Italian jazz musicians Enzo Favata and Marcello Peghin performed at a concert along with the Iranian ensemble Adios at Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran last week.
The concert, 'The Night of the Storytellers,' was a fusion of modern and traditional music and was welcomed by the audience, Honaronline reported.
Iranian members of the ensemble included Soheil Shayestehpour on violin, Reza Banainia on drums, Adib Qorbani on piano and Omid Shayestehpour on bass guitar.
On the collaboration with Adios, clarinet and saxophone player Favata said, "Band leader Shayestehpour suggested the performance to us through the eminent German cellist Anja Lechner who had performed at the same hall earlier in April."
He pointed to the cultural commonalities between Iran and Italy and said, "I really enjoyed being in Iran. While I was visiting the Iran National Music Museum, I came across an instrument similar to the clarinet but it was 2000 years old, which shows the common grounds in music between the two countries."
In the concert he played two solo pieces on the clarinet. "They are traditional pieces from Sardinia, an island in Italy. The songs with a religious theme are used for prayer by people there," Favata noted.
Describing Iranian musicians and instrumentalists as smart and creative, he added, "Before coming to Iran, I listened to Iranian classical music and here I encountered fine performances by musicians whose creativity amazed me."
Favata and Peghin both hoped to return to Iran for more performances in Tehran and other cities.
Global Concerts
Enzo Favata, 64, is a renowned musician, internationally praised as a jazz saxophonist. He is also author and composer of original music scores for movies, radio dramas, theater works and documentaries. He has staged his music projects, original combinations of popular and avant-garde music, in several prestigious festivals all over the world.
Favata has performed in more than 2,000 global concerts. He has studied classical and jazz saxophone, plays the soprano, sopranino and tenor sax and the bass clarinet, as well as other ethnic wind instruments. He uses electronics skillfully with acoustic instruments.
Guitar player Peghin who also visited Iran for the first time expressed delight at the concert and said the performance with skilled Iranian instrumentalists was excellent. “They are so adroit and can be compared with European musicians. It will be our pleasure to host them in Italy".
Marcello Peghin is a guitarist and composer who is a deft performer of both cultured and improvised music. He plays 10 and 12-string classical guitar, baritone guitar, viola caipira, electric guitar, and live electronics. He has performed with internationally famed musicians and released two CDs.
Earlier in 2014, the Adios band performed a selection of compositions by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992) at Tehran's Rudaki Hall.
