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The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media - WAALM supports, develops and promotes the dramatic and fine arts, creative writing and poetry, as well as professional journalism and media productions. WAALM regularly identifies and rewards excellence, inspires practitioners, and benefits the public, by means of awarding events.
WAALM as the awarding body of Persian Golden Lioness Awards has conducted two notably successful events in which over 50 celebrities and laureates have been awarded, among whom there has been many Persian compatriots as well as non-Persians who have significantly contributed to the Persian culture.
WAALM hereby proudly announces the award winners of 2008 in category of music, who shall receive the Persian Golden Lioness statuette OR Diploma & Gold Medal of Excellence.
Category of Arts – Music:
Classic Music
Professor Cyrus Forough (Violin)
Professor Reza Najfar (Flute)
Ms. Mahasti Kamdar (Arrangement for String)
Persian Traditional
Dastan Ensemble (Persian Traditional)
Ms. Sima Bina (Persian Folk Vocalist)
Persian Pop
Mr Martik Emkanian (Persian Contemporary Pop Vocalist)
Abjeez band (Persian World)
Kiosk band (Persian Jazz/Blues)
Prof. Cyrus Forough
Noted for the 'fiery intensity' and 'poetic vision' of his playing, Cyrus Forough is a Laureate of the Tchaikovsky International Competition and first prize winner of the Milwaukee Symphony Violin Competition. He has toured extensively in recital and with orchestras throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East. As winners of the USIA's National Violin / Piano Duo Competition, he and his wife, Steinway Artist Carolyn McCracken, have represented the U.S. as Artistic Ambassadors in recital and master classes and on radio and television throughout South America and the Far East. Called 'musical treasures of absolute mastery,' the duo has performed at the Kennedy Center, Phillips Collection, National Gallery in Washington D.C., and the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires.
Prof Forough's first studies were with his mother, who was the first Iranian woman to play classical violin and to graduate from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels. At age nine, he was the youngest ever to be admitted to this conservatory and where, at the same time, renowned violinist Arthur Grumiaux accepted him as his student. He was later chosen as one of eleven students to attend the 'Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth' in Brussels. He then studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the legendary David Oistrakh and at Indiana University under Josef Gingold as both pupil and personal assistant.
A much sought-after and respected pedagogue, Prof. Forough is Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, Roosevelt University, and The Music Institute of Chicago Academy for gifted students. He has also taught and performed at many summer festivals worldwide and his students have been prize winners of many national and international competitions.
Prof. Reza Najfar
Reza Najfar comes from an artistically adept family in Teheran, Iran, and has adopted Austria as his home country. He received his first musical education in Tehran and finished his studies of flute there, and for further education, he went to Utrecht and Vienna in order to study the flute with Abbie de Quant (Netherlands) and Barbara Gisler-Haase, as well as composition with Thomas Christian David and Dieter Schermann (Vienna music academy).
As early as in the years of his studies, Reza Najfar worked together with artists such as Geoffry Gilbert, Auréle Nicolet, William Bennett, Peter Lukas Graf and James Galway, some of whom appreciate his cooperation up to now. Already in the years of his studies, he was solo-flautist in the orchestra of the 'Vereinigte Bühnen Wiens' for three Years. He contributed to festivals such as 'Österreich heute', the 'Takayma Festival'(Japan) and 'Musica e Magia' (Mexico).
Prof. Reza Najfar leads several international flute courses at home and abroad. Various publishing houses (Metra Sound Europe CH, Eroica Edition Wien, ALSO Publishing Ltd. Japan, Koch Musikverlage Austria, Ries & Erler Berlin and Alphonse Leduc Paris) have produced both compositions and educational material by him. He has recorded two CDs with works by Mauro Giuliani with KOCH Records and a CD with tangos by Astor Piazzolla will be available in the near future. Reza Najfar is professor at the Tiroler Landeskonservatorium Innsbruck (Austria) since 1992.
Ms. Mahasti Kamdar
Mahasti Kamdar, as daughter of an artist family, mother Badri painter and father Enayat flutist, was born in Teheran, Iran.
She studied ballet and music majoring in violin, piano, guitar and singing. Having won several prizes, she graduated from the music conservatory in Teheran as the best and entered the known TV/Radio-Chamber-Orchestra of Tehran.
After finishing her studies in Germany, she joined the 1st violin’s group of Rheinland-Pfalz Philharmony and later the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra with Duo-PersAll. In 1987, she formed her own group of Luna Ensemble, later Luna Strings and presently “Philharmonic Stars”.
With her talent she writes extraordinary arrangements for string quartets, which display her talent and passion. Soundtracks, French chansons as well as folk songs from Iran, Latin-America, Ireland and North America are her major focus. She also likes working with other types of music such as boogie, ragtime, tango and jazz. With her current string quartet “Philharmonic Stars” she performs her own arrangements at different kinds of events.
Dastan Ensemble
Dastan Ensemble founded in 1991 is the most prominent classical Iranian music group of today. The ensemble comprised of five virtuoso instrumentalists, who provide a fresh approach to Persian classical music on Barbat (short-necked lute), Tar (lute), Setar (Long-necked lute), Kamancheh (spike fiddle) and Percussion.
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The members of the ensemble are Hamid Motebassem on Tar and Setar, Hossein Behroozinia on Barbat, Saeed Farajpoori on Kamancheh, Behnam Samani and Pejman Hadadi on Percussion. Dastan Ensemble has been presented in countless international cultural centres and important festivals world-wide including:
The Persian Segment of German Radio, DW
West German Radio, WDR
Berlin Radio, SFB
Frankfurt Radio, HR2
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Germany/Berlin
The Fez Festival of Sacred Music, Morocco/Fes
The Cologne Philharmonic, Germany/Cologne
The Orange County Philharmonic, USA/California
The Paris City Theater, France/Paris
Alcala de Henares Festival, Spain/Madrid
Rikskonsertene, Norway/Oslo
KIT Tropen Theater, The Netherlands/Amsterdam
Sfinks Festival, Belgium/Antwerp
The first UK annual Festival, United Kingdom/London
Romaeuropa Festival, Italy/Roma, Parma
Musica dei Popoli, Italy/Firenza
Sima Bina
Born in Khorasan, in the heart of a popular tradition, Sima Bina started her career on Iranian radio at the age of nine, under the direction of her father, Ahmad Bina – a master of Iranian classical music and poet who wrote many of her early songs.
She studied the repertoire of learned music “radif” and singing technique with great masters such as Maaroufi and Zarrin Panjeh. She went on to acquire her own solo programme, Golhaye Sahraii (Flowers of the Desert), presenting a collection of folk songs and music from various regions of Iran, which is still remembered today. After graduating from Tehran University in 1969, majoring in Fine Arts, Sima Bina continued and perfected her knowledge of radif with the highly subtle teaching of great Master Davami.
Since 1979, along with teaching Iranian classical music and vocality to selected students, Sima Bina has focused on doing further research on Persian folk songs, collecting, recording, writing and re-interpreting popular regional music, especially from Khorasan, her native land. By traveling to most remote places all over Khorasan, Sima has been able to gather and revive a collection of almost forgotten songs and melodies. She has thus gained a unique position in the history of Persian music.
Martik
Martik, who began his professional musical career at the age of fifteen, has been at the helm of the contemporary Iranian music scene for the past 40 years, and remains one of its most popular and beloved stars. In addition to being a gifted guitarist and songwriter, he is blessed with a soulful voice that is endowed with a unique tonality, tenderness, and velvety softness that mesmerizes his audience.
In the 1970’s, he helped bring the best of Classic Rock and R&B to a thirsty and appreciative audience in Iran. He then expanded his repertoire, giving voice to the music of contemporary Iranian songwriters as well as contributing to his own original and haunting melodies.
In 1980, Martik made Los Angeles his home and has since continued his craft and growth in popularity. He has produced nine successful Persian albums and is in great demand for public and private concerts and functions both in the United States and Europe.
Martik’s warm and charismatic personality is the perfect vehicle for his universal musical talent, crossing all cultural and generational boundaries; few artists can claim a following among both five-year-olds and seventy-five-year olds.
Abjeez
Persian slang for sisters ... and that’s just what they are - Safoura and Melody Safavi.
Backed by a colourful crew of musicians, the two Abjee’s present their own original brand of Persian world pop!
Their lyrics, often humorous and sometimes rebellious, are written in Farsi, but the expressive groove of the music and the Abjees’ dramatic delivery break down all language barriers to create a new synthesis of cultures.
Kiosk
Kiosk is a Persian Blues/Rock/Jazz band established by some friends, some years ago in a basement somewhere in Isfahan/Tehran.
Kiosk has never been limited by music style, location, or band members. It continues to evolve and experiment by using music and lyrics to express itself and connect to its worldwide audience.
Current Lineup:
Ali Kamali Bass Guitar
Anoush Khazeni Backing Vocal & Guitars
Babak Khiavchi Guitars
Shahrouz Molaei Drums
Ardalan Payvar Keyboards
Arash Sobhani Guitars & Vocal
The 3rd WAALM - Persian Golden Lioness Awards ceremony will be held in October in the UK.
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