Wednesday 25 May 2011

Shirin Neshat: Art in exile

Iranian-born artist Shirin Neshat explores the paradox of being an artist in exile: a voice for her people, but unable to go home. In her work, she explores Iran pre- and post-Islamic Revolution, tracing political and societal change through powerful images of women.

Shirin Neshat is among the best-known Persian artists in the Western world. She has lived in the United States, in self-imposed exile from her native Iran, for most of her adult life. This experience, of being caught between two cultures, dominates Neshat’s creative work: each of her pieces offers a glimpse into the complex social, religious and political realities that shape her identity—and the identities of Muslim women worldwide.

Neshat’s provocative photographs, videos and multimedia installations have resonated with the curators of many major international art exhibitions, including the XLVIII Venice Biennale, where she won the top prize in 1999. Her first feature film, Women Without Men, tells the stories of four women struggling to escape oppression in Tehran. It won her the Silver Lion for best director at the 2010 Venice Film Festival. (From TED)
"Walk into a Shirin Neshat film installation and the images seize you: big, memorable, physically beautiful, exploring the role of women in Islamic society in terms of cinematic poetry, so that even the stifling chador becomes powerfully expressive." The New York Times, July 15, 2002



Monday 23 May 2011

Rick Steves' IRAN





Richard "Rick" Steves (born May 10, 1955, Edmonds, Washington) is an American author, historian, and television personality focusing on European travel. He is the host of the public television series Rick Steves' Europe, has a public radio travel show, Travel with Rick Steves, and has authored various location-specific travel guides. (From Wikipedia)





Rick Steves' Talk about Iran





Richard "Rick" Steves (born May 10, 1955, Edmonds, Washington) is an American author, historian, and television personality focusing on European travel. He is the host of the public television series Rick Steves' Europe, has a public radio travel show, Travel with Rick Steves, and has authored various location-specific travel guides. (From Wikipedia)






Sunday 22 May 2011

Rastak; "Baroon"

Rastak is a new ensemble for contemporary Persian folk music. It was formed as an experimental music group in 1997. The group seeks to collect, record and interpret traditional Persian folk music for a global audience. (From Rastak"s Facebook page)  






Wednesday 18 May 2011

Farabi (ASYANIN KANDILLERI)(Turkish)

Farabi






Luri Music


A Lur

Lurs, like most Iranians, are a mixture of indigenous inhabitants of the Zagros mountains-(Sumerians, Mesopotamians and Elamites) and Iranian-speaking peoples. The Lurs constitute part of the Southwestern branch of the Iranian peoples and part of the Indo-Iranian linguistic group, spread across the Iranian plateau, stretching from the Hindu Kush to central Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf - a region that is sometimes termed Greater Iran. Their language (called Luri or Lurish language ) is closely related to Persian, and there are two distinct dialects of this language. "Lur-e-Bozourg" (Greater Lur), which is spoken by the Bakhtiaris, and "Lur-e-Kuchik" (Lesser Lur), spoken by the Lurs themselves. People in Borujerd speak in Borujerdi Dialect, a local Lori Persian dialect which is extracted from Luri. Northwest of Lorestan Province is dominated by Laki speakers. The overwhelming majority of Lurs are Shia Muslims. In Khuzestan, Lur tribes are primarily concentrated in the northern part of the province, while in Ilam they are mainly in the southern region.

Prior to the 20th century the majority of Lurs were nomadic herders, with an urban minority residing in the city of Khorramabad. There were several attempts by the Pahlavi governments to forcibly settle the nomadic segment of the Lur population. Under Reza Shah, these campaigns tended to be unsuccessful. The last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, used less forceful methods along with economic incentives, which met with greater, though not complete, success. By the mid-1980s the vast majority of Lurs had been settled in towns and villages throughout the province, or had migrated to the major urban centres.

A number of nomadic Lur tribes continue to exist in the province. Amongst the settled urban populace the authority of tribal elders still remains a strong influence, though not as dominant as it is amongst the nomads. As in Bakhtiari Lurs and Kurdish societies, Northern Lur women have had much greater freedoms than women in other Iranian groups.







Sunday 15 May 2011

Terry Jones' Barbarians; "The Brainy Barbarians"



Terry Jones' Barbarians is a 4-part TV documentary series first broadcast on BBC 2 in 2006. It was written and presented by Terry Jones, and it challenges the received Roman and Roman Catholic notion of the barbarian. Professor Barry Cunliffe of the University of Oxford acted as consultant for the series.

In the third episode "The Brainy Barbarians", Jones argues that the ancient Greeks and Persians were in reality far from the Roman view of them as effeminate and addicted to luxury. The Greeks valued science and mathematics, while the Persians had initially allowed multiculturalism among the different ethnic groups of its empire. (From Wikipedia)





Naghshe Rostam: Shapur I
 





Saturday 14 May 2011

Abdi Behravanfar


Abdi Behravanfar

I was born on June 1975. I got familiar with music from childhood, not through academic courses but by listening to Western and Persian music excessively. At 12, by watching ‘roll on ‘the song of the country band named 'Alabama’ I found that I love to play guitar. One night I dreamed a room full of guitars that a few years later my dream abecame true while nobody lived there anymore except two dogs. While loneliness at that home, still, there was sound that had not disappeared and this time through bass and guitar’s strings, big drum and two dogs.

It was the right moment that yellow angel had arrived, the sound annoyed surrounding. Police, the old friend, seemed an easy matter .Seven months before Helal Ahmar performance, I met Mustafa Yavari. He was dark and despite of being young, he seemed old apparently and inwardly. Mustafa by writing his poems and expressing a pure feeling of Rock not separated from his own real life, had great effect on me. Mustafa died 2 months after Helal Ahmar concert on his birthday.The yellow dog also left 2 months later and the black dog was stolen with his collar.

Then I left the house too and took with me the hollow trunk of quince and Agha Ghazanfar’s stone grave for remembrance. The little garden’s grass ended up, in autumn .The great silence ruled over the house for one year and then the place became a hole.

I went Tehran and worked in a construction work shop and there the song ‘Kargar e Badbakht’ was formed. At the same time I had the experience of making music for two plays named ‘what you hear is a tuneless instrument of silence’ and I also made music for a long film named ‘Yellow wall paper’.

The decade of 80’s: war, Ahangaran, joining Islamic society of school, break dance, thriller, dead dance, mixture of a noisy distressing family and my interest for playing guitar which sum up to a racket.
Considering society and family, Metal was a tranquillizer for me and ‘the edge of darkness’ by Eric Clapton suddenly exploded the whole school with Plutonium.

By the time I was 22, after getting familiar with a professor of New York Poly Techniques University, and giving me a diverse training in various fields, I bought a Guitar, the wood that seemed most necessary to me of all things and people.Mr Farhady was one of the biggest influences on my playing and the reason I bought the guitar.Rock’s screaming, another religion named Blues, Metal’s non stop crying, Country’s greenness, and depth of Folk music.

As I was studying industrial engineering in Tehran, I bought the broken accoustic guitar and Fleming Khoshghadami gave me my first guitar lessons, in Country and Blues styles. I learned the basics of playing harmonica with him too. After a while the Fleming concert was held at Farabi hall with my management which was the first Country music performance after years in Tehran.

Then I took a short term class with Kamran Yaghmayee to learn electric guitar techniques especially in Blues and Rock styles.

After getting back to Mashad in order to set up a rock band, I met different people playing music; as a result a concert was held, covering Blues and Rock songs.

After first concert, I concentrated more on group rehearsal; thus was set up a band named Mud. Because of rehearsals, the band’s members and I learned different music styles through practical experience.This life with music had great influence on the kind and way of making songs.Sometimes my own experiences combine with others’ experiences and made my music.

In my way, I learned a lot from great musicians, Rock(Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison), Blues( Son House, Muddy Waters, Sunny Boy Williamson ), Jazz(Charlie Parker, John Coltrane ),Country and Folk (Neil Young, Ian Anderson).

Getting familiar with these legends was mostly because of selling CDs for a long time. For a while I got busy with selling toilet stone, crystal palace and my everlasting friend of lonesome days.

Creating and bringing to existence comes from the life and way of living; also, in all music styles the instruments are in service of players to show musicians’ feelings toward their immediate surroundings, not in a complete vacuum of not listening and not seeing; naturally it’s not possible to react and show feeling just with knowing techniques and learning academically.

In 2006 I moved to Armenia to study Jazz; consequently I experienced playing at bars and cafes, even at metros and sidewalks; furthermore 4 concerts were held.

After getting back to Mashad, When I recorded the album named ‘Shalamroud’ , I was learning Dotar with Ali Gholamrezayee Almajughi and it was accompanied with learning the ancient folk tales of Iran which caused my closeness toward Maghami and folk music,and it had its effect on the album’ Kokheo & Kalakhet’. The two albums "Shalamroud"and Kokheo&Kalakhet" released by two production companies in the United states.The first one by Bamahang production and the second album released by Zirzamin production.Also the two CDs are available on www.cdbaby.com to buy.

I started learning Ghoshmeh with Ali Akbar Bahari Knowing Iranian Folk instruments is an opening to me toward knowing Folk and Maghami music and practically acquaintance with Bakhshies and Asheghs.Learning heart by heart from khorasan great Folk players had its effect on me, not only playing folk instruments but also using them with Rock and Blues orchestras.

Till now many concerts , and made more than 40 songs that some are recorded and some performed; also I made music for short and long films and plays.  (By Abdi Behravanfar from Abdi Behravanfar's Official Website)









Kokheo & Kalakhet


Tuesday 10 May 2011

The Greco-Persian Wars: Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, Mycale

Battle of Marathon

Battle of Marathon


Battle of Marathon





A Short Introduction to the Shahnameh, or 'Book of Kings' by Charles Melville




A Podcast by The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

Exploring exquisite Persian manuscript art inspired by the world's longest poem: the Shahnameh, or 'Book of Kings'. With Professor Charles Melville, Director of the Cambridge Shahnama Project .

The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Sat 11 September 2010 to Sun 9 January 2011
Mellon Gallery






Der Schah von Persien und seine Kaiserin (German)





Sunday 8 May 2011

Ali Asghar Bahari




Ostad Ali Asghar Bahari (1905 – June 10, 1995) was an Iranian musician and kamancheh player. He was born in Tehran and started his music lessons under his grand father Mohammad Taghi Khan, who was a kamancheh player as well. After three years, his father sent him to his uncles to learn more advanced techniques. Asghar had three uncles (all mother's brothers): Akbar, Reza and hassan. They were all famous kamancheh players. His first major success was with Ebrahim Khan Mansouri's Orchestra at the age of 18. He started his own music school in Mashhad, then he moved back to Tehran and became an kamancheh instructor in Honarestan under Ruhollah Khaleghi. He played with most famous Iranian musician such as Hossein Tehrani, Ahmad Ebadi, and Abolhasan Saba. He also was a professor of music in Tehran University for a few years. He toured France, Belgium, Germany' Italy' England and the United States. He died in Tehran. (From Wikipedia)







Tuesday 3 May 2011

The Radif

Radif (Persian: ردیف, meaning order in Persian) is a collection of many old melodic figures preserved through many generations by oral tradition. It organizes the melodies in a number of different tonal spaces called Dastgah. The traditional music of Iran is based on the Radif, which is a collection of old melodies that have been handed down by the masters to the students through the generations. Over time, each master's own interpretation has shaped and added new melodies to this collection, which may bear the master's name.
The preservation of these melodies greatly depended on each successive generation's memory and mastery, since the interpretive origin of this music was expressed only through the oral tradition.

To truly learn and absorb the essence of the Radif, many years of repetition and practice are required. A master of the Radif must internalize the Radif so completely to be able to perform any part of it at any given time.

The Radif contains several different dastgahs which are distinguished from each other by their relationship of note intervals and the form of the movement of the melodies within them. A dastgah portrays a specific sonic space. A dastgah may contain approximately from 10 to 30 goushehs (melodies). The principal goushehs of the dastgah specify the different scales within that dastgah. The note, upon which the gousheh is based and often is the center of the gousheh, is called the shahed. The shahed moves when we modulate between principal goushehs, and this movement creates a new sonic space. Rhythm in these melodies takes three different forms: symmetric, asymmetric (lang), and free form. The rhythm is greatly influenced by the rhythm and meter of the Persian poetry. The instrumental and vocal Radif are different from the rhythmical point of view; however, their melodic structures are the same.


Monday 2 May 2011

Seyyed Hossein Nasr Talks to Dennis Wholey about Islam



Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Persian: سید حسین نصر) (born April 7, 1933 in Tehran) is an Iranian University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, and a prominent Islamic philosopher. He is the author of many scholarly books and articles.

Nasr is a Muslim Persian philosopher and renowned scholar of comparative religion, a lifelong student and follower of Frithjof Schuon, and writes in the fields of Islamic esoterism, Sufism, philosophy of science, and metaphysics.

Nasr is the first Muslim to deliver the prestigious Gifford Lectures, and in year 2000, a volume was devoted to him in the Library of Living Philosophers.

Professor Nasr speaks and writes based on the doctrine and the viewpoints of the perennial philosophy on subjects such as philosophy, religion, spirituality, music, art, architecture, science, literature, civilizational dialogues, and the natural environment. He also wrote two books of poetry (namely Poems of the Way and The Pilgrimage of Life and the Wisdom of Rumi), and has been even described as a 'polymath'.

Nasr speaks Persian, English, French, German, Spanish and Arabic fluently. (From Wikipedia)

Watch the video here.