News

January 2008

Current News

[::] January 2008 -- When I first started my cooperation with Freemuse.org, I realized how important it was professionally for musicians like me. I felt that I was not alone when it came to rampant threats of censorship. Mary Corp's suggestion, as such, for me to become one the ambassadors of Freemuse filled me with delight and appreciation. To me, Freemuse is a friend to all musicians. Other Freemuse ambassadors are Marcel Khalifeh, Salman Ahmad, Roger Lucy, Ferhat Tunc, Cloiter K, Stephan Smith.

[::] September 2007 -- In the autumn of 2007 and again in the spring of 2008 Mahsa Vahdat takes part in a project where mystic poems of Hafez, Khayyam, Sa'di and Rumi meet parables of Jesus from the Bible. The project will take place in Oslo at Jakob Culture Church, a venue run by the record company KKV. The project is in the spirit of “dialogue between religions,” when selected parables from the sacred book of Christianity are recited by Norwegian actors in a mass especially composed for this church, with professional musicians, singers and dancers taking part every Sunday night.
Mahsa Vahdat is to select one or two poems of the four Persian poets mentioned above based on the Biblical parable of that particular week mass and translate them to English and then Norwegian together with Erik Hillestad (managing director of KKV and producer of the album Songs from a Persian Garden). Mystic poems are excellent meeting points for diverse religions because, like the parables of Jesus, they embrace diversity and they deal with existential issues of human life.

Past News

[::] 13  August 2007, CD Release -- "Song from a Persian Garden" will be released in Oslo. Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat. Produced by: Erik Hillestad. The arrangements were made by Iranian and Norwegian musicians under the supervision of Knut Reiersrud. "Songs from a Persian Garden" is a private recording of a charity concert held in the Persian Garden of the Italian Embassy Residence in Tehran, 22 May 2007, to benefit a UN project in Zahedan, Iran, for disabled Iranian and Afghan children.

[::] 27 May 2007, The Third Biennial of the Art of Singing -- Marjan and I will be accompanied on ney by Amir Eslami in Cité de la musique.

[::] 24 November-4 December 2006, Pera Festival, Istanbul -- This annual festival includes film and theater from around the world and its central theme is peace in the world. Music groups from Finland, Norway, Palestine, South Africa, among others, participated in this year's festival. All the songs had something to say about peace in the world, notably those of Roger Lucy from South Africa, Kamelia Jibran. Our trio -- Marjan, Mahsa Vahdat and Atabak Eliyasi on setar -- played music inspired by traditional and regional music of Iran.

[::] 26-27 November 2006, Freemuse Conference, Istanbul – During the same time that the Pera Festival was on, another even which I find important also convened at Bilgi University in Istanbul for two intensive days. This was the 3rd Freemuse Conference. I also participated in the 2nd Conference in Beirut. Musicians, researchers, and composers numbering 200 and from 22 countries, participated in this year's conference. Freemuse is an organization that documents infringements on freedom of expression around the world. Marjan and I performed on the first day, but what was more interesting to us were impromptu performances with other musicians. Different voices from different parts of the world would delightfully come together to the tune of peace and cooperation. Meeting artists from throughout the world is always something to cherish. Marjan recorded a peace with British guitarist Jason Carter which you can hear in her section. For more info see: www.antenna.org.

[::] Signature song for the Music Freedom Day -- Recorded for Freemuse and the Music Freedom Day, the emotional song "Navai" features the Iranian singer Marjan Vahdat in a musical collaboration with the British guitarist Jason Carter (www.jasoncarter.net). They first met and performed together at a Freemuse conference and they are working on some projects at the moment. You can listen to this song on Marjan's Page here. For more info see http://www.freemuse.org/sw16953.asp.

[::] August 2006, Festival de Saint Florent le Vieil: Les Orientales -- Les orientales festival of 2006 was convened on the two weekends of 23 June and 2 July in the city of Saint Florent le Vieil near Angers in France. Many traditional and regional musicians and dance groups as well as works of visual arts and film were present from such diverse countries as Indonesia, Taiwan, Cambodia, Bhutan, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, and Turkey were present.es orientales festival of 2006 was convened on the two weekends of 23 June and 2 July in the city of Saint Florent le Vieil near Angers in France. Many traditional and regional musicians and dance groups as well as works of visual arts and film were present from such diverse countries as Indonesia, Taiwan, Cambodia, Bhutan, Iran, Japan, Mongolia, and Turkey were present.
Marjan and I took the stage of an old church accompanied by ney player Amir Eslami on 25 June. Ours was a repertoire from the regional and traditional modes of Shushtari, Abuata, Dashti, and Mahur. One of the characteristics of Persian music in general is the impromptu relationship that develops between singer and player. This is made possible by the improvisation tradition inherent to this music. In Les orientales, the solo ney prepared the ground for a free exchange of sounds. This was our first cooperation with Amir Eslami and we all enjoyed the joint effort. See http://www.festival-les-orientales.com.

[::] July 2006, The Axis of Evil Concert -- The city of Arendal in Norway was our host and our stage was the deck of a boat and the audience sat on the shore. Knut Reiesrud and Audun Erlien on guitar and David Wallmurød on keyboard accompanied Marjan and I. In this performance, we decided on sections of the Persian regional and traditional musical repertoire (in the modes of Shushtari, Dashti, and Mahur). In Mahur there is a minor mode called Charpareh that closely resembles a Norwegian folk melody. This mode in particular attracted the attention of listeners. During the performance, I couldn't help but notice children sleeping in their mother's arm. The performance continued Eric Hillestade's 2003 album project Lullabies from the Axis of Evil. See http://www.arendal.kommune.no/.

[::] November 19-22, 2005, The 4th Conference on Freedom of Expression, Istanbul, Turkey -- 24 guests from 14 countries attended this conference, which was supported by the Association of Freedom of Expression, International PEN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freemuse, Article 19, and the Central Municipality of Istanbul. The conference theme centered on recent limitations imposed on freedom of expression after September 11, 2001. Also, the Turkish PEN organized a ceremony honoring poets, writers, and artists at the Muammer Karaca Theater. I was asked to attend the conference by writer Sanar Yurdatapan, who, along with Freemuse, organized this conference.

[::] November 6-7, 2005, Conference on Freedom of Expression, Beirut, Lebanon -- Freemuse is a non-profit, Danish-founded organization whose objective is to help musicians who are hassled by the state. The organization conducts seminars and workshops annually around the globe where musicians voice their concerns and offer solutions to problems. This year, the conference was held in Beirut, Lebenon on 6-7 November 2005. Speakers from 14 countries of primarily Middle East participated in the conference. One of the topics of the Beirut conference was “Limitations imposed on women musicians of the region” and especially Iran and Saudi Arabia. I was part of two panels, one dealing with limitations on musicians in general and another on women musicians. For more information see: www.freemuse.org.