S O U T H O F K H O R A S A N

AS A FAREWELL TOUR I had the plan of touring far places in the East of , where the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran have no geographic meanings. Here the bazar of Kerman .

SHAHRUD ZANJAN TEHRAN QAZVIN NISHAPOUR MASHHAD BIJAR SEMNAN SABZEVAR REY SANANDAJ VARAMIN TORBAT-E HEIDARIYEH PANEH BOR TORBAT-E SAVEH HAMIS QOM JAM CENTRAL TAFRESH GONABAD HAMEDAN KERMANSHAH SALAFSHEGAN DESERT ARDEHAL TABAS ARAK MARAGH DELIJAN BIRJAND DORUD KHOMEIN NAIN KHORAMABAD MEIBOD GOLPAYEGAN DESERT ESFAHAN YAZD RAVAR

MEHRIZ « LA VIE DE CHATEAU » OF LUT

SHIRAZ KERMAN 8 days / 4800 km tour to remote sightseings MAHAN of the East and south-east regions of Iran… JUPAR BAM RAYEN

BIRJAND ! Too short stay in this charming and totally unseen city, at the north eastern gate of the desert of Lut. I had great expectations, as this remote town features some afghan fragances , especially in their shawm music and dances. Unfortunately, we wasted 3 hours because of the collapse of a link of the car gearbox. After changing the part, we left the repairshop lately in order to reach the hotel in Gonabad for the night.

BIRJAND a winterview of the old city from the fortress by Arianpour.

KHAF , THE MASJID JAMEH near the southern afghan border . (source Warsharang troupe website)

EMRAN a former village of the arid area of north Gonabad. Safavi period. .

BEDOKHT annual meet of the gonabadi dervishes, 2012

BEDOKHT GONABADI SHRINE in the Gonabadiyyah sufi shrine, four first sheikh of that ofshoost are buried.

TORBAT-E HEIDARIYYEH, the shrine of Qutbuddin « Heidar » ZAVEHI (12th century) gave the name of the city. This unorthodox ermit used to live in a cave, and he founded the Heidariyyah sufi order, i.e. the second noticeable order of wandering – mendicant derviches (« qalandars ») in history, since SAWADJI founded the Qalandariyyah order in Damascus and Damiette. The order was introduced then to North India as the less known Jawalqiyyah branch.

QALEH JOQ VILLAGE (SOUTH OF TORBAT E HEIDARIYYEH) on the way back to Gonabad hotel

TORBAT-E JAM, AFGHAN BORDER this austere shrine of Ahmad JAMI is disputed, between the famous afghan-born naqshbandi poet and another later homonymous rigorist sufi. The earlier of them inspirated numerous mystics, and this shrine / covent became the starting point of enigmatic wandering poets / folowers : the Jamis ; who have been reported in Turkey and Iran in the 17th century. Very serene time there.

WARSHARANG TROUPE (KHAF, KHORASAN JONUBI) source : Warsharang Website

DASTMAL BAZI DANCE (SEISTAN TROUPE) .

Here a fantastic traditio nal balochi party in the « Fai r of Balochistan and Seist an », as held last month in Art hou se, Tehran.

DOTARS FROM TORBAT E JAM

The last innovation (see insert) consists in bending ribs (same as modern iranian tanbur construction) but still following huge patterns of soundbox.

VILLAGE

DOTAR FROM HERAT (AFGHANISTAN) - the instrument is a crossover of a khorasani dotar and an afghani rubab .