Post by Bozur on Mar 2, 2005 18:08:32 GMT -5
POETRY FROM PERSIA
Jonathan Curiel
Sunday, February 27, 2005
The tour comes at a time of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, but when the Masters of Persian Music take the stage tonight in Berkeley, there will be no talk of politics or nuclear weapons or the need for detente. The four musicians who form the Iranian group say they are cultural ambassadors -- nothing more. Their music is a reflection of Iran's centuries- old traditions. Their songs feature the words of poets, not proselytizers. .
"We're not politicians -- we're musicians," says Kayhan Kalhor, in a phone interview from Tehran before flying to the United States. "We're cultural ambassadors, and we try to do it well, to draw people's attention to what we have in our culture."
Kalhor plays the kamancheh, which is an antecedent of the violin. Often called a spike fiddle, the instrument is placed upright on the ground, with its performer usually sitting bow-legged. Kalhor is the foremost kamancheh player in the world -- someone who has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma (on Ma's Silk Road tour) and the Kronos Quartet, and who was chosen by John Adams to play in his "In Your Ear" festival in New York three months ago.
The three other artists in the Masters of Persian Music -- singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian; Hossein Alizadeh, who plays a plucked lute called a tar; and Homayoun Shajarian, who specializes in the tombak (a goblet drum) and is Mohammad Shajarian's son -- are less well-known in the West, but among Iranians (and an increasing number of non-Iranians), the Masters of Persian Music are an all-star quartet of the highest caliber.
Their 2002 album, "Without You," was nominated for a Grammy. Their two previous U.S. tours (in 2001 and 2002) drew critical acclaim from music critics and audiences. In a sign of how popular the group has become, this year's tour includes stops at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (a show that was sold out months in advance), the Kennedy Center in Washington and New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center.
"For Persian music to be booked into this country's most famous concert halls is a sign that (the Masters of Persian Music) have really moved people," says Isabel Soffer, associate director of the World Music Institute in New York, who organized the tour and produces the group's albums.
Before their 2001 tour, Kalhor and Alizadeh had never seriously collaborated with the Shajarians, but to hear them on albums -- their latest, "Faryad (The Cry)," was released last month -- or to see them in concert is to experience a synthesis that makes it seem as if they've worked together for decades. The instruments nicely complement each other, and Shajarian's voice, which is almost operatic in its range and the way he emotes Persian words (he's been called "the Iranian Pavarotti"), adds another rich layer. Homayoun sings like his father.
Those who first hear traditional Persian music are struck by its almost mystical and meditative qualities, its similarity to Indian music (in terms of modal scales), the length of songs (they can easily last 20 minutes) and -- if there's singing -- the trilling that can remind a listener of yodeling.
"It's very artful and difficult to do," Hormoz Farhat, an emeritus professor of music at the University of Dublin in Ireland, says of the ability of traditional Persian singers to waver their voice. "It's become an aspect of Persian singing for that fact. It's the sort of thing that one would admire in, say, a violinist who can play rapid passages up and down, to a very high register of the instrument."
The similarities between traditional Persian music and Indian music stem from Persian rule over India centuries ago. Farhat says that the general public doesn't associate Iran with its historic past and culture -- and he blames the Iranian authorities who formally changed the name of the country from Persia to Iran in 1935.
"It severed the country from its heritage, as far as the outside world is concerned," Farhat says in a phone interview from Dublin, where he has lived for many years since leaving Iran in the 1970s, just before its revolution. "Rarely does anyone -- unless you're talking about well-educated specialists -- associate Iran with what they might have read in history books of ancient Persia."
Another factor: calling the Iranian language Farsi. Farhat and others say it should more properly be called Persian. It's progress, then, that Kalhor, Alizadeh and the Shajarians are touring under the banner Masters of Persian Music.
The group's Grammy nominations from 2003 also represent progress. (In addition, Kalhor's 2002 album with Indian sitarist Shujaat Husain Khan, "The Rain," was also nominated for a Grammy that year.)
More progress: Visas for Kalhor, Alizadeh and the Shajarians were relatively easy to get for their new tour. For the tour three years ago, visa problems almost sidelined Alizadeh. Washington was imposing strict guidelines on applicants from Iran and other countries, and Alizadeh was forced to miss the first nine U.S. performances, finally securing a visa only after members of Congress and concert promoters contacted the U.S. Embassy in Paris, where Alizadeh had applied for the visa.
This time, the Masters of Persian Music were able to secure long-term visas that let them make multiple stops in the United States. A follow-up tour is already being planned for next year that would incorporate even more U.S. cities. The current tour began in Toronto and Vancouver before stopping in the United States.
"We're getting more attention," Kalhor says.
In Iran, he says, the Masters of Persian Music are seen as a bridge between generations. The elder Shajarian is 62, Alizadeh is 52, Kalhor is 40 and the younger Shajarian is 28. "We represent continuity," Kalhor says.
It remains to be seen whether U.S. audiences will feel the same way. Iranian Americans may fill many of the seats on the tour, but the concerts will undoubtedly draw people who've never seen the artists before. Hopefully, Kalhor says, they'll leave their politics at the door.
------------------------------------------------
THE MASTERS OF PERSIAN MUSIC perform at 7 tonight at Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft Wayand Telegraph Avenue, UC Berkeley. $24-$48. (510) 642-9988, calperfs.berkeley. edu.
E-mail Jonathan Curiel at jcuriel@sfchronicle.com.
Page 44
Jonathan Curiel
Sunday, February 27, 2005
The tour comes at a time of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, but when the Masters of Persian Music take the stage tonight in Berkeley, there will be no talk of politics or nuclear weapons or the need for detente. The four musicians who form the Iranian group say they are cultural ambassadors -- nothing more. Their music is a reflection of Iran's centuries- old traditions. Their songs feature the words of poets, not proselytizers. .
"We're not politicians -- we're musicians," says Kayhan Kalhor, in a phone interview from Tehran before flying to the United States. "We're cultural ambassadors, and we try to do it well, to draw people's attention to what we have in our culture."
Kalhor plays the kamancheh, which is an antecedent of the violin. Often called a spike fiddle, the instrument is placed upright on the ground, with its performer usually sitting bow-legged. Kalhor is the foremost kamancheh player in the world -- someone who has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma (on Ma's Silk Road tour) and the Kronos Quartet, and who was chosen by John Adams to play in his "In Your Ear" festival in New York three months ago.
The three other artists in the Masters of Persian Music -- singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian; Hossein Alizadeh, who plays a plucked lute called a tar; and Homayoun Shajarian, who specializes in the tombak (a goblet drum) and is Mohammad Shajarian's son -- are less well-known in the West, but among Iranians (and an increasing number of non-Iranians), the Masters of Persian Music are an all-star quartet of the highest caliber.
Their 2002 album, "Without You," was nominated for a Grammy. Their two previous U.S. tours (in 2001 and 2002) drew critical acclaim from music critics and audiences. In a sign of how popular the group has become, this year's tour includes stops at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (a show that was sold out months in advance), the Kennedy Center in Washington and New York's Jazz at Lincoln Center.
"For Persian music to be booked into this country's most famous concert halls is a sign that (the Masters of Persian Music) have really moved people," says Isabel Soffer, associate director of the World Music Institute in New York, who organized the tour and produces the group's albums.
Before their 2001 tour, Kalhor and Alizadeh had never seriously collaborated with the Shajarians, but to hear them on albums -- their latest, "Faryad (The Cry)," was released last month -- or to see them in concert is to experience a synthesis that makes it seem as if they've worked together for decades. The instruments nicely complement each other, and Shajarian's voice, which is almost operatic in its range and the way he emotes Persian words (he's been called "the Iranian Pavarotti"), adds another rich layer. Homayoun sings like his father.
Those who first hear traditional Persian music are struck by its almost mystical and meditative qualities, its similarity to Indian music (in terms of modal scales), the length of songs (they can easily last 20 minutes) and -- if there's singing -- the trilling that can remind a listener of yodeling.
"It's very artful and difficult to do," Hormoz Farhat, an emeritus professor of music at the University of Dublin in Ireland, says of the ability of traditional Persian singers to waver their voice. "It's become an aspect of Persian singing for that fact. It's the sort of thing that one would admire in, say, a violinist who can play rapid passages up and down, to a very high register of the instrument."
The similarities between traditional Persian music and Indian music stem from Persian rule over India centuries ago. Farhat says that the general public doesn't associate Iran with its historic past and culture -- and he blames the Iranian authorities who formally changed the name of the country from Persia to Iran in 1935.
"It severed the country from its heritage, as far as the outside world is concerned," Farhat says in a phone interview from Dublin, where he has lived for many years since leaving Iran in the 1970s, just before its revolution. "Rarely does anyone -- unless you're talking about well-educated specialists -- associate Iran with what they might have read in history books of ancient Persia."
Another factor: calling the Iranian language Farsi. Farhat and others say it should more properly be called Persian. It's progress, then, that Kalhor, Alizadeh and the Shajarians are touring under the banner Masters of Persian Music.
The group's Grammy nominations from 2003 also represent progress. (In addition, Kalhor's 2002 album with Indian sitarist Shujaat Husain Khan, "The Rain," was also nominated for a Grammy that year.)
More progress: Visas for Kalhor, Alizadeh and the Shajarians were relatively easy to get for their new tour. For the tour three years ago, visa problems almost sidelined Alizadeh. Washington was imposing strict guidelines on applicants from Iran and other countries, and Alizadeh was forced to miss the first nine U.S. performances, finally securing a visa only after members of Congress and concert promoters contacted the U.S. Embassy in Paris, where Alizadeh had applied for the visa.
This time, the Masters of Persian Music were able to secure long-term visas that let them make multiple stops in the United States. A follow-up tour is already being planned for next year that would incorporate even more U.S. cities. The current tour began in Toronto and Vancouver before stopping in the United States.
"We're getting more attention," Kalhor says.
In Iran, he says, the Masters of Persian Music are seen as a bridge between generations. The elder Shajarian is 62, Alizadeh is 52, Kalhor is 40 and the younger Shajarian is 28. "We represent continuity," Kalhor says.
It remains to be seen whether U.S. audiences will feel the same way. Iranian Americans may fill many of the seats on the tour, but the concerts will undoubtedly draw people who've never seen the artists before. Hopefully, Kalhor says, they'll leave their politics at the door.
------------------------------------------------
THE MASTERS OF PERSIAN MUSIC perform at 7 tonight at Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft Wayand Telegraph Avenue, UC Berkeley. $24-$48. (510) 642-9988, calperfs.berkeley. edu.
E-mail Jonathan Curiel at jcuriel@sfchronicle.com.
Page 44