Rouhollah Khaleghi Artistic Center established in Washington DC

1 January 2023 – 1:07 pm Posted in Articles' List, Iranian Classical Music

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.

Rouhollah Khaleghi founded Persian National Music Conservatory [Honarestaan-e Musighi-e Melli) in 1949 in Tehran. He was the chief editor of Chang and Payaam-e Novin magazines and conducted the Tehran’s Radio “Gol-ha Orchestra” for several years. Among his most famous theoretical works are a three volume book entitled “History of the Persian Music” [Sargozasht-e Musighi-e Iran] and the popular anthem-like song ‘O Persia’ [Ey Iran] .

Graduated from Tehran Conservatory and Wisconsin University, Golnoush Khaleghi conducted the National Iranian Radio and TV’s Choir called “Ham-Avaazaan” from 1974 to 1978. After the 1979 revolution, she immigrated to America and together with 25 Persian and American musicians, she founded an orchestra under the name of her father in 1985. In addition to the performance of works by Rouhollah Khaleghi, this orchestra performed pieces by other famous Persian (Iranian) composer such as Alinaghi Vaziri, Morteza Mahjoubi and Hossein Dehla! vi in New York and Washington DC until 1990 when it had to stop its activity due to the lack of financial support from cultural institutes (whether Persian or American).

Apparently, Rouhollah Khaleghi had told his daughter before his death that ‘I aspire to enter a musical hall outside Persia one day and see that they are performing Persian music that is arranged in such a way to make it enjoyable even for non-Persian audience.’ According to Golnoush Khaleghi, her second motivation to establish the above orchestra was ‘to perform Persian Music during the time when musical activities came to an almost standstill in Iran due to religious limitations.’

Foundation of RKCA [Rouhollah Khaleghi Artistic Center] in fact the revival of the same organization that was active only in the form of a chamber orchestra.

The establishment of a website on the artistic activities and works of Rouhollah Khaleghi is one of the major activities of RKAC. Reproduction of his works on CDs, performance of concerts and offering scholarship to talented Persian (Iranian) students to study Music are among other activities of this center. In addition to introduction of R. Khaleghi’s works, the other major goal of RKAC is to encourage Persian youth to study music, particularly those who live abroad and are therefore unfamiliar with Persian culture.

***

HarmonyTalk

Golnoush Khaleghi published two books entitled Ey Iran: Memorial volume of Ruhollah Khaleghi (Mahoor Institute Publications, 2006) and Rouhollah Khaleghi’s Compositions & Arrangements (Mahoor Institute Publications, 2019) in Iran. She also published R. Khaleghi’s sheet music collection with Roudaki and Nogan publications.

This entry was written by Pejman Akbarzadeh
Tagged: Golnoush Khaleghi, Roohollah Khaleghi, Rouhollah Khaleghi, Rouhollah Khaleqi.

Nasser Masoudi: The Voice of Gilan and a Legacy of Iranian Music

In Iranian music, certain singers have become emblematic of their homelands through their distinctive voices. Historical figures such as Eghbal Sultan, who epitomized the grandeur of Azerbaijani music, and Taj Isfahani, who conveyed the authentic essence of Isfahan, serve as notable examples from the Qajar era. Nasser Masoudi occupies a similar position; his voice emerged as a symbol of Gilan while also achieving national acclaim. Before him, Master Ahmad Ashurpur represented Gilan’s musical landscape, but his extended residence outside Iran limited his continuous engagement in the music scene. In contrast, Masoudi’s consistent presence allowed him to introduce the voice of Gilan to audiences across Iran.

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.

Latest posts

From Past Days…

A Note on the Occasion of Houshang Zarif’s Demise

No introduction is needed when talking about the position of the late Houshang Zarif (1938-2020) in the Iranian music. His character and personality are so well-known among musicians that his name per se is a symbol and role model for the Iranian youth. “Becoming Houshang Zarif” is the dream of many young people who enter the world of music in Iran and many of whom retire regretting the realisation of this dream.

“Symphonic Poems from Persia” Released in Germany

While the name “Persia” (Western historical name of Iran) has attracted tens of thousands of people from around the world to London’s British Museum to visit ancient Persian artifacts, the Nuremberg-based music company, Colosseum, invites Europeans to listen to eight masterpieces of Persian symphonic music.

The Role of Arts in Development of Societies

Mr. Mohsen Ghanebasiri, author and critic in the field of economy, culture and arts, as the next speaker, highlighted the role of arts, specially the music, in development of societies: “As far as the individual upbringing is concerned, a newborn baby is absolutely dependent. The relation between the baby and the parents is based on orders. There is lots of relativity in these orders; therefore, they are political orders. In the economy, however, the relations are mutual and based on common logic; hence, the formation of the concepts of democracy and individuality.

New Technique for Playing Classical Guitar (II)

When the author was working on the piece “Playing Love” by Ennio Morricone (from the legend of 1900), he realized a failure of the Lip Technique. Needing to play a chord in the 14th position of the guitar and in order to complete the harmony, it is necessary to play a harmonic note on the 7th or 5th position; it was not possible to touch the string to play this harmonic note, because the Lip Technique is used for getting the notes and not to touch the string and producing harmonic notes. Naturally, the only possible way to touch the string was to use the nose at the required position and playing the note with the right hand, and this was the best option the author found to how to play such harmonic notes, and where the Nose Technique was generated.

Is the Iranian National Anthem a Copy? (II)

In response, it should be said that it is better for the national anthem of a country to use the musical material exclusive to that country; however, some problems might come up in doing so the most important of which include: lack of familiarity of other countries’ music performer with the concerned country’s specific music intervals and special musical technique; and secondly, the strangeness of that music to the foreign listener.

The response of the fired musicians to the interview of the managing director of Rudaki Foundation

Following an interview by Mehdi Salem, the director of the Rudaki Foundation, with the “Our Music” website, a response from the dismissed musicians was published in response to this conversation, which you read:

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 (VII)

4.3.1.3 Regarding the great linear distance and the unusual distance between the first and forth fingers, the first finger while playing the doubles of ninth and tenth interval, can be twisted in the knuckle area and the point mentioned in 3.1.2.5 paragraph in relation to the way first finger is placed indicating that the first joint of this finger in back of hand must be in line with the direction of forearm and left hand is not true here.

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.

Women Musicians in Large Iranian Orchestras

It is more than a century now that the sociologists consider the presence of women in different social domains as a benchmark for a society’s progress. They analyze the presence of women in society by the means of available statistics. Unfortunately, as with regard to the Iranian society, statistics related to women’s engagement, has not been available to the researchers, if they existed at all.