The Keepers of Persian Classical Rnusic

w Music Wainrn N -- Continuedfrom E Thekeepers of Persianclassical rnusic Santa Cruz to f Freight & Salv E ley on Saturda m ByAndrew Gilbed U Correspondent been a fan everl u Sometimesit seemsthat very interesting t classical Persian culture is player and all-r o welcome everywhere but at tainer. What hr a homein lran. indescribable. E. don'tsounr l Music in particular has "I I been badly buffeted in the like Charlie Por F Islamic Republic, where try to copy Ch even the most venerable art- do an imperson ists often are tolerated more hopefully captt than celebrated.While sold- the spirit of his out venues around the globe Poole's pr greet the multigenerational got a boost las ensemble Masters of Per- Wainwright ar sian Music, which performs lie Poole Projr Saturday at Zellerbach Hall Grammy Awt for Cal- Performances and Traditional I Sunday at Montalvo Arts It's an achie Center's Carriase House Wainwright is Theatre, in Iranlhe group ably.proud of rarely has the opportunity to should increat play in public. of the album.l "One of the first efforts bolster interes that the regime made in the box set that early dayswas to ban music," in 2005 caller savs Abbas Milani, director Talkin'to Me: of Stanford's Iranian Studies KayhanKalhor, left, and Hossein Alizadeh, of thegroup Masters o.f Persian Music and the Root Program: 'Initially, the only "Wb'realways trying to representthe modern culture of lranJ'Kalhor says. Music." thing they would allow on Wainwright TV and radio were Islamic tertwined with rhythms of Mastersof PersianMusic casessome of the tradition's nection to Pot passion plays and Koranic classicalPersian poetry, he When:8p.m. Sunday most celebrated younger for reasonsofa players, vocal- as well. There recitals. Vocalists, particu- is also a noted avant-garde Where:Montalvo Arts Center, most notably similarities bet Iarly women vocalists, were composer. i5400 MontalvoRoad; Sara- ist Hamid RezaNourbakhsh, legend their songs anr banned." "Classical musicians are toga a discipleofthe vocal Iran loosened strictures ranked in a well-respected Mohammad Reza Shajarian, Southernroots 408-961- againstconcerts in the 1990s, hierarchy basedon whether Tickets:$35-$45, who is making his Bay Area "Yeah, (we' 5858,www. montalvoarts.org debut. The group also fea- ten) novelty st but the country/s musicians thev have studied with a cer- 'songs have found themselves in tairi number of masters and Also:8p.m. Saturday, Zeller- tures Alizadeh's son, Nima and motl an incrgasingly tenuous po- learned the goushehsof the bachHall, Berkeley. $25-$60, Alizadeh on robab (htte), serves Wainwr sition since the contested dastgahi' Milani says, refer- 510-642-9988 Rouzbeh Rahimi on santur leasedhis first elections in June and the ring to the modes and melo- (hammered dulcimer), Ali- "You know, I rise of a broad-basedprotest dies that make up the Radif. _ performed in the Bay Area reza Hosseini on tombah some sentimer movement. For Kayhan Kal- "There's a consensrsthat with the innovative string (drum) and Siamak Jahan- got a few ofth hor, who foundedMasters of Alizadeh is someone who quartet Brooklyn Rider. gl y on zey (reedflute). outside of Ne Persian Music with Hossein has delved deeply but also One of the main reasons Rather than only setting but my mother Alizadeh in 1992, the group innovatively, particularly by that he and Alizadeh founded belovedmedieval Persian po- same part of t has provided a welcome in- bringing elements of folk- Masters of Persian Music ets such asHafez,Ferdowsi, he was from, tl ( ternational outlet at a time Ioric music into the classical was to bridge a generational Sadi and Rumi to music,the Shewas from when many doors at home structures.His most famous chasm exacerbated by the group also interprets con- further southt haveclosed. songsuse all the ornamenta- revolution, which sundered temporarypoetry. "So I have "The situation is too social tion and all the structures of a. musical tradition dating While building bridges that Southern and too political," saysKalhor, classicalmusic, but infuse it back some1,500 years. Many among Iranians, Kalhor'and band feel. So tl 47, speaking from his home with vivacity and energy of of the country's mid-Z0th Alizadeh are equally com- tainly enoughc in Tehran. "There are hu- folkloric and ethnic music." century masters left, Iran in mitted to presentinganother us to work witl monsous limitations on what Kalhor is better known in the 1980s.Their departure faceof Iran, where the politi- Tragically,l peoplecan do. We don't have the West than his older col- Ieft the post-revolutionary cal situation oft,enovershad- born Pooledie, o Wany concertsscheduled here league, having lived in Eu- generation, which makes ows an ancient and sophisti- age of39 in 19i 2 thoughy"llg,!,"!Tc, t" rope and the United States up nearly 70 percent of the cated civilization. sayshe was vet W"oynerform over the surlmer. foi much of his adult life population, without teachers "We come from a very partyer who es It's difficult to overstate (although he moved back to and guidesto passon the an- old and valuable culture that himselfto deau o- with which the Iran in 2003). The world's cient oral tradition. has contributed a lot to the Belovedby f the reverence ensemble'sleaders are held. foremost master of the Per- "We've been trying to world," Kalhor says."We're verypersonal i E (J A visionary composer sian spike-fiddle, or leaman- keep the relationship going, always trying to represent humorous song a do necessaryfor the modern culture of lran. says he enjoyt = hailed as his generation"s cheh,hewasborninto an lra- and what's U most vivid and eloquent in- nian Kurdish family, and like today's Persianmusic," Kal- We're not pure.traditional- of delving extet z strumentalist, Alizadeh, 58, Alizadeh has expanded the hor says. "'We're working ists, but we're very rooted. other artist's v LrJ younger rnusicians to linkwith the old cul- "That was i E is a virtuoso on the Persian classical repertoire by tap- with "The plucked lute, or far. Steeped ping into folkloric music. He's discover what they have to ture is there, but we try to vacation,going performed as a found- offer." build on that with modern else's world," m in the vast body of traditional widely melodiesknown as the Radif, ing member of Yo-Yo Ma's The latest versionof Mas- artists living in today's world wtote somesot 1O a vocabularyintimately in- Silk Road Ensemble,and Iast ters of Persian Music show- aswell." recorded 20-st.

Load more