Sunday night, Tehran’s Vahdat Hall was host to a live performance of compositions by the acclaimed musician and composer Naser Cheshmazar, 63, who returned to the stage after 30 years.
The music concert ‘Rain of Love’ conducted by Farhad Harati, veteran composer and conductor, included four parts. It started with five pieces from the movie ‘Long Lost Sisters’ (1995) by Kiumars Pourahmad.
Namira choir, comprising 20 children and young adults, boys and girls, collaborated with the orchestra in the first part. ‘My Mother’, ‘Rain Again’ and ‘Smell of Month of Mehr’ were among the pieces appreciated by the audience as they recalled the movie.
Cheshmazar offered the performance as a tribute to the late actor Khosrow Shakibai who starred in the movie.
The second part was dedicated to three tracks from the album ‘Rain of Love’ which he played beautifully on the piano accompanied in parts by the orchestra of 30 musicians playing the violin, viola, bass guitar, saxophone, trumpet, drums, keyboard, flute and oboe.
It was followed by scores he had composed for movies ‘Invasion’ (1985) and ‘I want to be Alive’ (1995) by the late Iraj Qaderi and the TV series ‘The Adventures of Majid’ (1990) by Kiumars Pourahmad, for which he played the accordion, the first instrument he learned as a child.
Tribute to Hajj Victims
The score for ‘The Poisonous Mushroom’ (2002) by the late Rasoul Mollaqolipour was played in commemoration of the victims of the Mina disaster, when hundreds of Iranians as well as Muslims from other Islamic countries were killed in a stampede during the ‘Stoning the Devil’ hajj ritual in Saudi Arabia on September 24.
Cheshmazar’s teenage daughter, Ra’na, gave a solo violin performance in honor of children who died in the Mina crush.
‘Imam Ali’ (AS) was the only piece during the night with a vocalist where Hamidreza Golshan sang in praise of the first Imam of Shia Muslims.
The final part of the concert was the audience favorite as three pieces composed prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and approved by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance were performed.
Over 1000 fans who had packed the hall gave Cheshmazar and his orchestra a one-minute standing ovation after listening to ‘Hejira’, ‘Solitude’ and ‘Lord of Skies’ to conclude the performance.
However, responding to encores, ‘Lord of Skies’ was played again followed once again by loud applause from the audience.
Cheshmazar, who had done the music arrangement for the piece 40 years ago, offered it to the late singer Toofan who had originally scored the music. It was the only piece with which the audience sang along as it is still the most famous track in Iran pop music.
‘Hejira’ was also played a second time and the concert finished with Cheshmazar hoping to come back on stage again in the near future.
