Parviz Meshkatian’s Heart Beat for People (II)

Translated by Mahboube Khalvati

As such, the young Meshkatian reached the position of a great maestro in the Iranian music. Up until 1997, Meshkatian remained prolific and composed many pieces which were characterized by progressiveness while drawing on the music of the past Iranian musicians. In some of Meshkatian’s works, one can trace the influence of maestros such as Faramarz Payvar; however, this influence is so balanced that one can neither say that Meshkatian is a progressive and deconstructionist composer nor does he use cliché forms in his compositions.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Parviz Meshkatian did not take risks in composing to prevent a situation when his work is no longer under his control. He did not offer repetitious works which would lack novel forms either. In fact, he practiced equilibrium in his composition resulted from his personal attitude, culture and interaction with the elite.

With the appointment of Ataollah Mohajerani as the Minister of Culture in 1997 and the emergence of an era called “the Spring of Concerts” in Iran, Parviz Meshkatian who had become disappointed and depressed distanced himself from the society and retired himself! Probably his family problems worsened his depression and led to his isolation. He no longer went on stage; his works were published on and off with rarely any new compositions added to his oeuvre. Meshkatian’s avoided artistic activities until 2004.

In 2004, Meshkatian’s hard-working friend and colleague, Alireza Javaheri, convinced him that a performance by Aref Ensemble can revive his links with his old audience. Finally in the same year, Aref Ensemble composing of Meshkatian’s fellow musicians who had worked with him for years went on the stage of the Interior Ministry’s Hall. Shahram Nazeri, who had collaborated with Meshkatian in the Chavosh project was the singer. The concert ended but it could not live up to the expectations of its audience. However, after the concert some issues were raised by the ensemble musicians which disheartened Meshkatian and led him to isolate himself for the next three years. There were even rumors spread by the members of Aref Ensemble that Meshkatian intended to dissolve the ensemble. This rumor further disappointed Meshkatian.

After three years Alireza Javaheri came up with an initiative asking music writers who were active on the internet to write criticism on Meshkatian’s works and the necessity of attention to his inactivity. Along with the pieces written about Meshkatian’s oeuvre he was also invited to resume his activities. I also wrote an article entitled “Why Meshkatian?” in which I discussed the reason for choosing Meshkatian and not another musician. With the publication of the above-mentioned articles and their reception by readers, especially their welcoming comments on the writings, once again he decided to break his silence and go on stage.

On 5 January 2006, Parviz Meshkatian performed a few pieces during a ceremony held to commemorate Iraj Bastami (1957- 2003) at Vahdat Hall in Tehran. Having received huge applause from the audience for his performance, Meshkatian promised to hold another concert. The promised concert was held less than a year later at Vahdat Hall with Hamid Reza Nourbakhsh as the vocalist and an ensemble compromising of young and old members of Aref Ensemble. Despite shortcomings, this last concert was also very well-received by the audience but still sideline stories lingered with the ensemble and further isolated Meshkatian.

Before the controversial presidential election in 2009 in Iran, Parviz Meshkatian was believed to intend to give a concert with Mohammad Reza Shajarian; however, the post-election tensions once again disrupted his plans and resulted in his deeper disappointment. His sudden death at the age of 54 made headlines in 2009.

Even though his untimely death was painful, it was not unexpected as people believed that Meshkatian’s heart beat for his people.

Post a Comment

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

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…

Interview with the Makers of the New Qeychak (I)

On occasion of the 8th anniversary of launching HarmonyTalk Online Journal on 6 April 2012, Reza Ziaei, master luthier and researcher on classical music instruments (violin family), announced that the first phase of the project to improve Qeychak has borne fruit. The new instrument would feature a bowl of ribs and the material used for the surface would be wooden. Carrying out the second phase of the project took more than 7 years engaging the new members of Reza Ziaei’s Workshop. In this phase, new researches were conducted from different aspects on the Qeychak and the modern versions of the instrument which were introduced previously by other instrument makers. The available versions of the instrument were studied in terms of their weak and strong technical features.

The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (IV)

Researcher: Mohammad Tarighat Translator: Fatemeh Alimohammadi Daf Structure The Structure of Daf in different cities of Iran has a great variety in terms of dimensions, components and even appearance; some of which are as follows: – Square Daf, on which the skin was stretched either on one or both sides, with strings installed inside it…
Read More »

Transition to Enlightenment: Six Lectures on Mozart’s String Quartets (1)

Transition to Enlightenment: Six Lectures on Mozart’s String Quartets* Basic Ideas and General Structure The Enlightenment, an epoch of intellectual fervor marked by reason, individualism, and cultural evolution, indelibly left its imprint on the arts. Mozart, a luminary of this transformative era, intricately wove these ideals into his compositions, particularly his string quartets. This article…
Read More »

Prominent Iranian Musicologist Passes Away in Vienna

Khosrow Djafarzadeh, musicologist and architect, who was also one of the main authors of HarmonyTalk journal passed away on 15 July 2019.

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).

Hassan Kassai, Ney Virtuoso

The name of Maestro Hassan Kassai is so vehemently intertwined with Ney (Persian reed flute) that one cannot imagine one without the other immediately coming into mind. Ney is one of the instruments which went through a lot of ups and downs in the history of the Iranian music since the time of Sassanid kings to the time when shepherds found playing it consoling when they took their cattle for grazing. However, Nay could never demonstrate its main capacities to gain a stable position among the musicians and the people like other instruments including Oud, Tar, Santour, all sorts of bowed string instruments and plucked string instruments.

Behzad Abdi’s opera Rumi was physically released by Naxos

Composing a traditional Iranian opera using the Iranian modal system, dastgāh, has always been my dream. I first approached this by composing an opera called Ashura followed by the operas Rumi and Hafez. I believe that in order to attract an international audience for Iranian opera, it is essential to fuse dastgāh with Western classical forms.

Rouhollah Khaleghi Artistic Center established in Washington DC

Golnoush Khaleghi (1941-2021), a Washington-based Persian musician and the daughter of the contemporary Persian (Iranian) composer and theoretician Rouhollah Khaleghi (1906-1965) founded a musical center called RKAC to keep the name and the work of her father alive.

A Promising Concert by National Instruments Orchestra

The National Instruments Orchestra of Iran performed its first concert amid much hope and anxiety on July 18, 2015. The Orchestra is founded by Roudaki Cultural and Arts Foundation which is a semi-private foundation in Iran. The Arts Director for the National Instruments Orchestra of Iran is cand the Orchestra Executive Director is Sadjad Pourghand.

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.