ministry of Justice and founded the Lawyers’ Guild. Then he was transferred to the Ministry of Finance and established the Department of Statistics in this ministry. Later, he became the head of the state inspection office at the Prime Ministry; he was, then, promoted to the position of the Deputy Prime Minister (Navab Safa, interview, August 1999)

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

From Past Days…

A Look at Ali Tajvidi’s Manifold Musical Activities (I)

Ali Tajvidi (1920 – 2004), one of the most prominent Iranian musicians, passed away sixteen years ago. He was one of the most distinguished Iranian artists. To specify one of the fields in which he was unique, one can refer to Tasnif composition. A brief review of his manifold musical activities is presented below.

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

Developments in Iranian Music Since Qajar Era (II)

Santour:
Nine-bridge and twelve-bridge Sanours were both used until the early Pahlavi dynasty. However, as Faramarz Payvar devised new methods for playing the nine-bridge Sanour, this variety of the instrument which was hammered by felted sticks became popular.

Interview with Farhad Poupel (II)

Fantasia on One Note was my first professional work for piano, which had its world premiere by the great pianist Peter Jablonski in Sweden, and it has been performed by various pianists in the UK, Germany, France, and the Czech Republic. The recording of this work has also been broadcast on the Dutch public radio, NPR Radio 4.

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.

Inefficiency of some chords and harmonization systems in Iranian music

Discussions and research have been conducted on the harmonization of “dastgah” and melodies in Iranian music, and several books have been published on this topic, including “Armenian Music of Iran” by Ali Naghi Vaziri, “Harmony of Iranian Music” by Farhad Fakhreddini, and “Harmony of Iranian Music” by Ali Ghamssari. A master’s thesis titled “Presenting a Solution for Harmonizing Based on the Structure of Tritone Intervals” was written by Atefeh EinAli in 2014. Additionally, the invention and use of “Even Harmony” by Morteza Hannaneh should be mentioned.

Hossein Aslani passed away!

Hossein Aslani, Iranian pianist residing in the US, passed away due to cancer in late January 2020. His last musical activity was an article written for Harmony Talk entitled “Iran amidst musical struggle” in 2016, his memoir entitled “I Play You Again” in the same year and his album “Symbolic Emotion” published by Arganoun Publications in 2014. Here is a brief biography of Hossein Aslani according to his own website:

Principles of Violin Playing (I)

The present series of training articles, “Principles of Violin Playing”, seek to help students, to appropriately understand this field, by gradually introducing, categorizing, and teaching the myriad relevant points. One of the principles of playing violin, which must be always kept in mind, is that the selection of the most natural position for the body parts while playing is the best and most appropriate solution. As a matter of fact, any unnatural body part position which requires lots of energy or unusual stretching to maintain, is wrong.

Gholam Reza Khan Minbashian: a pioneer in Iranian music (II)

Gholamreza Khan Minbashian taught courses such as organology, orchestration of military music and harmony based on the books which were translated from French into Persian with the help of Aliakbar Mozayyan-o-Dolleh (1846-1932).

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.