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Iran is preparing to hold the West-Eastern Divan festival to commemorate the renowned literary figures, Goethe and Hafez.

A German delegation will arrive in the Iranian city of Shiraz in two days to participate in the event. Germany will hold a similar festival in August 2009 in the city of Weimar.

Headed by the event’s German artistic director, Klaus Gallas, the 35-member team will also visit the cities of Isfahan, Rey and Yazd as well as the Sa’ad Abad cultural complex and the historical sites of Persepolis and Pasargadae.

Hafez-Goethe memorial, Weimar, Germany
The event will also include lectures, Goethe and Hafez readings, exhibitions by contemporary Iranian artists, and traditional and pop music concerts.

Two German orchestras, led by Iranian conductors will perform during the inauguration and closing ceremonies of the event, Mehr News Agency cited Deutsche Welle.

According to Gallas, the event will be held annually in Weimar and a partner city in Iran or in the Arab world.

The West-Eastern Divan festival is named after an 1819 collection of poems by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, which was influenced by the works of the Persian poet, Hafez.

Goethe is considered one of the key figures of German literature and the Weimar Classicism movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Known for his beautiful lyrical poems, Hafez has greatly influenced numerous Persian and western writers and poets.

The Hamedan Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department plans to convert a part of an ancient city into a site-specific museum. Covering over three hectares in area, the city was discovered about four years ago by chance during a construction project by the Hamedan Telecommunication Department in the city of Samen near Malayer in southeast Hamedan Province.

A large part of the area has not been excavated due to the high level of moisture in the earth.

Several halls and 25 rooms dug to a depth of four meters have been discovered at the excavated area. Several corridors connect the rooms to each other. A great number of bones and skeletons have been discovered in the rooms during the two seasons of excavations, which have been carried out by an archaeological team led by Ali Khaksar.

“One of the aims of the excavations is to change the city into a site-specific museum,” Khaksar said.

More excavations and the construction of the museum are estimated to cost about 2 billion rials (about US$210,000) this year, he added. According to the plan for the museum, the bones and skeletons have been left in-situ in the rooms, he stated.

A great part of the city is believed to be located beneath the homes of the people living there.

As a result, moisture from domestic waste water will make the upcoming excavations difficult.

Initial studies show that the city dates back to an era before the Parthians (c. 250 BC-225 CE) came to power. According to the artifacts unearthed at the site, the rooms were used for special religious ceremonies, most likely Mithraism.

There is some evidence suggesting that the ceremonies were held in secret.

The City of Kerman in central south of Iran is home to the lone anthropology museum of the world’s Zoroastrians. The museum is located at the fire temple of the city.

The idea of establishing the museum goes back to the year 1983, when the library of the Kerman Association of Zoroastrians was established.

Head of the association Parviz Vakhshuri and library director Mehran Gheibi collected historical artifacts for the museum.

The museum was officially inaugurated in summer 2005 in the presence of the then head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO).

Farzaneh Hormozyar Oshidari and Mahindokht Siavashian were among the figures who donated funds to help finish construction of the museum building in 2001.

Among the oldest items preserved at the museum are a handwritten copy of Gathas (17 hymns believed to have been composed by Zoroaster himself) estimated to be over 200 years old, and one handmade Afringan (fire brazier) upon which the year 1207 (1828) is engraved.

Rare documents and photos of notable personalities like Keikhosro Shahrokh, Mirza Borzu Amighi, and Keshvar Khanum are also on display at the museum.

Women’s costumes including coats, dresses, pants and scarves, all embroidered with beautiful patterns and flowers are kept at the museum. Also included are different kinds of candle lights, fire braziers, and tallow burners.

Every year a great number of tourists visiting Kerman during the Noruz vacation are sure to pay a visit to the fire temple and the museum and the Zoroastrian youth give guides to the visitors.

Interested youth register in education courses at the museum throughout the year and learn in depth about the details of fire, the fire temple, religious beliefs and rituals of the Zoroastrians

World premiere of Concerto for “Baluch” by Mehdi Hosseini, to be performed June 11.2009 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Association for Contemporary Music of “St-Petersburg Composers Union” Director Georgy Firtich has programmed the present season to foster a type of cultural understanding that stands as a marked contrast of the Russian government.

The world premiere of Concerto for Baluch ,Which utilize folk music material from “Sistan and Baluchestan” by Persian composer Mehdi Hosseini offers further evidence that music provides an opportunity to broaden the audience’s perspective and create an atmosphere of openness to the plight of others. It will be performed by musicians from the St. Petersburg Conservatory and Philharmonia and directed by St. Petersburg-based American conductor Brad Cawyer.

Mehdi Hosseini was born in 1979, in Tehran, where he studied music theory, Persian music and composition with Farhad Fakhredini. He later completed his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Composition at Saint Petersburg State Conservatory in St. Petersburg, Russia. There he studied composition with Alexander Minatsakanian and afterwards took a postgraduate course with the composer Sergei Slonimsky and conducted research on Eastern music with Professor Tatiana Bershadskaya. Apart from his education in Russia, Mr. Hosseini has also been a student of the composer Nigel Osborne.

He has demonstrated his creative capabilities as a composer and his research abilities as a ethnomusicologist and theorist. Hosseini has written symphonic music and chamber orchestra pieces for ensembles and soloists in various compositional genres. At its core, his music reflects his on-going research into the astonishing variety of Persian regional folk music and, in particular, the structure of Magham music. His music achieves a subtle fusion of contemporary composition and ancient Persian musical traditions which can be heard in his Quartets, which utilize folk material from Northern Lorestan and Bakhtiari; his Symphony of Monody, which is based on Lorestan songs; and his 2008 Concerto for String Quartet and Chamber Orchestra, which finds its source in the Magham of southeastern region of Torbate-jam.

Mehdi Hosseini “Symphony of Monody ” (2005)
material of Lorestan specifically the Khosro-Shirin (Sangin Sama). The Symphony is in one movement, with what can be called a sonata -cycle form while, at the same time, adhering to the multi movement structure of a more traditional symphony through its embedded internal structure, including an expanded development and intensive variation.

Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami has cancelled his London trip due to an “unduly and complicated” visa application process that included fingerprinting.

Supported by the English National Opera (ENO) Trust, The internationally-acclaimed filmmaker was to stage Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte at London’s Coliseum Theater.

The Daily Telegraph quoted unnamed sources as saying that Kiarostami was not treated respectfully by the British Embassy in Tehran and although the ambassador tried to intervene by that time Kiarostami had decided to no longer pursue the matter.

This is while the award-winning filmmaker has worked freely in Italy and France and has never had an issue with a visa application, the report added.

In a statement, Kiarostami thanked the ENO for their support and understanding concerning the “very complicated but delicate situation.”

“I would like to thank … ENO for the understanding and support they have shown in this. They respected my position and my principles in spite of the obvious fact that it was putting them in a very precarious and disagreeable position,” it said.

ENO artistic director John Berry said the company was hugely disappointed by what had happened. “It is very sad that such a widely admired artist as Abbas will not be coming to London.”

This is while the UK Border Agency rejected the disrespectful treatment of Kiarostami, saying the checking was not something they would apologize for.

“Fingerprint visas mean we can check everyone who wants to come to the UK against immigration and crime databases. These checks are a crucial part of securing the border and they are not something we will apologize for – they have already detected at least 5,000 false identities,” a spokesman said.

Kiarostami’s assistant Elaine Tyler-Hall is now slated to direct the opera, which will be staged from May 29 to July 5, 2009.

Filmmaker, painter, designer and photographer, Kiarostami has received many prestigious international awards, including the 1997 Cannes Golden Palm award and the 2008 Glory to the Filmmaker award of the Venice Film Festival. He has also held a photo exhibition at Beijing’s Imperial City Art Museum. He debuted his Cosi Fan Tutte comic opera buffa at the 2008 Festival of Lyric Art in Aix-en-provence, France.

Renowned Iranian vocalist Mohammad-Reza Shajarian is to perform in the city of Konya, where Persian poet Mowlavi has been laid to rest. Shajarian has been invited by the International Rumi Foundation and the 22nd-generation granddaughter of Mowlavi, Esin Bayru Celebi.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian

The poet, mystic and theologian Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Balkhi known as Mowlavi (1207-73) is famous for his six-volume book of poems Masnavi which is one of the greatest works of both Islamic mysticism and Persian literature.

Iran’s legendary vocalist will perform traditional Persian music for two nights, accompanied by Shahnaz ensemble.
The ensemble is composed of professional musicians such as Majid Derakhshani (Tar), Ramin Safaei (Santour), Mohammad Reza Ebrahimi (Lute), Sina Jahan Abadi and Kaveh Motamedian (Kamancheh), Shahou Andalibi (Ney), Hossein Rezai Nia (Daf), Mehrdad Nasehi (Gheychak), Hamed Afshari (Gheychak Bass), Radman Tavvakoli (Tar), Hamid Qanbari (Tonbak) and Mozhgan Shajarian (Setar).

Mohammad Reza Shajarian received UNESCO’s Mozart Medal in 2006 and the 1999 prestigious Golden Picasso Medal among other wards.

The Iranian Center for Archaeological Research (ICAR) is currently planning a rescue excavation project at the Seimareh Dam reservoir area in western Iran’s Ilam Province.
Ilam is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the south-west of the country, bordering Iraq. Its provincial center is the city of Ilam. Covering an area of 19,086 square kilometers, the cities of the province are Ilam, Mehran, Dehloran, Dareh Shahr, Shirvan and Chardavol, Aivan and Abdanan.

Forty areas in the region will be excavated by 40 archaeological teams during the project, considered to be Iran’s largest rescue excavation operation, which will be carried out during the second half of the Iranian calendar year beginning on September 23, the Persian service of CHN reported on Sunday.
During a series of rescue excavations in 2007, a team of archaeologists identified 100 ancient sites from various periods, including the Neolithic era, Bronze Age, Copper Age, and the Parthian, Sassanid, and early Islamic eras within the dam reservoir flood plain.

About 100 ancient sites from various periods, including the Neolithic era, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Copper Age, and the Parthian, Sassanid, and early Islamic eras have been identified a the dam’s reservoir during previous seasons of rescue excavations in 2007.

A great number of the sites will be flooded when the dam becomes operational.

The dam’s project officials have agreed to sponsor the rescue excavation operations, which will be performed over three consecutive seasons, ICAR Director Mohammad-Hassan Fazeli-Nashli said.

Signs of the Mesopotamians’ influence in the region have been identified by studies carried out on the ancient strata at the reservoir.

Traces of the Ubaid period, one of the eras in which the Mesopotamian civilization emerged, have been identified during the studies, Fazeli-Nashli said.

The Ubaid period includes I, II, III, and IV, which dates back to about 5600-3900 BC.

“The rescue excavations can help the archaeologists learn about cultural relations between the people living in the western Zagros region of Iran and the Mesopotamian civilization,” Fazeli-Nashli stated.

The construction of the Seimareh Dam is almost complete. However, the officials of the dam have postponed filling it for the rescue excavations.

The officials had previously announced that the filling of the dam would commence in early 2008.

The Seimareh Dam, constructed on the Seimareh River, is located 30 kilometers northwest of the city of Darehshahr.

Fazeli-Nashli had previously said that the archaeological sites discovered in the Seimareh Dam reservoir area are more important than the ancient sites obliterated by the Sivand Dam in southern Iran’s Fars Province.

In 2007, a number of archaeological sites were also destroyed in the Seimareh Dam reservoir area as a result of exploration activities by the Iranian National Oil Company.

Iranian people annually commemorate Sheikh Muslih od-Din Sadi Shirazi (C. 1213-1291), one of the greatest figures of classical Persian literature, on April 21, which has been named Sadi Day.

Following is Maxim 34 from Sadi’s Gulistan translated by Richard Francis Burton:

When a sage comes in contact with fools, he must not expect to be honored, and if an ignorant man overcomes a sage in an oratorical contest, it is no wonder, because even a stone breaks a jewel.

What wonder is there that the song
Of a nightingale ceases when imprisoned with a crow

Or that a virtuous man under the tyranny of vagabonds
Feels affliction in his heart and is irate.

Although a base stone may break a golden vase,
The price of the stone is not enhanced nor of the gold lost.

“Beyond Darkness,” the memoirs written by the prominent Iranian vocalist Pari Zanganeh, was unveiled during a ceremony on Tuesday.
Known as Pari Zanganeh, Iranian opera singer Parirokh Shahyalani lost her sight in 1972 in a car accident and later on after her blindness, recorded her memories in the book.
The ceremony was held by Bokhara Literary Bimonthly at the magazine’s office on April 9. During the ceremony the editor-in-chief of the bimonthly Ali Dehbashi, referring to Zanganeh’s car accident in 1972 during which she lost her sight, said that she did not become despondent after the event.

She proved that being blind or having any other physical disability would not hamper a human being’s activities and his or her creativity, Dehbashi mentioned.

He mentioned Zanganeh’s world-wide achievements in traditional Persian music and also expressed appreciation for her achievements in the methodical restoration of Iran’s regional and folk songs.

“The most powerful personal motivation for writing my memoirs in this book following my blindness is to acquaint Iranians with the world of the blind and their problems,” Zanganeh mentioned during the event.

She went on to say that she has confronted many problems after that accident since she always wanted to prove that she is the same person as before the accident and she has not changed.

“I do not intend to say that the car accident and my blindness was a tragic event in my life. On the contrary, I want to say that I have been more hopeful than before and have actually enjoyed talking about it,” she said.

There are many active NGOs for blind people in Iran that hold several educational classes for them but unfortunately, the blind people’s rights are not protected with the urbanization of Iranian cities, she lamented.

Born in 1939 in Kermanshah, Zanganeh learned to sing from Samin Baghtcheban and she became a soprano singer. Afterwards, she traveled to Italy to continue her music education. Although she lost her sight in an accident in 1972, she completed her education in the field of operatic music.

She has performed pieces composed by many renowned musicians, including Morteza Hananeh, Faramarz Paivar, Fereydun Shahbazian and Majid Enetzami.

Iran’s museums has a 25 percent increase in number of visitors during the first ten days of the Norouz holiday, Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) official Mohammad Hossein Farahani announced.

Up to now, about 10 million tourists paid visits to museums out of which one million tourists visited museums located in Khorasan Razavi Province, Farahani said.
The Iranian New Year holiday known as the Norouz holiday runs from March 21 to April 1 annually.
He pointed out to the importance of museums in promoting the tourism industry said that tourism and visiting museums are interrelated. Also, tourists are attracted to the museums in the cities they visit since the museums are a part of each place’s identity.

About 300 museums are affiliated to the CHTHO, each one featuring art, archeology and anthropology. CHTHO plans to establish 273 museums as ecomuseums and site museums in near future, he announced.

He said that CHTHO attempts to apply international standards for different aspects, including light and structure of Iranian museums.