AN EVENING OF PERSIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC
WITH ENSEMBLE SHABROVAN

Wednesday 2 April 2014
The Shoe Factory, Nicosia / 8.30pm

The! Pharos Arts Foundation, in collaboration with the Embassy of Iran in Cyprus, presents An Evening of Persian Classical Music featuring Ensemble Shabrovan on traditional instruments: Santour, Tar, Setar, Daf, Tonbak & Kamancheh.

From the beginning of the Achaemenid Empire in the sixth century B.C. to present day Iran, the beautiful and ancient Persian culture has experienced periods of intense wealth and great loss. Despite the many invasions by Greeks, Turks, Mongols, and Arabs, the Persian people were able to retain their rich cultural heritage. The classical music of the Persian culture reflects the deep sadness of brutal invasions, the complex beauty of nature, and fusion with a higher power of existence. Persian classical music has evolved as a fluid expression of the social and cultural values proudly embodied by the Persian people, as demonstrated by the musical theory system, the role of music in P! ersian culture, and the creation process of musical performance.

With the foundational establishment of Islam as the national religion of Persia in the seventh century, a significant fusion of Arabic and Persian music took place, including instruments, musi¬cal terminology, and theoretical principles. As Persian cultural values and beliefs have evolved over time, Persian classical music has simultaneously been transformed. Often associated with the deep, complex, and profound poetry of the great Persian poets, Persian music embodies the penultimate expression of the human soul. Due to the partial Islamic prohibition of music and arts in Iran, Persian classical music was raised to a mystical art, highly prized for its unification with a superior power of existence. The modernization and westernization of Iran have not only changed the structural components of Persian music in many ways, but have also expo! sed the art to the world. There is currently more Western interest in Persian classical music than ever before. Perhaps as people listen to this mysteri¬ously beautiful Persian art, they attain some type of hal-state where the “world becomes transfigured, unveiling its marvellous images, and across an ineffable transparency… offers itself to the direct comprehension of every being capable of sensing.”

ENSEMBLE SHABROVAN

Arash Kavosi / Composer (Tar & Setar)
Arash Kavosi is an Iranian Classical Musician, a Tar & Setar player and the supervisor of the Ensemble Shabrovan. He started learning Persian Classical music, the “Radif” (the Persian classical music repertoire) of Persian Classical Music and Harmony ! in 1994 under the supervision of Mehran Lotfi, the masters Houshang Zarif, Arshad Tahmasebi, Mohammad Reza Lotfi and Farhad Fakhrodini. He currently completes his degree in music at National Conservatory in Tehran and has performed numerous concerts in Central Asian countries and Thailand accompanying the Ensemble Shabrovan.

Hamid Sarvari Zadeh / Composer (Setar & Daf & Tonbak)
Sarvari Zadeh is an Iranian traditional Musician, Tonbak & Daf & Setar player and has studied under direction of the masters Shafahi and Naser Farhangfar who taught him the Tonbak. He won the First Prize in Iran’s Young Musician Festival in 2001 and the first place in the City of Khozestan province Festival. He has performed many concerts in most Iranian cities as well as other countries like Greece and Canada. Meanwhile, he has played the Setar & Daf and Tonbak in numerous albums such as Sa! raye Kohan, Ghoye Ziba, Bikaraneh, Goftogo.

Sasan Bazgir / Composer (Tar & Kamancheh)
Sasan Bazgir is an Iranian classical Musician and film music composer who has studied Iranian traditional music under the masters Hossein Lak and Daruosh Pirniakan, and the Kamnche under master Ali Akbar Shekarchi. He has received a PHD in English Literature and he is one of the composers in various albums like Khabo Khial, Roze Safar, Peymaneh, Sobhkhizan.

Esmaeil Safari / Composer (Santour)
Esmaeil Safari is a Persian Traditional Musician and researcher who started learning Iranian music and the Santour under the supervision of masters Faramrz Payvar, Parviz Meshkatian, Majid Kiani and Masoud Shenasa. Safari collaborates often with musical ensembles such as Eghbal Azar, N! ava and Shabrovan and he also teaches music at art institutes in Tehran. He is the author of various books in music such as Music for children in 3 volumes, The effect of memories in Music and Taste of Music. He has also given numerous concerts around the world.

Ali Yousefvand Babakamali / Vocalist
Ali Yousefvand Babakamali is an Iranian Classical Music singer and started singing under the guidance of masters Sedigh Tarif, Hamid Reza Norbakhsh and Samimi. His recordings have been broadcast by Iran’s Radio and he has performed in many concerts in Ghazaghestan and Thailand with the enembles Shabrovan and Yaran. 

   
Pharos Arts Foundation,  24 Dem. Severis, 1080, Nicosia, P.O. Box 21425, 1508 Nicosia, Cyprus 
Tel: +357 22 663871  Fax: +357 22 663538 Email: info@pharosartsfoundation.org, www.pharosartsfoundation.org