Some 26 music bands will perform today, the third day of the Fajr International Music Festival in various halls of the capital.
According to Fars news agency, the music groups ’Girls’ Chorus’ conducted by Shahla Milani, ’Accord’ led by Shakeh Aqamal and India’s Rajasthan Traditional Music Band will perform in Vahdat Hall today.
Other troupes: ’Medina’ (conductor Mehr Sima Saadat), ’Mashreq’ (Mohammad Soleimanian), ’Nava’ (Amir Hossein Nojan from Shiraz) and ’Mastan-e Nou’ (Saeed Jafarzadeh-Homaei) will also give performance in Roudaki Hall today.
The groups ’Naghmeh Kimia’ (conductor Gholamreza Haqiqifard), ’Mashtaq-e Jaam’ (Esfandiar Tokhmkar from Torbat-e Jaam), ’Kor-e Ariya’ (Hengameh Azimi from Mashhad) and ’Kor-e Pasargad’ (Amir Abbas Hosseini from Shiraz) will present their works in Arts Cultural Complex.
This is while Leili Afshar and the group ’Mehdi Kalantari’ along with ’Kor-e Mehrgan’ conducted by Narges Raeisi will give concerts in Niavaran Cultural Complex.
Meanwhile, the bands ’Barbod’ (conductor Rouzbeh Pahlavaninejad), ’Behrad’ (Behrad Shojaei), ’Pop-e Safheh’ (Hassan Khorsandi from Mashhad) along with ’Eksir’ conducted by Mohammad Reza Samandar from Shiraz will perform at Arikeh Iranian Hall today.
In Cinema Teras-e Dehkadeh Hall, the group ’Pejvak’ conducted by Pejman Pars-Mehr from Qazvin together with ’Alameto’ led by Behrouz Chaman-Ara from Ilam and ’Roujan’ directed by Baba Shahabi from Sanandaj accompanied by ’Javanan-e Ostad Salimi’ conducted by Mir Mohammad Asl-Jalili from Tabriz will present their programs.
The groups ’Aksan’ conducted by Behrang Bahadorzadeh will perform in Bahman Cultural Complex to the accompaniment of the group ’Arshama’ conducted by Arash Fanaeian.
Interior Ministry’s Auditorium is also hosting Pop Concert by the vocalist Hamid Asgari.
The 23rd International Music Festival opened on December 21 and
will continue until December 29.

Winners of the seventh round of Golshiri Award were announced in a ceremony late Wednesday.
According to ISNA, ’Death Anniversary’ by Asghar Elahi was selected as the best work in the novel section of the award while ’A Scorpion on the Steps of Andimeshk Railroad Station’ by Hossein Mortezaian Abkenar took the top prize in the first novel section.
The award for best story went to ’Askar the Absconder’ by Mohammad-Asef Soltanzadeh while ’Life Goes on to Your Liking’ written by Amir-Hossein Khorshidfar was selected as the top work in the first story section.
Director of Golshiri Foundation Farzaneh Taheri said that books featuring selected best stories in 2004 and 2005 have not yet been published due to a number of problems.
Golshiri was born in Isfahan in 1938 and raised in Abadan. He began writing fiction in the late 1950s.
Golshiri’s first collection of short stories ’As Always’ was published in 1968.
He died in Iran Mehr hospital in Tehran in June 2000 at the age of 63 after a protracted illness. A cultural foundation named after him was set up after his death.

Eqtesad-e Novin Bank, Iran’s first private bank, inaugurated a gallery named ’Novin’ on Friday.
According to ISNA, the inaugural ceremony, which was held at the bank’s head office, was attended by cultural figures, cineastes and 60 artists featuring their paintings at the event.
An anthology of Hafez’s poems, designed in the calligraphic style ’Shekasteh’ by noted artist Yadollah Kaboli Khansari, was also unveiled at the event by the bank’s managing director Jalal Rasoulof.
Khansari, who was present at the ceremony, expressed satisfaction with the initiative and noted, “Our country is the cradle of culture, literature and art.“ He described artists as pioneers in the cultural arena.
A documentary featuring Khansari’s works was also screened at the event following the inauguration of ’Novin’ library.
Meanwhile, noted painter Aydin Aghdashlou also expressed pleasure that such a move has been undertaken for the first time by a creditable economic institute.
Commenting on Khansari’s artwork, he said “There is a lot to say about the great work. The book features a gracious combination of calligraphy and poetry.“
Stating that top paintings have been displayed at the gallery, Aghdashlou noted that good works of art give credit to institutes displaying them.
Paintings by Aydin Aghdashlou, Farah Osouli, Parviz Kalantari, Seyyed Mohammad Ahsaei, were among the artworks on display.

Jean Claude Carri�re

The book ’Rumi Le BrulŽ’ (Rumi the Burnt) written by Nahal Tajadod will be reviewed this week in a meeting organized by the book store-cum-publishing house ’Book City’ which is to be attended by Jean Claude Carri�re, a famous French scriptwriter and playwright.
According to MNA, the book, which focuses on Molana Jalaleddin Rumi’s life, has been translated into Persian by Mahasti Bahreini and printed in Iran.
Tajadod, the wife of Carri�re, is a French-based Iranian authoress who writes in French but she has also a good command of her native tongue.
In her book, she brings out the biography of the great Iranian mystic and poet in the form a novel covering both the main events in Molana’s life as well as historical developments which unfolded during his lifetime.
Both Tajadod and Bahreini will also be present at the meeting slated for December 25.
At the gathering, Carri�re will lecture on his reflection of Molana’s works and thoughts in France.
Carri�re, who was born in France in 1931, has frequently worked with Luis Bunuel, a well-known Spanish filmmaker. This collaboration began with the film ’Dairy of a Chambermaid’, for which he co-wrote the screenplay (with Bunuel) and also played the part of a village priest. He and the director would collaborate on the scripts of all Bunuel’s later films, including ’Belle de Jour’, ’The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’, ’The Milky Way’.

Farhad Fakhreddini

Given that people, particularly the youth, know nothing about musical instruments, holding music exhibits will play an effective role in introducing this branch of art to the public, observed the conductor of National Orchestra Farhad Fakhreddini.
Speaking to MNA, he pointed out that it is creativity which distinguishes art from industry. “When a piece uses creativity it is an artwork, however if a certain technique is used, it is industry,“ he said, noting, “In my opinion, music is a combination of art and industry.“
Commenting on the impact of holding music exhibits on the economy of art and its prosperity, he said that if the organizers go about it properly, they can achieve the desired results.
“Unfortunately, the youth do not have a proper knowledge about musical instruments,“ he complained.
First Tehran Music and Audiovisual Exhibition will be held in the Cultural Creativities Center of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults from December 28 to January 4.
Turning to the global status of Iranian music, he added that promoting international presence of Iran’s music calls for marketing and setting up pavilions in the world’s important artistic cities.
Music products, he noted, are not part of the families’ consumption baskets. “Unfortunately, circulation of books and audio works is low in the country,“ he stated.
Criticizing the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) for neglecting the spiritual and material rights of musicians, Fakhreddini said composers, vocalist and instrumentalists should be given due acknowledgement so that the people know them.

Short films on Beijing by noted Iranian director Majid Majidi as well as four other filmmakers from France, Italy, Britain and Hong Kong, will be screened next month in the run up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
The five films, each lasting five minutes, are the products of ’Vision Beijing Project’ which was initiated in 2006 by Beijing Foreign Cultural Exchange Association, reported MNA quoting Xinhua.
In their films, Giuseppe Tornatore, Patrice Leconte, Daryl Goodrich and Lau Wai-Keung and Majidi, will depict the transformation of Beijing into a modern metropolis.
The films will be shown on the national network CCTV. They would also be aired by national broadcasters in Iran, France and Italy.
Majidi, director of the Oscar-nominated ’Children of Heaven’, has focused on the theme ’Youth’, while the Italian director Tornatore tells the story of a middle-school teacher meeting her students 30 years after their graduation. His other works include ’Malena’ and the ’Legend of 1900’.

A noted researcher has said that while Molana’s works are meaning-oriented, there are many figures of speech in his poems.
Addressing the festival ’500 Days With Molana’, Bahaeddin Khorramshahi said that Molana’s language is somewhat paradoxical but modern attitudes towards his works go beyond his era, reported Fars news agency.
On his book ’Wish I Were Human’, he also said that it includes selected lyrics by Shams Tabrizi, a noted Iranian mystic poet, together with comments and footnotes explaining them.
He noted that he had spent six months on selecting the sonnets. Speaking at the same event, noted painter, Aydin Aghdashlou said that there are few illustrated versions of Molana’s works available in the country. This, he added, is due to the neglect of Iranian painters to them.
Illustration in the true sense of the word began in Iran from the eighth century, that is to say, shortly after the death of Molana, he noted.
Aghdashlou further said that ’Masnavi’, a masterpiece by Molana, is full of stories like ’Boustan’ by Sadi, whereas the latter was illustrated by artists such as Kamaleddin Behzad but a small number of illustrated Masnavi is available.
“On several occasions I thought that we have many illustrated versions of ’Shahnameh’ (by Abolqassem Ferdowsi, a noted Iranian poet) because it is the cultural epic of the Iranians but isn’t Masnavi also a part of our cultural epic?“ he wondered.