Traditional band Bamdad Music Ensemble from Iran will participate in two music festivals in Germany and Estonia in late May and early June.
“Following the invitation of the two festivals, the band will perform in Limburg, Germany, and Tallinn, Estonia,” band leader Salar Mortazavi told ISNA.
Bamdad Ensemble will first attend the 7th Harmonie Festival in Germany. From May 25-28, a total of 219 choirs and folklore groups will head to Lindenholzhausen, a district in Limburg, where the festival is taking place. Nearly 6,100 participants will represent 37 nations and cultures.
With its cultural diversity, high artistic quality and a wide range of national and international choir and folklore competitions and events, the festival will reconfirm its outstanding reputation “of a wonderful festival atmosphere and as one of the most exceptional music festivals in the world,” says a statement on the festival website.
Iranian ensemble will compete in the competition section of folklore groups with bands from the Philippines, Macedonia, Georgia, Turkey, Croatia, Mexico, Uganda and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Mortazavi said they will also hold a concert in Kaiserslautern, southwest Germany, on May 29.
In the Estonian capital Tallinn, the Iranian group will compete in the International Festival Orient, May 31-June 4.
Ritual, Folk Music
The event comprises ritual, folk and traditional classical music of Asian origin. Most of the performers have been chosen from their natural habitats during the numerous visits to the Asian countries, by the organizers. It aims to be diverse, representing the diverse cultural regions of Asia.
Bamdad Ensemble, based in the city of Mashhad, was formed in 2001. The main goal of the group is to introduce the rich Iranian culture to the outside world and to form a more serious attitude towards Iranian art.
Traditional Iranian instruments, including santour (hammered dulcimer), kamancheh (spike fiddle), oud (short-neck lute), tonbak (goblet drum) and ney (end-blown flute) among others are used by the band members.
The number of members in a performance varies depending on the rendition, but is usually around 10. They often use the texts of great classic Persian poets Hafez, Saadi and Rumi, as song lyrics.
Mortazavi is a singer and also plays daf (large Persian frame drum). The rest of the band members are: Amir Gouharian (co-singer and tar player), Babak Shayeq (santour), Reza Shariati and Ali Zafari (kamancheh), Nafiseh Tabatabaei (ney), Amir-Reza Naqavi (oud), Omid Nagahani (co-singer and tonbak) and Fereshteh Modareszadeh (co-singer).
