Tehran Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Saeed Zehni, is performing a religious music concert titled ’Crescent of Caravan’ at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall from late Monday until February 23.
According to Fars news agency, a news conference attended by Zehni, as well as Mohammad Hossein Ahmadi, head of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Music Office, was held on Monday.
Speaking at the session, Ahmadi said that ’Crescent of Caravan’ is a new experience in using artistic means to portray the events of Ashura.
Ashura, the tenth day of the lunar month of Moharram, marks the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (AS), the third Imam of the infallible household of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and 72 of his loyal companions in the plains of Karbala, in present-day Iraq.
“I hope that the work would be a turning point in spiritual music and satisfy the devotees of Imam Hussein (AS),“ he said.
Ahmadi added that the program includes performances by Music Office’s Choral Group, Qur’an reciters as well as leading instrumentalists of the orchestra.
The music group ’Ashura Songsters’, conducted by Mohammad Seraj, will also accompany the orchestra.
Commenting on the program, Zehni said that ’Crescent of Caravan’--a blend of classical, traditional and devotional music--includes five pieces featuring Imam Hussein’s unaccomplished Hajj pilgrimage as well as his martyrdom.
’Crescent of Caravan’ is a fusion concert sponsored by the ministry as well as Fadak Cultural Artistic Institute, he concluded.

A cultural artistic arcade will be set up on Martyr Mozaffar Brothers Street in Tehran with the aim of publicizing domestic cultural products.
According to MNA, managing director of Saba Cultural Artistic Institute, Mohsen Zare’ said one of the main wishes of artists will be materialized with the implementation of the project, which aims to promote activities in the fields of national, devotional, indigenous, traditional art in the country.
The arcade will house dozens of artistic, cultural and recreational centers for the residents of the city including children and students, he said.
The arcade will serve as a venue for showcasing cultural works and pave the way for safeguarding and supporting domestic products. It will also help further familiarize the youth with national art, Zare’ concluded.

The poster of Inner Eye Photo Exhibition

Works by foreign photographers maintained in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts went on display on the sidelines of the ongoing exhibition titled ’Inner Eye’ which features works by Italian photographer Ricardo Zipoli.
Secretary of the exhibit, Seifollah Samadian further told Fars news agency that the event is the first of its kind to be held in the museum since it was set up 30 years ago.
The entity has so far purchased a total of 1,200 photos by noted foreign photographers which have not yet been put on public display, he said.
Unfortunately, the photos in the foreign section did not have pictorial specification cards and researchers were unable to use them, he said, adding, “However we have drawn up a list of works and compiled information about them as well as their creators in a short period in cooperation with the museum’s curator, Habibollah Sadeqi.“
Samadian further said that a book featuring foreign photos at the museum was unveiled.
Describing this as an important event in the field of photography, he pointed out that the book will be published in large number and made available to enthusiasts by April 19.
He also said that ’Inner Eye’ includes six sections, each commemorating a photographer.
The section ’A Guest’ honors Zipoli by featuring his works while the section ’A City’ deals with Bam by displaying photos by Mohammad Reza Javadi, a photographer specializing in architecture.
The third section titled ’A Forerunner’ is devoted to Nicol Fereidani, a nature photographer who died recently.
The section ’A View’ features photos by Majid Kouhrang Dashti, who takes a new look at the world and ’A History’ section has on display artworks by 200 Iranian photographers.
The last section ’A Collection’ showcases 40 photos by foreign artists, Samadian concluded.
Meanwhile, Sadeghi, who is also director of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Office for Visual Arts, said that selected works at ’Inner Eye’ exhibit will be shown across Iran and different countries including Italy, Germany, Spain and Mexico.
The exhibition opens today (Tuesday) and will continue until April 20.

Rahim Asghari's caricature themed 'Time' ranked second in the 40th Marostica Cartoon Festival in Italy.

Iranian caricaturist, Rahim Baqqal Asghari, ranked second in the 40th A Marostica Cartoon Festival which ended recently in Italy.
According to IRNA, Asghari ranked second after Valentin Georgiev of Bulgaria at the festival themed ’Time’.
Asghari is the director of Iran’s Cartoon Federation as well as Tabriz Cartoon Association. He has so far received a number of awards at international art events in Turkey, France and England.
A total of 261 artists from 38 countries participated in the Italian festival which is one of the most prestigious contests in the world.
The award ceremony will be held at the historical castle of Marostica in May 18.

Bozorg Alavi

Persian version of the thesis of Bozorg Alavi, noted Iranian writer and novelist, translated by Saeed Firouzabadi has been published by Jami Publishing House.
According to ISNA, the book ’Contemporary Persian Literature’ features materials he taught in a German university. It deals with various literary currents in Iran from the Constitutional era (1906) until forty years later.
One of the issues discussed in the book is the establishment of Quatrains comprising the works of four leading contemporary writers, Sadeq Hedayat, Abdolhossein Noushin, Bozorg Alavi and Mojtaba Minavi.
Another chapter of the book reviews novel writing in Iran and its historical backgrounds.
According to Firouzabadi, the book has been waiting for publishing permit which was issued recently.
Bozorg Alavi (1904-1997) was an influential Iranian writer, novelist, and political intellectual.
A number of his books has been reprinted while his finest novel ’Her Eyes’ was reprinted eight times.
His major works include ’Suitcase’, ’Scrap Papers of Prison’, ’Fifty Three Persons’ and ’Letters’. He also translated ’Iran’s National Epic’ by Theodor Noldeke.
Alavi was born in Tehran and died in Berlin.

The film ’Night Bus’, directed by Kioumars Pourahmad, is participating in Dublin’s 2008 Film festival, which opened on February 15 and will continue until February 24.
According to Fars news agency, the film, which is Pourahmad’s first experience in a genre of Iranian films known as ’Sacred Defense’ (the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war), was featured in Dublin’s Screen Cinema section on Sunday night.
’Night Bus’ is the story of an 18-year-old private, Isa, who is charged with transporting 38 PoWs back to Iran on a rickety bus barely kept functional by a grizzled driver. Traveling across an almost surreal desert terrain, calamities befall the vehicle. Eventually, a fellow soldier is blinded by a roadside mortar and Isa is on his own with a busload of hostile prisoners.
’Night Bus’, which took part in a number of international events, including Pusan Film Festival, received the Jury Grand Prize of the First Asia-Pacific Screen Award in November 2007.
The cast of the film includes Mehrdad Seddiqiyan, Khosrow Shakibaei, Mohammad Reza Foroutan and Elnaz Shakerdoust.

Jury for the Fifth Waresh Nationwide Film Festival which will be held from February 19-22 in Babol, Mazandaran province, has been announced.
According to www.sourehcinema.com, Ahmad Taherpour, secretary of the event said that Kianoush Ayyari, Minou Farshchi, Ahmad Talebinejad, Jamshid Arjmand and Masoud Foroutan will serve on the panel of jury at the event.
He further said that a total of 1,068 works have been submitted for different sections of the event which include the categories of fiction, documentary, animation, experimental, research as well as studies on Mazandaran.
Of course, a team made up of Mehdi Haqiqi, Sirous Hassanpour, Masoud Emami, Azizollah Haji-Mashhadi and Mohammad Jafari will undertake to review and select the works.
Taherpour further stated that despite the problems created by cold weather and the delay in deliveries by mail, the number of participants in the event has increased considerably.
The quality of works has also improved compared to those in the earlier rounds, he said.
Waresh festival is one of the acclaimed events in the field of short films.

Some 200 women filmmakers submitted have submitted 100-second films to the Fifth Nationwide Film 100 Festival which is to be held this Thursday and Friday.
The entries have been sent from the cities such as Tehran, Karaj, Shahroud, Bandar Abbas, Yazd, Mashhad, Semnan, Qorveh and Ardebil and Tabriz.
A total of 1,235 works has so far been sent for different sections of the festival, which includes sections of human generosity and religious values, national union and Islamic solidarity as well as sacred defense satire, reported MNA.
Selection board of the event includes Minou Farshchi, Ali Akbar Qazi-Nezam, Fereydoun Hassanpour and Nasser Bakideh, Azizollah Haji Mashhadi and Mahmoud Abdollahi.