Surge of Concerts in Cold Season

With the end of the mourning ceremonies in the months of Muharram and Safar (in the lunar calendar), and the start of the month of Rabi-al-Awwal, music bands and singers have resumed programs to hold concerts across the country.

During the past two months, no live performances were organized except for a few religious ones which musically narrated the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Imam of Shia Muslims and his 72 devoted companions. However, since Thursday, December 1, concert organizers have begun their routine performances in various cities, in a rather tight schedule since the Fajr International Music Festival starts on January 11, 2017, Mehr News Agency reported.

Tehran Symphony Orchestra conducted by Shahrdad Rouhani was the first concert held on December 1 at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall after the two-month hiatus.

Kayhan Kalhor, acclaimed composer and master of Persian traditional and folk music is also performing at Vahdat with the Turkish folk musician, composer and singer Erdal Erzincan from December 3-6. In the 4-day duet, Kalhor plays the kamancheh (spike fiddle) and Erzincan, the baglama.

Since 2004, the two have performed together in Iran, Canada and the US and recorded joint albums as well.

Accompanied by three Iranian instrumentalists, Kalhor will later perform in Shiraz (Dec. 11), Ahwaz (Dec. 15), Bandar Abbas (Dec. 17), Rasht (Dec. 23-24) and Tehran (January 3-4, 2017).

Classical singer Salar Aqili, 39, who is considered one of the foremost traditional vocalists of his generation, will have two performances on December 5 in Hamedan and then will go on to the northern city of Rasht to hold another concert on December 11.

Rastak folk music group will perform pieces from the musical heritage of different regions of Iran in the southern city of Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province, on December 14. Two weeks later on December 29, the band will hold a concert in Tehran.

On December 16-17, Niavaran Cultural Center in northern Tehran will host a joint performance of the highly acclaimed German cellist Anja Lechner and the famous French pianist/composer François Couturier.

In the classical duet concert, Lechner and Couturier will play new arrangements of works by the Armenian composers George Ivanovich Gurdjieff and Komitas Vardapet and Spanish composer Federico Mompou as well as Couturier himself.

Raphael Minaskanian, internationally acclaimed Iranian classical pianist and professor of music will render a piano recital on December 17 at Niavaran Cultural Center.

Lian Band, a folkloric music group, will perform a repertoire of folk music of their native region Bushehr, in the south of Iran on December 24-25 at Vahdat Hall.

Led by the ney-anban (Irish bagpipe) virtuoso Sharifian, the band will play Bushehri music which is an offshoot of ‘bandari’ (literally meaning ‘of the port’) music, common in Iran’s southern coastal cities, around the Persian Gulf region. The band has performed around the world, from the US to the Far East.

The veteran traditional singer Maestro Shahram Nazeri and his son Hafez will have their latest concert in Rasht, Mazandaran Province, on December 29.

  Pop Concerts

One of the most popular pop singers in Iran, Mohsen Yeganeh, 31, staged his performances at Milad Hall of Tehran International Fair Ground on December 2-3. He will give two more performances on December 9 in Shahriar, a small town southwest of Tehran. 

Pop singer, songwriter and composer Reza Sadeqi will also perform in Shahriar on December 9 and in Tehran on December 28. A physically challenged singer, he will sing for his fans along with his band ‘The Black Wearers’. All the members wear black as he became famous with the track ‘Black is the Color of Love’.

A very active singer in organizing concerts, Mohammad Alizadeh will stage his next performances on December 9-11 in Tehran. During the past 12 months, he held the highest number of concerts in Iran that were welcomed by music fans who love his unique singing style of romantic songs.

The young pop singer Benyamin Bahadori, 34, will perform in the northern city of Fouman, Gilan Province, on December 10. Later on December 25, his Tehran concert will be held in Milad Hall at the Tehran International Fair Ground.

Also a composer and songwriter, Bahadori mostly sings pieces on romantic themes and thus is very popular with the young generation. His first cinematic debut as an actor is the Iran-India joint movie ‘Salaam Mumbai’ currently on screen in Iran cinemas, in which he has sung three pieces in the film.

Pop singer Hamidreza Hami, 40, who has cooperated with notable composers including Majid Entezami, Nasser Cheshmazar and the late Babak Bayat, will perform on December 19 at Vahdat Hall.

He will sing pieces from his old seven albums (the last one released in 2013) as well as singles and the songs he has sung for films and TV series.

The veteran pop singer of romantic melodies Fereydoun Asraei, 60, will sing for his fans on December 29 in Tehran.

The veteran woman vocalist Simin Ghanem, 72, will hold live performances at Vahdat on January 5-6. The concerts will be only for women.

Pop singer Ali Abdolmaleki, who released his first official album ‘Special Contact’ last year, will have his concert in Tehran on January 23. Besides the tracks in his album, he will also sing some of his singles.