Houshang Kamkar

Molana Symphony, the latest composition by noted musician Houshang Kamkar, will be performed on December 26-27 at the 23rd Fajr International Music Festival, by Tehran Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arsalan Kamkar.
Speaking to MNA, Houshang Kamkar said, “Concurrent with the eighth birth centenary of the Iranian poet Molana Jalaleddin Rumi, I decided to produce a work which is a befitting tribute to the great literary figure.“
Commenting on the symphony, he said it is in two parts. The first features a concerto for ’Kamancheh’, a traditional Iranian string musical instrument, as well as the suite symphony ’Fatherland Myth’. In the second part, noted vocalist Alireza Qorbani is to sing pieces based on Molana’s poems.
Kamkar added that one of the features of the work is that the poems were selected from key verses by Molana, which have never appeared in other music works until now.
“I have sought the views of a number of researchers while composing the symphony and have blended traditional Iranian instruments with classical music. The melodies which are repeated in several themes and tonality, resemble Molana’s celestial dance,“ he said.
Kamkar has composed the popular signature tune ’O Sacred Martyrs!’ based on Molana poems.

Fifteen animations are currently under production at the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA).
A press release faxed to Iran Daily by the institute’s Public Relations Department said that veteran directors and young artists are involved in the production of the films and it is anticipated that four of them will be completed by March.
A number of the films are in characters development and sound recording stages while half of them are in the computerized production process.
Abdollah Alimorad will also produce the film ’Spatial’ using puppets while Hamid Navim, a Sweden-based Iranian director, will complete the production of the film ’Query’ within a month.
’Wolf and Ewe’ by Mohammad Ali Soleimanzadeh as well as two sections of the six-section film ’Stories of Little Squirrel’ by Behzad Farhat will be ready for screening by March.
Meanwhile, ’Uncle Norouz’ (Farkhandeh Torabi), ’Painter and Bird’ (Saeed Takhani), ’Afsaneh, Young Shooter’ (Manouchehr Mansour Dehqan, ’Black and White’ (Nima Raoufi) are among the films which are under production by the institute.

A carpet tableau inspired by maestro Mahmoud Farshchian’s artwork ’Protector of Deer’ was donated to Astan-e Qods Razavi Foundation’s Imam Reza (AS) Museum by a benefactor from Arak, Markazi province, named Mansoureh Nikcheh-Farahani.
A press release faxed to Iran Daily by the Libraries, Museums Organization and Documents Center of Astan-e Qods Razavi Foundation quoted the curator of the museum, Azra Yousefi as saying that the tableau, which measures 150 cm by 200 cm, was woven is an elegant and interesting manner using cotton and wool.
Stating that the museum provides a valuable history of Iranian carpet-weaving industry, she further noted that it serves as a rich reference for Iranian researchers of carpet industry.
Nikcheh-Farahani said, “When I saw that the tableau has been woven in a special artistic manner, I decided to donate it to Imam Reza (AS) Museum.“
Astan-e Qods Razavi Foundation is the custodian of the holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS) the eighth Imam of the infallible household of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi province.

Selected photos featuring Haj (the pilgrimage to Mecca) by 15 noted Iranian photographers will be exhibited in Palestine Museum of Contemporary Arts in Tehran from December 11.
According to honar.ac.ir, the event titled ’Haj in Mirror of Photos’ is being held to mark the Haj season.
The exhibit includes one main section and two peripheral sections featuring 100 photos.
Photographers participating in the event include Ali Reza Ebrahimi, Narges Emami, Davoud Ameri and Rajab Ali Qahramani.
The two peripheral sections of the event will display photos under the titles of ’Haj and War Veterans’ and ’Haj and Sacred Sites’.

Iran ranked 31st among publishers of translated works in the world by releasing 10,795 titles of books.
Reporting this, MNA quoted UNESCO as saying that on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of translation, the UN cultural body released indices of translated works, based on which Iran ranked 31st.
Germany with 229,755 titles of books, Spain with 194,965 titles, France with 148,988 and Japan with 104,153 stood first to fourth respectively.
Egypt, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, India, Brazil, Hungary, Finland, Norway, Canada and Bulgaria ranked above Iran on the list while Turkey, Mexico, Argentina, Lithonia are below.
The figures cover works submitted to UNESCO cultural secretariat between 1979 and 2005. A total of three million volumes of translated books were forwarded to the organization during the said period.
Meanwhile, Persian ranked 38th among works translated from the target language to other languages. English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Japanese and Arabic language ranked above Persian while Lithuanian, Armenian and Korean languages had lower ranking. However, no Iranian writer is seen on the UNESCO list of 50 best writers.

Five discussion panels featuring 32 articles by noted instructors and researchers on traditional arts will be held in the seminar titled ’Forgotten Art Treasures of Iran.
According to IRNA, the event will be organized at Arts Academy from December 16 for three days.
Susan Bayani, Hassan Bolkhari, Majid Mehrgan and Hossein Yavari are among those who will present papers on traditional arts in the provinces during the sessions.
Academic Board of the seminar has selected 55 articles out of 131 submitted to the secretariat of the event for publication in the form of a book and 32 for presentation in the event.

An Iranian translator has completed the translation of two collections of poems titled ’Introducing Today’s German Poets’.
Speaking to MNA, Ali Abdollahi said that almost 90 percent of poets featured in the book are alive and have been introduced for the first time in the country.
The translator and poet who had earlier made Iranian literature community acquainted with modern poets further said that the young generation has come to realize that there is not only a single poetic form; rather the works are diverse both in terms of form and content.
Iran’s Association of Poets and Scientific and Cultural Publishing House will each publish a volume of the book. One of the volumes will be released in bilingual German-Persian version, he said. A two-volume book of Abdollahi’s poems is also ready for publication.

A frame from 'Abandoned Station'

The 19th edition of Chicago Film Center Festival will review films by Ali Reza Raeisian, an Iranian director.
According to Fars News Agency, preliminary arrangements to the effect have been made and the program will be held in November.
The films ’Havana Case’, ’Abandoned Station’, ’Travel and Reyhaneh’ will be screened during the event.
Scheduled to attend a meeting, Raeisian is also on the agenda.
In earlier rounds of the event, Chicago Film Center also focused on Iranian films.

Congress titled ’3,000 years of Iran-India Cultural and Historical Interaction’ will be held as part of programs to mark Iranian Cultural Week slated for January 1-8 in New Delhi.
Announcing this, Mohammad Reza Mirzaei, who is in charge of Iran Culture House in Mumbai, told IRNA that the Iranology Center of Jamia Millia Islamia University of New Delhi will be inaugurated on the first day of the event in a ceremony to be attended by Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO).
Commenting on the programs during the week, he said, “Music and traditional performances will be held at the event
along with handicrafts, costume and photo exhibitions.“
He added that sessions will be held to narrate folklore stories and recite from Shahnameh (Book of Kings), an epic by renowned Iranian poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi.
“The first working group for cooperation between ICHHTO’s Research Center and Aligarh Muslim University will be inaugurated on the third day of the week,“ he said.
Mirzaei further said that a program titled ’Iranian Night’ will be held at Iran Culture House in addition to other recreational, cultural and artistic programs.
The weeklong program will be held in cooperation with ICHHTO, Iranian Cultural Center in New Delhi and Iran Culture House in Mumbai.

A group of German theater experts will deliver lectures on theater pedagogy at Iran’s Tarbiat Modarres (instructor training) University on December 9-10.
Announcing this, Mohammad Reza Khaki, organizer of the event told ISNA, that the move is intended to provide Iranian experts with information about the field and pave the way for establishing theater pedagogy as an academic course in Iran.
Khaki, who recently visited Theater Pedagogy Department of the University of Applied Sciences in OsnabrŸck in Germany, said, “Two congresses ’Traditional Theater in Iran’ and ’Contemporary Iranian Theater’, were held at the university and the history of theater pedagogy was discussed in a session attended by German students.“
Khaki further said that a German delegation is to visit students’ theater centers nationwide, including Molavi Hall and will hold educational workshops on the sidelines.