Entertainment > Iranian Radio > DIALOGUE IN ARTS BY DARIUS KADIVAR
For the First Time since the Revolution German Osnabrueck Symphony Orchestra performs in Iran
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The thirst for Culture and Art in Iran is truly one of the most interesting evolutions in Iranian society despite the political and social restrictions under the current theocracy. I remember my late Father who was a surgeon and truly started to take interest in Arts only in his last ten years of professional activity due to his very demanding profession, used to tell me while painting a copy of Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earing that 'one day the arts will bring ultimately bring down the current theocracy and pave the road to tolerance, Freedom and Democracy in Iran.' Nonsense I used to think but as time goes ever since his demise two years ago due to Cancer, I am more and more convinced that my good Ol' father was correct in his assessment. At Least that is what I want to believe because it appears to me that Art and the love of beauty in all their forms is truly what links humanity all together. Regimes come and go, but ultimately what stays IS Culture. Even if much is still to be done in terms of Freedom of Expression in Iran, it is undeniable that Iranian Artists are working hard and struggling to the best of their ability to keep the flame of culture and humanity alive through their work. If underground music in Iran and Pop Bands play undercover, classic Music is gaining ground and respectability in public circles and has forced the current leadership to acknowledge that it cannot eternally reject all Art forms in the name of a sacro-saint cultural policy. Ever since Maestro Alexander Rahbari publicly slammed the Islamic Republic's policy in terms of music as well as recurrent resignations of the Head's of Roudaki Hall Symphonic Orchestra who complained for the lack of money and facilities, it seems that Iran's ministry of Culture has since been trying to mend differences and allow more exchange between Iranian and Western musicians. May this trend continue even if MUCH needs to be done to achieve the level of creative performances and quality that dominated the Iranian music scene before the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Below is a report from the Associated Press on the German Osnabrueck Symphony Orchestra that performed for the very first time in Tehran since the Revolution.
German orchestra performs in Iran
By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
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TEHRAN, Iran - The woman musicians wore headscarves, but that didn't hinder them in playing Beethoven and Brahms in a rare performance by a Western classical orchestra in the capital of the Islamic Republic.
The Osnabrueck Symphony Orchestra, a 60-member ensemble from Germany, performed Wednesday and Thursday in front of hundreds of enthusiastic Iranians who rarely get the chance to hear live Western music.
'It was wonderful,' said Sharokh Pourmaymin, a young musician who attended Thursday's performance. 'I wish it could be repeated with other kinds of music, such as jazz, blues and rock.'
Sara Shekarabi, a 23-year-old music student, was equally pleased.
'It was a great opportunity for me and my classmates to see and learn from a real concert by a real orchestra,' she said of the program of Beethoven's 'Leonore' Overture No. 3, Elgar's cello concerto and Brahms' Fourth Symphony.
Western musical performances in Iran have been rare since the 1979 Islamic revolution, when the country's clerics outlawed all pre-revolutionary music.
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Music gradually made a comeback in Iran in the 1990s under the reformist President Mohammad Khatami. But when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad replaced him in 2005, the new hard-line president banned state radio and television from playing Western music.
The ban has not been universally followed, but live Western concerts have largely been absent under Ahmadinejad's rule, a reality bemoaned by many audience members.
'I wish it (the performance) could be continued more nights, over and over,' Zahra Pazouki said. 'Only two nights of performance is too little after years of deprivation.'
The concerts were part of an exchange that saw the Tehran Symphony Orchestra perform last year to a packed hall in Osnabrueck. As required in Iran, the female German musicians wore headscarves while playing.
Nader Mashyekhi, conductor of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra, said the concerts were such a success that he planned to host a similar event in 2008.
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'It was also a good opportunity for our young players,' Mashayekhi said. 'They need a role model to learn how to play.'
The concerts received little coverage in the Iranian press, partly because of a three-day holiday in which newspapers were not published.
Soroush Kharabi, a music lover who travelled nearly 200 miles to see Thursday's performance in Tehran, criticized the media for not focusing on the event.
'It seemed the concert has not been happened at all,' Kharabi said. 'Nobody reported about it.'
VIVE LA MUSIQUE!
Photo Credit Syma Sayyah
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