Persian Music: “Mahour the Great” in Austria

1 January 2021 – 2:14 pm Posted in General Information, Iranian Classical Music

In 1990 an Austria-based Persian musician Khosro Soltani, in cooperation with Hossein Alizadeh, put out an album entitled, Ancient Call A New (Nobang-e Kohan). After many years, a few ancient Persian instruments such as Sorna, Karna, Naghareh,etc. have been used, instruments which have been left out of the circle of Persian classical musical instruments for centuries.
The above album, which is improvisational in the Dastgah-e Shour, was performed by some of the superior Persian (Iranian) musicians and singers, and was well received by Persian music lovers.

14 years later, the second volume of this series, which is limited to improvisation in the Dastgah-e Mahour, has been produced with the title, Mahour the Great.

This CD includes nine tracks entitled, Einleitung (Daramad), Nachtigal (Morgh-e Sahar) [based on a melody by Morteza Neydavoud], Khosravani, Tousi (based on lyrics by the Persian poet Baba Taher), Reng, Bastehnegar, Koroghli-Rak, Naghmeh, Zanguoleh, and Kharazm.

Among interesting points in this collection is the performance of traditional Persian melodies with harp. Known as chang in Persia , this instrument has been widely used in Persian music from ancient times through the Safavid period (1501-1734), but gradually thereafter it has been forgotten in Persia (Iran) but survived and evolved in Europe.

Farzaneh Navai (1956-2004), the alum’s harp player, learned to play this instrument at the Tehran Conservatory of Music and the Academy of Music in Vienna. Using this instrument, for many years she studied Persian music under Houshang Zarif (one of the most prominent Persian tar soloists). In this album, for the first in a few hundred years, she has attempted to create a Persian style for playing harp.

Other artists who have contributed to the album are: Ali Akbar Shekarchi (Kamancheh, played like the cello); Majid Derakhshani (Tar, Sitar, Robab); Mohammad Ghavi Ghalam (Tombak), Ali Reza Ghorbani and Afsaneh Rasai (singers).

Composer and arranger, player of Sorna and Karna, Khosro Soltani was born in Tehran in 1953 and, upon completion of his studies in playing the bassoon at the Tehran Conservatory of Music and the Vienna Music Academy, he accompanied the Tehran Symphony Orchestra for some time. After immigrating to Austria in 1981, he formed the Shiraz Ensemble in order to preserve and promote Persian (Iranian) music in Europe. In addition to performing various concerts in Persian and Western classical music, he has been occupied with teaching the bassoon in a few musical academies in Austria and Switzerland.

This article was first published in 2004 on payvand.com

This entry was written by Pejman Akbarzadeh
Tagged: Afsaneh Rasai, Ali Akbar Shekarchi, Farzaneh Navai, Khosro Soltani, Majid Derakhshani.

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Between the year 1403 (2024–25) and today, the name of Mohammadreza Tafazzoli—composer and faculty member of the Faculty of Music at the University of Art, Iran—has appeared several times as a composer with various orchestras. In 1403, part of his suite *Dena* was performed by the National Orchestra; in 1404, the same work was performed in full by the Mitra Orchestra, and in the same year, his symphony *Vaghouyeha* (*Murmurings*) was staged with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. Recently, in Mordad of the current year, we witnessed the performance of *Elegy* for string orchestra by the Vivo Orchestra, composed by him. Tafazzoli has tested diverse languages in his works—from the neotonal and at times atonal language of the twentieth century to a fully tonal language. But in most of his works, the combination of Iranian melodies with the neotonal language of the first half of the twentieth century is most visible. Below, on the occasion of the staging of *Elegy* by the Vivo Orchestra, we spoke with him about his activities and the atmosphere of his works. What follows is the text of that conversation.

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