Ghorbani on Concert Tour

Celebrated traditional vocalist Ali Reza Ghorbani, 45, is on tour across Iran.

After the first leg of his concert tour in Tehran, held successfully on June 8-9 at Vahdat Hall, Ghorbani is to appear in the south and north of Iran in the coming days, Iran Student Correspondents Association (ISCA) reported.

During the tour Ghorbani will present his new album ‘Blaze’ (in Persian: Forough) released in late May by music publisher and distributor ‘Ahang-Eshtiaq,’ which had produced his previous album ‘Fairylike Girl’ in 2015.

Today, he appears in the southern city of Ahvaz, capital of Khuzestan Province. Aftab Hall of the city hosts the concert for two nights, August 10-11. Each night, Ghorbani and the accompanying orchestra are to perform some of the 10 tracks from the Blaze.

The name of the album emanates from a namesake song. The lyrics of the song are based on ‘Later On’ (in Persian: Ba’d Ha), a poem written by the famous poet Forough Farrokhzad (1935-1967) in anticipation of death.

The song Blaze was a single released in February to commemorate Farrokhzad’s 50th death anniversary. It was composed by violinist, kamancheh player and composer Saman Samimi, 40, whose collaboration with Ghorbani continued, resulting in creation of the entire album of Blaze.

In an earlier interview Ghorbani quoted an excerpt from Farrokhzad’s poem: “My death will arrive one day. It may be a bright, spring dawn. It may be a distant, winter dusk, or perhaps a silent night of a foggy, frozen fall …”

This year, Ahvaz has registered rising temperatures unseen in almost 50 years. Some reports said the mercury had risen to 52 °Centigrade as the heat wave spread over the past several days. Ghorbani will leave the southern oil region and head for Tabriz, capital of the northeastern East Azarbijan Province where his concerts are slated for August 24-25 at the Petrochemical Recreation Complex.

Next leg of the tour is Rasht, capital of northern Gilan Province. On September 1, Khatam-ol-Anbia Hall of the city will host the singer twice.

Ghorbani’s warm, resonant voice has made him particularly popular in Iran. He has recorded many tracks and collaborated with composer Majid Derakhshani, 60; composer and player of various wind instruments Sadeq Cheraghi, 46; composer, author and santur player Pezhman Taheri, 46; and Houshang Kamkar, 71, director and composer of the famous Kamkar music ensemble.