‘The Cylinder’ or better known as ‘The Cyrus Cylinder’ is the name of a new epic classical music album, recently released in the local market, which portrays the character and life of Cyrus, the Achaemenian king, through music.
In the unveiling ceremony held at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center, the album composer Vahid Zardi talked about the circumstances leading to the final work and said, “I believe history to be the social, religious, philosophical and psychological foundation of a nation. Lack of sufficient knowledge and awareness can lead to catastrophic results, making people forget their identity, leading to cultural invasion and social extinction,” reported honaronline.
Motivation
Regarding his motivation to compose the album, he said: “I have, for quite some time, been concerned about the threat to our society and attempts to undermine Iran’s history and culture; and I wondered why our people and especially the elite are not responding to these efforts. It was during this period that I dreamt of Cyrus the Great, inspiring me to compose the album.”
Prominent Iranian musician Nader Mashayekhi, one of the guests at the function, also said: “If you listen to the album, you will understand that it portrays Cyrus’s character from different angles. A lot has been said and written about Cyrus, but no one has ever talked about his character.”
Mashayekhi said the musical style of the album creates “a post modern effect using different languages, that shows the level of command of the composer in different languages and musical tones, which I found novel.”
Cyrus Cylinder
The Cyrus Cylinder is an ancient clay cylinder, now broken into several fragments, on which is written a declaration in Akkadian cuneiform script in the name of King Cyrus the Great of Persia. It dates from the 6th century BC and was discovered in the ruins of Babylon in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) in 1879. It was created and used as a ‘foundation deposit’ following the Persian conquest of Babylon in 539 BC. The text on the Cylinder extols Cyrus as a benefactor of the citizens of Babylonia, who improved their lives and repatriated displaced people across Mesopotamia and elsewhere in the region. The Cylinder has also been called the oldest known charter or symbol of universal human rights.
