Ashura Opera was composed by Behzad Abdi, the Iranian composer, in 2008 based on librettos compiled by Behrouz Gharib. The main source for the libretto is poems by Mohtasham Kashani, a sixteenth century Iranian poet.
Tag Archives: Alireza Mehdizadeh
Latest posts
- Transition to Enlightenment: Six Lectures on Mozart’s String Quartets (5)
- Nasser Masoudi: The Voice of Gilan and a Legacy of Iranian Music
- Farhad Poupel: The Voice of the Shahnameh in the Orchestras Around the World
- Five Major Myths About Mozart’s Life
- Bahma Rajabi Passed Away!
- Reza Vohdani; Unveiling unpublished works, preservation of Iranian classical music
- Ahmad Pejman Passed Away!
- Timeless or Timely: The Role of Historical Context in Defining Artistic Value
- Leading the Charge in Censorship
- The Legacy of Khosrow Jafarzadeh
- Transition to Enlightenment: Six Lectures on Mozart’s String Quartets (4)
- Fereydoun Shahbazian, An Iranian Musical Icon Passed Away
From Past Days…
Negation of Changes in Iranian Music: Embracing Tradition
The perspective that denies any alteration or innovation beneath the realm of Iranian music, and more broadly, the performance and even the structure of Iranian music instruments, stems from the discourse of “tradition-oriented”* and the “return to self” movement in Iranian music. Given that some educators still adhere to this discourse and emphasize the necessity of preserving tradition, a perception is formed among art students that Iranian music, including Radif, lacks dynamism and is confined within a rigid framework.
The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (I)
Today, percussion instruments have such a high place in music that are an essential element of orchestras. This has attracted many people to this type of instrument with roots as old as the first humans. A historical study of music, shows that humans used the sound of these instruments to defend themselves against wild animals and, over time, for alerting each other, signaling their readiness and encouraging people for war, ritual ceremonies, dances, etc. in a manner that is still clearly visible in music and some ritual ceremonies.
HarmonyTalk Celebrates 11th Anniversary
April 6 marks the anniversary of launching HarmonyTalk.com. Back in 2004, HarmonyTalk was rather a blog dedicated to music. Gradually, however, it found its way to becoming a more sophisticated journal with an intensive but not exclusive concentration on classical music.
Iranian Fallacies – School of Vaziri
The term “School of Vaziri” is often used in writings on Iranian music, but the exact meaning of the term is not clear; some of the authors have used the term to only refer to the group of Vaziri’s students, including a large group of his conservatory students and his Tar students such as Abolhassan Saba, Rouhollah Khaleghi, Ahmad Foroutan Rad, Hossein Sanjari, Heshmat Sanjari and others. But can we consider all Vaziri’s students as followers of his school of thought? This is definitely a mistake, because we know that some of Vaziri’s students have chosen a completely different path than that of Vaziri.
Whose dream?! Whose reality?!
(A review of the “So Faraway” album; Tar and Tonbak duet; Siavash Imani, Pedram Khavarzmini)
The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (VII)
Conclusion
“Daf” is one of type of percussion instruments that has a long history and is commonly known as circular instruments (with a rim). In some tribes, Daf was used as the main instrument in festivity and joy ceremonies; in another tribe it was used as the main instrument for war and campaign ceremonies and some others used it for ritual and religious ceremonies.
Loss of Development in Iranian Music
The mention by music instructors, academicians, students, and music enthusiasts about the lack of development in Iranian music is a topic that has been repeatedly heard, resulting in a superficial understanding and misinterpretation of Iranian music, which has been conveyed to students of the arts. This short essay aims to critique and examine this claim.
Principles of Violin Playing (III)
Violin players should always pay attention to the proper position of the left thumb and other points related to it and to its joining point to the palm.
The Structure of Kurdistan Daf (III)
“Our ancestors believe powerful blows upon the Daf scatters evil spirits of disease and distress to create a clean and holy space filled with health and prosperity. Adding tools to Daf increases this instrument’s purification, spreading, and summoning powers of evil forces and goddesses. Daf was mostly depicted by red, color of blood, in ancient times or sometimes it was depicted with green, the color of plants and nature. There were probably some mysterious designs painted upon the wooden body and frames of these instruments just like today” (Pahlavan, 2013: 44).
Avaye Naerika Percussion Orchestra
Avaye Naerika Percussion Orchestra is an Iranian percussion orchestra featuring 40 lady percussionists. The Orchestra was established as Iran’s largest all-female percussion orchestra in 2008 by Ms. Minoo Rezaei under the title Naerika Percussion Orchestra and changed its name to Avaye Naerika in 2017.