Naghmeh-Isfahan music band won the crystal award at the 10th International Folk and Choral festival of Calella in Catalonia, Spain.
“Ours was the only band that represented Iran in Calella Folk Festival,” band leader Masoud Ehtemam, 47, who plays the santoor told IRNA on Tuesday.
At the festival held on June 11-25, the band gave several performances in Iranian folk music, Ehtemam said. The members included singer Mohammad Reza Hamdami, ney (an end-blown flute) player Mohammad Shojaee and tar players Omid Babakpour and Fariborz Alaqeband.
For over two decades, Naghmeh-Isfahan has performed folk songs across Iran and elsewhere in the world. The songs they play are in various languages and dialects used in Iran, such as Luri which has 5 million native speakers in southern Zagros; central Kurdish language or Sorani, spoken by 7 million Kurds in Iran and Iraq; Azeri with a total of 15 million speakers in Iran and 27 million globally, Bakhtiari dialect with 3 million native speakers in western and southwestern Iran, as well as Gilaki and Mazandarani with about 6 million speakers south of the Caspian Sea.
Earlier in 2014, Naghmeh-Isfahan won gold medal, special award and nine diplomas of honor at the Bulgaria Music Festival.
