Masters Reopen Music Museum of Iran

Masters of music reopened the Music Museum of Iran during a ceremony held on Friday evening. Great musicians and singers Mohammadreza Shajarian, Hossein Dehlavi, Hossein Alizadeh, Davud Ganjeii, Mohammad Sarir, Dariush Pirniakan, Hushang Kamkar, Dariush Talaii and Farhad Fakhreddini were seen among the guests at the opening ceremony.



Ali Moradkhani, the curator of the Music Museum of Iran gave a short report at the beginning and said, “The building was essentially a ruined structure by 1994, but many people have worked hard to refurbish it with the results that you now see.
“Several years ago, an unofficial inauguration ceremony was held for the building, and all these years we enjoyed the full support of Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf and several others.

“The museum consists of several sections and we aim to elevate it to a world-class museum. Its different sections are now home to a variety of musical instruments such as wind instruments, string instruments, regional instruments and national instruments, a library, an instrument-making workshop, and a gallery.



“A collection of personal instruments possessed by masters Ebrahim Qanbari-Mehr, Shajarian, and Kayhan Kalhor are now on display as gifts and we hope officials will help us purchase these items soon.”
He added that this is only the beginning and the expectation is for musicians to help the museum achieve a better position in the future. “Although we enjoy the support of the Tehran Municipality, we are an independent identity and we need to increase our own efforts.”



Musician and expert on Iran’s regional music Mohammadreza Darvishi was next to speak briefly. After first paying tribute to the late santur virtuoso Parviz Meshkatian, he said, “What we see today at the museum are the different sections of the instruments, but we need to work on other sections as well.
“The museum is now home to a mere 30 percent of the Iranian instruments and we must try to transform it into a treasury of instruments. One might ask why this much attention should be paid to musical instruments, but we should realize that instruments can lead us to our cultural roots and help us to study the path of development of our country.”

Masters Shajarian and Fakhreddini also made short speeches. The ceremony ended with a musical performance by a troupe from Sistan-Baluchestan.