Celebrating 20 Years of Harmony Talk’s Journey: Resilience, Evolution, Honoring the Legacy and Navigating Future Growth

In a momentous celebration of two decades, the “Arasbaran Cultural Center” was the stage for the 20th anniversary of “Harmony Talk”, an online journal that has become a cornerstone in the music community. Sadjad Pourghanad, the editor-in-chief, delivered a speech that resonated with gratitude and vision.

Pourghanad began by honoring Kamran Vatanabadi, the founder of Harmony Talk, whose foresight in establishing wireless internet in Iran has been pivotal. Vatanabadi’s legacy is immortalized through Harmony Talk, which continues to thrive under his guidance.

The journey from Vatanabadi’s 100-day music blog to a comprehensive website was a collaborative effort, supported by a dedicated team of writers and translators, and financially backed by Datak internet company.

Pourghannad highlighted the seven years under Kamran Vatanabadi and Babak Arshad’s leadership, as Harmony Talk’s most prosperous period. Despite the content being primarily aimed at the general public at that time, there was a wide range of topics covered.

The first Harmony Talk crisis occurred in 2011 when Datak’s financial support was cut off, but fortunately, all the original writers of the site agreed to continue their collaboration on an honorary basis. However, since then, there has been a noticeable decline in the number of articles “exclusively” written for Harmony Talk.

During this period, the journal gradually moved towards more specialized content because elementary music education articles had mostly been published in the early period and it was necessary to take further steps.

Today, there are university students who have had Harmony Talk in their lives since they were born and have been reading the journal since they started music. Now, Harmony Talk is an integral part of many academic researches, with its articles frequently cited in music theses.

Numerous plans and designs were presented during that period and when Datak’s support was cut off in the last 13 years, very few of them were realized.

The main reason for this was a lack of financial and human resources interested in this field.

Now that the number of active physical and online music magazines in the whole country is less than the digits of one hand and many were closed due to a lack of necessary supervision, this is where the importance of HarmonyTalk and its sustainability becomes more apparent.

The journal’s resilience is further highlighted by its extensive archive of over 70,000 articles.

The loss of two influential writers, Mohsen Ghaane’ Basiri and Khosro Jafarzadeh, is deeply felt, yet their contributions live on through Harmony Talk.

It’s important to recognize the hard work and determination of those involved, but it may also be necessary to explore new avenues for securing funding or attracting more expert staff to accelerate the growth and development of Harmony Talk.

Pourghanad explains: As we celebrate this milestone, we acknowledge the challenges ahead. The financial sustainability of Harmony Talk relies on the personal income of its directors and the voluntary efforts of its staff. This have limited the site’s ability to expand and progress as quickly as desired. Yet, this has not stalled the site’s growth or its commitment to providing valuable content to its readers.

In closing, Pourghanad’s speech was a tribute to Harmony Talk’s past achievements and a hopeful look towards its future.

It is a reminder that while change is inevitable, the essence of Harmony Talk will continue to inspire and inform for years to come.

Post a Comment

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

Transition to Enlightenment: Six Lectures on Mozart’s String Quartets (4)

Mozart’s compositions bear the imprint of Enlightenment ideals in various ways. His music exhibits a balance between reason and emotion, mirroring the Enlightenment’s call for a harmonious integration of these elements in human life. The clarity of Mozart’s formal structures in his symphonies and operas reflects Enlightenment principles of order and rational organization.

Fereydoun Shahbazian, An Iranian Musical Icon Passed Away

Fereydoun Shahbazian, the renowned Iranian composer, passed away at the age of 82 due to respiratory illness in Tehran. His last significant activity was leading the National Orchestra before the appointment of Homayoun Rahimian

From Past Days…

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).

Iranian Fallacies – Composition and Arrangement

In the tradition of classical music, it is generally tried to use the same technical terms related to music in all countries. Even in the cultures in which native terms exist to refer to musical terms, usually the better known universal terms are employed.

Non-profit “Microtona” Project Released

Microtona is a sixty-eight-page Booklet with personal comments by the contributing microtonal artists. The booklet also includes a DVD which consists of 8 original video tracks and 9 original audio tracks. The project is an international one featuring unpublished pieces by composers from Iran, Japan, U.S., France, Austria, Germany and Belgium.

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

Gholam Reza Khan Minbashian, a.k.a Salar-Mo’azez, was a pioneer in several domains in the history of the Iranian music. He is recognized as the first Iranian musician who was educated in classical music. He is also the first Iranian the score of whose works were published in Europe. He is the first Iranian to have launched courses on Western classical music and was also the first Iranian teacher of classical music. Moreover, he is the first founder of a string orchestra in Iran, the first author of the Iranian Radif which was available in oral form. Minbashian is also the first Iranian who studied music in Europe.

Parviz Meshkatian’s Heart Beat for People (II)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Call for papers SIMF 1396

The Association of Iranian Contemporary Music Composers (ACIMC) and SHAHREAFTAB Art & Cultural Association are pleased to announce a call for papers for SIMF 1396.

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.