National Orchestra Will Perform Old Ballads

Iran’s National Orchestra will perform on September 21 in Tehran, featuring old pieces by ballad composers Ali Akbar Sheyda (1843-1906) and Aref Qazvini (1882-1934). Vahdat Hall will host the concert. The repertoire is arranged by composer, violinist and santur player Esmail Vaseqi who will also be the guest conductor of the orchestra at the event, Pana.ir wrote. Traditional composer and vocalist Amir Mohammad Tafti will be the singer. About the repertoire he says that the selected pieces are from an album produced last year in collaboration with Vaseqi who lives in Vienna. “Last year, we invited Esmail Vaseqi to come from Austria to finalize some old Iranian compositions which he had arranged earlier. These pieces are compositions of Ali Akbar Sheyda and Aref Qazvini which had been recorded before the (1979 Islamic) Revolution. The records cannot be found in good quality today,” Tafti said. Vaseqi’s arrangements and Tafti’s voice formed an album which will be introduced at the upcoming concert. The album “Sheyda-tar az Aref” includes the names of the both ballad composers, but literally means “more enthusiastic than a mystic.”  “I’m still waiting for the album to get a publishing permit. If it does, we will unveil it on the sidelines of the concert,” Tafti said. Vaseqi has been in Tehran for over a week, rehearsing with the orchestra.