A musician Who Tells Story

Music Budget to Double
7
Culture and Arts
EXCLUSIVE
The Effect of
History and Culture
in Preventing War
“Before America’s attack on Iraq, America’s
political experts were dubious on attacking Iran
or Iraq. At that time, the exhibition of 7 thousand
years of Iranian art in Europe was held; but with
the introduction of such an idea the world media protested that such a historical background
should not be attacked”.
According to ISNA, this is not a myth. This is
a fact about 10 years ago when America attacked
Iraq; an event that, Farhad Eetemadi, the head of
the National Commission of UNESCO in Iran,
raises it.
Now with such a background we can say that
the ancient culture and history of Iran is an extraordinary example of a history which a country can always have; a history and culture that
unfortunately some neighboring countries such
as Syria and Iraq have lost it over the past one
or two years with extremism and radicalism of
some political extremist groups; but fortunately,
Iran is still proud of its history and culture, in the
light of its security.
In the last few years and with Iran’s membership in UNESCO and establishment of the Office of National Commission of UNESCO in the
country, historic, cultural and natural artifacts
and all the objects and phenomena that have a
historic or cultural value are being introduced
to different sectors of UNESCO, based on their
type and they are being presented to the world
after their final approval.
In this regard, Farhad Eetemadi, the head of
the National Commission of UNESCO in Iran
states: The aim of program of Memory of the
World is protecting humans’ recorded heritage
and it is very important; because all the human
civilizations have been formed based on keeping, maintaining and transmission of information up to the present day.
In another part of his remarks, he believes
that the only difference between man and other
animals is this principle that people are able to
memorize and transmit information, something
that has been possible since the dawn of mankind.
He emphasizes that humans’ recorded heritage
is vulnerable and says: recorded heritage should
be maintained in visual texts or archives as documents; even in the best condition manuscripts
will be destroyed after some hundreds of years.
Also visual heritage can normally remain for 15
years and digital heritage can remain for one decade at most.
He believes that factors threatening the recorded and visual heritage are natural factors,
earthquake, war, poor financial condition and
insufficient education and he adds: It is even
possible for some of these recorded heritages to
be destroyed innately.
After reviewing the history of this heritage, he
said: The program of Memory of the World has
three objectives which include “contributing to
the protection of recorded heritage”, “public access to this heritage” and “public awareness by
providing such a list and placing it in the Internet”.
Mr. Eetemadi then believes that registration of
an artifact or a phenomenon means that it has
global value and he adds: UNESCO does not
comment on the ownership of an artifact; but this
organization examines two main criteria which
are authenticity and protecting the artifact.
The budget allocated to music for the next Iranian year starting March 20, has been doubled, deputy minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance announced here
Saturday. Addressing the closing ceremony of the 31st Fajr Music Festival to mark the anniversary of the victory of the 1979 Islamic revolution, deputy minister for
art affairs Ali Moradkhani also announced that Tehran Symphony Orchestra has resumed its work as President Hassan Rouhani had promised.
Tehran Symphony Orchestra is Iran’s oldest and largest orchestra founded in 1933. It was disbanded nearly three years ago due to some negligence and financial
stringency. Moradkhani also expressed hope that Iran’s other large orchestras start to have performances throughout Iran and in other parts of the world.
Monday, February 22, 2016, Esfand 3, 1394, Jamadi al-Awwal 13, 1437
EXCLUSIVE
A musician Who Tells Story
An Italian musician who had a performance in jazz style, in Fajr Music Festival this year, said: I believe that my presence in Iran is a connection between
East, West, North and South.
“Enzo Favata”’s concert was held at the eighth day of Fajr Music Festival
in Rudaki Hall and the title of the project was «Tehran story tellers». In all
pieces of the concert, Sohail Shayestehpour, the violinist and Adib Ghorbani,
the pianist accompanied Favata. Favata is a clarinet player and a saxophonist
in jazz style.
In this performance a piece called «Seven valley of love» was played which
is associated with the story of Manteghotteir of Attar.
This Italian artist in an interview with ISNA explained his purpose of performing this type of music and said: Every song which we perform is a story and I am the narrator of that story. I have performed my musical pieces
throughout my whole life with the aim of telling stories.
Enzo Favata by stating that “travel is a part of my life,” said: therefore the
language of music is full of words which I have gathered them from every
corner of the world. Now I am in Tehran and everyone who has scrutinized
at our performance in the Fajr Music Festival has noticed that we have used
many elements of Persian music in our performance. I have listened to Persian music and I love the performances of Iranian veteran cittern players very
much.
“This is my second presence in Iran, for the first time I came to Iran last
June and had a performance with Soheil Shaysthpour and Adib Ghorbani.
We established a special project in that performance and it become an idea to
CULTURE
continue with this team as a trio”.
“Enzo Favata” is one of the most famous jazz musicians in Italy. He is a
modernist musician and he has always integrated different cultures and traditional and modern music on the path of his musical explorations. He plays s
tenor saxophone and soprano, bass clarinet and folklore wind instruments and
utilizes electronic music in a very sophisticated form in his performances.
Iran’s Religious Dialogue Spreading Peace in Region
World Armenians Archbishop Gargin-II in a meeting
with Head of Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) Abuzar Ebrahimi Torkaman in Yerevan
on Sunday lauded Iran’s influential role in helping to restore peace in the region.
“The religious dialogue pursued by Iran’s Islamic Culture and Relations Organization will result in the promotion of peace in the region,” Archbishop Gargin said.
“We thank the Iranian government for preserving the
CINENA
Iran’s
‘Unfortunately’ to
feature at Cannes
‘Unfortunate’ by Iranian filmmaker Shahrokh
Dolkou has been accepted for the 2016 Cannes Film
Festival’s short film corner.
Since the competition section of Cannes Short
Film Festival only accepts films no longer than 15
minutes, other productions longer than this time limit can be submitted in the non-competition section of
the festival, called Short Film Corner.
Shahrokh Dolkou’s ‘Unfortunately’ which exceeds
the 15-minute time limit will feature in the short film
corner at Cannes and will not compete for a prize.
Dolkou’s film is the first Iranian film production
that has ever been accepted for this section of the
festival.
‘Unfortunaltey’ has been produced based on a film
script by Mohammad Toloui and Shahrokh Dolkou
and features Atila Pesyani and Elham Korda as the
main characters.
The 26-mintue long film has been also accepted for
the completion section of Asian New Force in the
21st edition of Incubator for Film and Visual media
in Asia (IFVA) to be held in February-March 2016
in Hong Kong.
Cannes Film festival 2016 will be held in the
French city of Cannes from May 16 to 22.
Armenian artifacts in Iran and registration of Armenians’
churches in the UNESCO’s list of world heritage as well
as freedom of Armenians in performing their religious
ceremonies in Iran,” he added.
The Armenian archbishop reiterated the need for the
expansion of mutual cooperation between Iran and Armenia, and said, “The two countries’ cultural relations
are satisfactory.”
Archbishop Gargin-II said that boosting Armenia-Iran
relations in the religious sector can be of paramount importance because religious ties can be a model for the
entire world.
Iran and Armenia have taken major strides towards
widening and deepening of their relations in recent years,
particularly in the economic sector.
In relevant remarks in February 2015, Iranian President’s Special Adviser for Religious and Ethnic Minorities’ Affairs Ali Younesi stressed the Islamic Republic’s
support for the freedom of religious and ethnic minorities.
CINENA
‘Daybreak Dreams’
Jointly Wins
Amnesty
International Film
Prize
Mehrdad Oskouei’s ‘Daybeak Dreams’ has won Amnesty International Film Prize along with ‘Fuocoammare’ by Gianfranco Rosi in 66th Berlinale 2016.
“The German branch of Amnesty International has
awarded the prize for the first time at the Berlinale
2005. The jury will view films entered into the Competition, Panorama, Forum and Generation sections,
paying special attention to documentaries. The aim of
the prize is to draw the attention of audiences and representatives of the film industry to the theme of human
rights and encourage filmmakers to tackle this topic,”
writes the official website of the Festival.
‘Fuocoammare’ (‘Fire at Sea’) by Gianfranco Rosi
and ‘Daybreak Dreams’ (‘Royahaye Dame Sobh’) by
Mehrdad Oskouei, both documentaries will share the
€5,000 prize. Abbas Amini’s ‘Valderama’ was also
screened in the ‘Generation’ section of the Berlinale
along with ‘Daybreak Dreams. Mahoud Sabbagh’s
‘Bounty Meets Bounty’ (‘Barakah Yoqabil Barakah’)
won the prize in Forum section jointly with ‘Those who
Jump’ by Aboubakar Sidibe, Moritz Siebert and Estephan Wagner. Berlinale, 66th edition of Berlin International Film Festival kicked off February 11 and will
wrap February 21 (Sunday).
The Iranian government attaches great importance to
ethnic minorities and tribal citizens, Younesi said, addressing a gathering in the Central province of Isfahan.
Also in February 2015, Armenian member of the Iranian Parliament Karen Khanlari underlined that religious
minorities are conducting a peaceful life along with the
Shiite Muslims in Iran.
Speaking in a ceremony to commemorate the 36th anniversary of victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Khanlari said that Armenian Iranians, along with their Muslim,
Assyrian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian brothers, have lived in
this glorious land for hundreds of years and have made
great sacrifices to protect it.
Khanlari went on to say that peaceful co-existence of
followers of different religions in Islamic Iran is rooted
in the old civilization of Iran and the Islamic teachings.
Iran’s Constitution has officially recognized Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism as divine religions
alongside Islam and their followers are having a peaceful
life and friendly relationship with each other.
MUSIC
Barbad Awards
Granted to Best
Iranian Albums
and Musicians
Barbad awards were given to the best albums
and musicians in varied fields of music for the
first time during the closing ceremony of 31st Fajr
Music Festival Saturday night.
The ceremony was attended by Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati, a number
of other high-ranking officials and a large crowd
of art lovers and musicians.
Barbad award was introduced to the 10-day Fajr
Music Festival for the first time this year.
Barbad was a renowned musician at the court of
Sassanid king Khosrow II who ruled from 590 to
628 CE.
A panel of experts assessed over 500 music albums made during the past three years. But from
this year on, the assessments will be on a yearly
basis.
Barbad awards were granted to the Iranian artists
in varied fields of music, including Amin Honarmand for best composer of classic music, Shahrdad Rouhani for composing best classic album of
Bagh-e-Irani and Mohammad Esfahani for Shokouh album.