Artist Alireza Khaqani has completed his sculptures of three master tar (Persian string instrument) players which will be unveiled at an exhibition soon.
Khaqani has created life-sized silicon statues of three great traditional musicians Jalil Shahnaz, Mohammadreza Lotfi and Gholamhossein Bigjekhani, Mehr News Agency reported.
“I made the statues of the master tar players out of personal interest,” he said. The three sculptures should be set together to display the work in its totality.
“Master Lotfi is playing tar while Master Shahnaz is looking at him. Bigjekhani has put his tar aside and is watching both of them”.
The statues have not been yet open to the public and will soon be unveiled at an exhibition as an installation art (an artistic genre of three-dimensional works).
Jalil Shahnaz (1921-2013) is one of the greatest maestros of Persian classical music and a virtuoso of tar. He worked as a soloist at Golha (flowers) radio program and collaborated with many traditional singers. In 2004, he was honored for a lifetime of professional artistic career and selected as an everlasting person in the field of art in Iran.
Mohammadreza Lotfi (1947-2014), a Persian classical musician, was renowned for his mastery of the tar and setar (also a Persian string instrument). A prolific musician, he collaborated with national radio and television and co-founded the Shayda Ensemble.
He performed widely throughout Asia, Europe, and North America. He made numerous recordings with celebrated Iranian vocalists Mohammadreza Shajarian and Shahram Nazeri.
Gholamhossein Bigjekhani (1918-1987), an Iranian musician and tar player, was an idiosyncratic stylist who collaborated extensively with the Tabriz Radio and Television Corporation, in East Azarbaijan Province.
His art of tar playing is characterized by fast speed in fingering and plucking and fine sound-tuning even from low quality instruments. He also collaborated with Shajarian.
National Heroes
Khaqani has made many statues of prominent people in Iran’s history in different fields of art, culture, politics, literature, science and sports, all installed at Tehran’s Milad Tower Hall of Fame Museum.
Working on silicon prostheses for a long time, Khaqani says silicon is a material that has texture similar to the human skin. He prefers the material for its durability as visitors can touch the statues without damaging them.
The collection of national heroes at Milad Tower include prominent figures such as Amir Kabir (1807-1852) the chief minister of the Qajar king Nassereddin Shah, scholar Ali Shariati (1933-1977), Mohammad Mosaddeq (1882-1967), the prime minister of Iran from 1951 until 1953, contemporary poets Nima Yooshij (1895-1960) and Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980) and author Jalal Ale-Ahmad (1923-1969).
