Iranian TV and cinema actress Shohreh Soltani staged her first vocal performance at Tehran's Vahdat Hall on July 20-21.
Together with Dot Music Band, which she founded recently, Soltani's two-night performance was exclusively for women and demonstrated a new side of her artistic talent, Honaronline reported.
The all-female pop orchestra accompanying Soltani included seven musicians namely Taravat Babakhanlu, Sahar Mirhashemi, Niaz Lahrudi, Mahtab Fat'hollah Nuri, Armita Salimi, Shirin Vaezi and Forugh Fazli.
"Today I am here in the role of a singer before you. It is so difficult to sing in front of my colleagues but I will do my best so that you will be satisfied," Soltani said on stage prior to the concert.
The ensemble played 13 pieces during the two-hour concert which was attended by a large number of her female fans including artists and cineastes.
"Our motto is 'Every Woman is a Hero', so I have chosen pieces composed by Iranian female musicians," Soltani said.
The concert was organized by Soltani's husband Mehdi Panahandeh and the musical pieces were produced by Amir Karkhaneh.
Academically educated in music, Soltani, 47, plays the piano and santur professionally and has learned classical singing from Iranian traditional singer Hengameh Akhavan.
Born in Bojnurd, North Khorasan Province, she holds a bachelor's degree in music from Islamic Azad University and has been acting in different mediums for about 30 years.
Last September she directed 'Pinnochia' at Tehran's Iranshahr Theater Hall, in a free adaptation of the fiction 'Pinnochio' based on the children's novel 'The Adventures of Pinocchio' (1883), written by Italian Carlo Collodi.
After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian women have sung either in choirs or as co-singers with male vocalists. In recent years, however, special concerts exclusively for women have also been held and are highly welcome.
