KARNA @ Persepolis Museum

KARNA is one of the ancient Persian musical instruments. This Karna which is now kept at Persepolis Museum near Shiraz shows the importance of military and epic music in ancient Persia (Iran).
The above Karna has been made in 6th century BC, when the Achaemenids were ruling the country.

The instrument was discovered during 1930s excavations in Persepolis.

Unfortunately no serious musical material has been left from ancient Persia so no one knows now how that music sounds. There are just historical objects and some names about the modes and musicians.

Karna in a smaller size is still popular in Persian folk music ensembles.

The above photo has been made by Payam Jahangiri, Shiraz-based photographer.

SHIRAZ on KLM Magazine Map

SHIRAZ, the beautiful Persian city, on a map of KLM magazine, Holland Herald.

It's sad that since some months ago KLM has stopped its flights to Persia... anyway Shiraz is forever beautiful, just reach it !

Persian Family on Norwegian Daily Cover

The Norwegian daily Byavisa in one of its recent issues has published the photo of an Iranian immigrant families in Norway whose members have reunioned in the city of Drammen.

According to officials statstics around 18,000 Persians live in Norway. The first wave of Norwegian-Iranians, migrated to Norway as a direct consequence of the political instability that followed the Islamic revolution in 1979. The subsequent difficult situation has since forced many others to seek refuge in Norway.

A Persian : Winner of Universal Tolerance Cartoon Festival in Norway

Saman Torabi, the young Persian cartoonist is the winner of Universal Tolerance Cartoon Festival in Norway.

Universal Tolerance Organization (UTO) in Drammen announced the 1500-EUR prize has been offered to this 32-year artist who has studied art at Isfahan University. 
Saman himself could not attend the festival personally.

Persian Music and Poetry @ Bimhuis

Last night, November 3rd  2013, at Bimhuis in Amsterdam, Rumi Ensemble performed a concert that was led by Javid Afsari-Rad . Bimhuis is a beautiful place and indeed a part of Muziekgebouw.

The ensemble performed Afsari-Rad's vocal pieces from Rumi's poetry. Mohammad Motamedi was the vocalist. I did not like his voice when he was singing at high range but the rest was OK.

Afsari Rad's music was fine for max. 15 min. During the rest of the concert, his ideas were just being repeated. I think if he studies more in the field of music composition, the result of his works will become much better. 
Another issue is his santur play. In playing this instrument, controlling the sound reflection is a challenge so the player should be quite concerned about the impact of the mallets. 

It seemed Afsari-Rad not only did not bother controlling this issue but also he was so eager to strike his santur's string with the maximum power!

Anyway the atmosphere was nice but it was surprising that such a concert did not even have a 'guide' so the audience could have an idea what the name of each piece was, in which mode it had been composed, etc.

Fascinations of Persia : an Exhibition in Zürich

Rietberg Museum in Zürich, Switzerland, has organized an exhibition called "Fascinations of Persia" which presents unique works of Persian art, mostly from 17th century. 
The exhibition also explores the artistic exchanges of Persia (Iran) and European countries during Safavid era, when Persian-European ties hugely developed for a short time.
Read more here.

"Envoy from Persia" by Richard Greenbury, 1626

ENVOY FROM PERSIA is a renowned painting by the British artist Richard Greenbury, created in 1626. This artwork reflects the artist’s fascination with Persian attire from the 17th century, a period marked by the rule of the Safavid dynasty in Persia.
The original painting is currently housed

According to the British Library's blog:

"One of the oldest oil paintings in the British Library’s collections is a massive portrait of Naqd ʻAli Beg. It was commissioned by the English East India Company in 1626 and painted by Richard Greenbury (fl.1616-1651). In that year, Naqd ʻAli Beg came to London as the envoy of Shah ʻAbbas of Persia (r.1587-1629), to meet the British monarch, King Charles I (r.1625-1649).

His mission to England went so badly that he killed himself on the journey back to Iran in 1627. The circumstances behind his suicide relate to a violent quarrel that arose between him and Sir Robert Shirley at the court of Charles I. Both men claimed to be the true envoy of Shah ʻAbbas, claiming the other was an imposter, so the king ordered them to return to the Shah’s court and resolve their differences. The shame of failure was too great for Naqd ʻAli Beg to bear, hence his suicide.

It seems as if the East India Company was responsible for this terrible incident. According to a document in the British Library, Sir Robert Shirley was, in fact, the true envoy of Shah ʻAbbas, and had returned to England in 1624, two years before the arrival of Naqd ʻAli Beg. However, Shirley had angered the East India Company by trying to negotiate a monopoly for the trade in Persian silk with the King of Spain. Such an agreement would have undermined the silk trade with England. The East India Company’s response was to slander Shirley, and to put in place another envoy to the Shah of Persia, who would support trade with London..."