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PERSIAN ARTS FESTIVAL 2018 EVENT!

Posted on October 24, 2018 by admin

Join us for the Persian Arts Festival event of 2018. A mystical way to ring in
the holiday season as well as Yalda (the winter solstice), the evening will
begin with Persian poetry featuring festival host Roger Sedarat and Haleh Liza,
and then launch into the main event, Aida Shahghasemi with a full band.

Musicians featured:

Aida Shahghasemi – Vocals / Songwriter (listen to music clips:
http://www.aidashahghasemi.com/music/)
Nima Hafezieh – Piano
Eric Allen – Cello
Armin Antiquechian – Acoustic Guitar
Pier Pappalardo – Bass Guitar
Danial Yousef Tehrani – Setar
Yahya Alkhansa – Drums

Reflect on 2018 with us and set your intentions for a beautiful year ahead. This
event is sponsored, in part, by the greater New York Arts Development Fund of
the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts
Council. Event partners also include Brooklyn Music School, East by Middle East,
and Ekbatan Productions.

About Aida Shaghasemi

Aida Shahghasemi is a Minneapolis based vocalist and musician. She studied
Psychology and Anthropology at University of Minnesota with a focus on the
restrictions of the voices of female vocalists in Iran, where she was born and
raised until the age of thirteen. She received her Masters degree from New York
University in Art and Public Policy, exploring her interests in the intersection
of art and socio-political movements. She has worked with different New York and
Minnesota based social justice art organizations and has served as an assistant
director at Hamline University’s Making Waves Social Justice Theatre Troupe. She
is a recipient of 2017 McKnight music fellowship.

About Haleh Liza

Haleh Liza is a poet, vocalist, translator, and educator, born in New York of
Iranian descent. She’s inspired most by the poetic mysticism of her Persian
heritage, the animist songs she discovered in the lush Amazon, and her literary
and musical communities in Brooklyn.

Haleh is currently completing a series of poems and songs dedicated to the river
she grew up on and is continuing her work on a translation project of Rumi
poems. Her poems have been published by Columbia University Press, Rattapallax
Press, Beyond Borders, and Howl. She has recited her poems and translations at
various venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fetzer Institute’s
Gathering on Love and Forgiveness, Verses of Hope hosted by Brainpickings, and
the Taos Poetry Festival. She has led workshops in which she explores Rumi’s
poetry and mystical themes that run through his work at Dartmouth University,
University of Cincinnati, MCLA, and the Wanderlust festival.

As a vocalist, Haleh enjoys singing in English, Persian, Spanish, Portuguese,
and in no language at all, just open syllables. With her current project and
past projects, Haale and The Mast, she has played venues such as Lincoln Center
Out of Doors Festival, the David Byrne-curated series at Carnegie Hall, the
Bonnaroo Festival, UNC Chapel Hill, Celebrate Brooklyn, PopTech, and the World
Music Fest in Chicago. With longtime collaborator Matt Kilmer, she has shared
the stage with artists such as Reggie Watts, Hugh Maskela, Salif Keita, Odetta,
Blonde Redhead, and Steve Gorn. She has released a number of albums to critical
acclaim as both Haale and The Mast. The Boston Globe called her 2008 release ‘No
Ceiling’ “one of the most memorable releases of 2008…a swirling gem of an
album.” Her music has appeared in NBC’s series “Life,” CWTV’s series “The
Originals,” and films including “Backwards,” “Dog Sweat,” and “My Teheran for
Sale.”

Haleh enjoys facilitating singing and chanting circles in Brooklyn, in which she
also shares mystical poems by Rumi to allow for open discussion between chants
and songs. She believes group singing strengthen bonds within community, fosters
helming and joy, and enables us both to step out of the self and not the we, and
to dissolve in the beauty of sound and harmony.

Haleh received her BS in Biology from Stanford U and her MFA from CCNY in
Poetry, where she completed a thesis of original poems as well as translations
of the Iranian poet Sohrab Sepehri, for which she received an Academy of
American Poets Prize and the Goodman Grant for Poetry.

Haleh lives in Brooklyn.

About Roger Sedarat

Author of four poetry books including just released Haji as Puppet: An
Orientalist Burlesque, (Word Works. 2017). Winner of 2016 Tenth Gate Prize for
Mid-Career Poets, Leslie McGrath, judge and just released Foot Faults: Tennis
Poems (David Robert Books, 2016). Also, author of Dear Regime: Letters to the
Islamic Republic, which won Ohio University Press’s Hollis Summers’ Prize, and
Ghazal Games (Ohio UP, 2011).

Roger teaches creative writing (poetry and literary translation) in the MFA
program at Queens College, City University of New York, he teaches and writes on
such academic interests as 19th and 20th century American literature as well as
Middle Eastern-American literature. Currently, Roger is working toward
translating a full-length collection of ghazals by the 14th century Sufi Persian
poet, Hafez.

Posted in Uncategorized

11TH ANNUAL NOWRUZ CELEBRATION PROGRAM SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED

Posted on March 15, 2017 by admin

SUNDAY, MARCH 19TH, 2017

National Sawdust | 80 N. 6th Street Williamsburg,
Brooklyn www.nationalsawdust.org/persianartsfestival

10am + 12pm – Family Program

“Zahhak, The Legend of the Serpent King”, by Hamid Rahmanian

A Persian folk tale brought to life through live music, narration and shadow
puppetry by Hamid Rahmanian, the creator of the critically acclaimed “Feathers
of Fire“. Taken from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh or Book of Kings, this shadow play
tells the story of a misguided prince who becomes the villainous Serpent King.
Performance will be followed by a shadow puppet-making workshop.

3pm: Doors | 4pm: Panel

Banned: Iranian Diaspora Arts as a Force for Rapprochement

Panel will feature scholar Kathryn Spellman Poots, whose work has focused on the
Iranian Diaspora and transnational migration networks, Mahyad Tousi, Co-founder
of BoomGen Studios whose work includes Reza Aslan’s recently premiered
television show, “Believer”, Persian tar virtuoso, Sahba Motallebi, and Siamak
Ghahremani, founder of West Coast’s Noor Iranian Film Festival. Moderated
by Carla P. Cota.

5pm: Film + Dinner

Screenings curated by Los Angeles’s Noor Iranian Film Festival featuring “No
Land’s Song” by Ayat Najafi and “The Role of Each Fret” by Maryam Farahzadi.

Persian-Fusion Cuisine created by acclaimed chef Patrick Connolly from Rider
Restaurant will be on the menu for purchase and served to your seat during the
film festival. Join the Brooklyn trend and dine while enjoying the films!

7:45pm: Music by Sahba Motallebi

Our evening presentation will conclude with a music performance by Persian tar
virtuoso Sahba Motallebi accompanied by percussionist Nagmeh Farmhand.

Sponsors include The American Institute of Iranian Studies and Noor Film
Festival

Posted in Uncategorized

PERSIAN ARTS FESTIVAL – 11TH ANNUAL NOWRUZ CELEBRATION AT NATIONAL SAWDUST

Posted on January 28, 2017 by admin

The Persian Arts Festival celebrates 11 years of showcasing the work of hundreds
of Iranian American artists from around the world at the prestigious new
Brooklyn venue, National Sawdust. The 11th Annual Persian Arts Festival will
feature multiple art forms including short films curated by west coast’s Noor
Iranian Film Festival, family-friendly performances of Fictionville Studio’s
shadow puppet masterpiece, “Zahhak, The Legend of the Serpent King”, a panel
discussion featuring Iranian American artists and scholars, Persian fusion
cuisine by Rider restaurant’s critically acclaimed chef, Patric Connelly, and
music by Persian tar virtuoso Sahba Motallebi accompanied by Nagmeh Farahmand.
This program will transport an audience of all ages into Spring as it connects
elements from thousands of years of ritual and history to the magnificent art
being made by today’s Iranian American artists.
Sponsors include The American Institute of Iranian Studies and Noor Film
Festival.

— 10AM & 12PM – FAMILY PROGRAMMING —
“ZAHHAK, THE LEGEND OF THE SERPENT KING”, by Hamid Rahmanian
Family Friendly show: $15 adults, $5 children

10am Show Tickets sold here, 12pm Show Tickets Sold here.

A Persian folk tale brought to life through live music, narration and shadow
puppetry by Hamid Rahmanian, the creator of the critically acclaimed “Feathers
of Fire”. Taken from the Shahnameh or Book of Kings—an epic narrative penned in
the 10th century by Persian poet Ferdowsi—this shadow play tells the story of a
misguided prince who becomes the villainous Serpent King.

Featured artists:

Storyteller: Leila Ghaznavi
Puppeters: Jon Riddleberger, Ian Sweetman, Hamid Rahmanian
Musicians: Hedayat Shafaee, Yahya Alkhansa
Directed and designed by Hamid Rahmanian

This 15min exquisite performance will be followed by a shadow puppet-making
workshop for kids.

More About Fictionville Studio: Husband and wife team Hamid Rahmanian and
Melissa Hibbard are dedicated to producing artistic projects that positively
affect the way people look at the world around them. They have produced
award‐winning documentary and fiction film, graphic design, photography and
literature for over two decades. Their films have received international awards
and screened worldwide at festivals, theaters and on television. Their latest
project, the Shahnameh Project includes a 600 page illustrated edition of the
1000-year-old Persian epic poem, Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings which
was published in 2013. It has been well received by readers and critics around
the world and has made multiple bestseller lists. In 2016 they premiered the
stage production of Feathers of Fire, based on a tale from the Shahnameh. This
cinematic live production premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and is
currently touring around the
world. http://www.fictionvillestudio.com/#fictionvile-studio

3:00PM (doors) – 9PM – MUSIC, PANEL, FILM + DINNER
$40 advanced guarantees seat, $45 at the door. Dinner and Drinks sold
separately.

TICKETS for Family Program and the Festival available
at www.nationalsawdust.org/persianartsfestival

— MUSIC By Persian Tar Virtuoso, SAHBA MOTALLEBI, Accompanied by NAGMEH
FARAHMAND on Percussion —

SAHBA MOTALLEBI is a modern virtuoso of the tar and setar, an innovator in
teaching Persian Music and has been recognized as the Best Tar Player at the
Iranian Music Festival four years running (1995-1998) and “The Best Tar Player”
at the Toronto Conservatory of Iran (1993 – 1996). She is recognized
internationally as a master of tar and setar, lute-like stringed instruments
central to one of the world’s great musical traditions. She began studying music
as a young girl in Sari, a small seaside city in the north of Iran. In 1993, at
the age of 14, her talent garnered her an invitation to begin studies at the
Tehran Conservatory of Music. She flourished there, and was recognized as Best
Tar Player at the Iranian Music Festival four years running (1995-1998). After
graduating from Conservatory in 1997, she helped found the groundbreaking
women’s music ensemble Chakaveh, and in 1999 she was invited to join the Iranian
National Orchestra, thus beginning her career as an international performer. For
the past decade, Sahba Motallebi has lived near Los Angeles, She continues to
perform worldwide, and has released a series of noted books and recordings, the
latest of which is 2014’s A Tear at the Crossroad of Time. Sahba is also
recognized as an innovator in the teaching of Persian music; her pioneering
efforts to put instructional materials on the internet and to teach students
online have inspired something of a renaissance in the transmission of this
ancient art form, and reflect her abiding commitment to bring the gift of music
to her community and the world.

NAGHMEH FARAHMAND, daughter of one of Iran’s leading percussionists, Mahmoud
Farahmand, grew up surrounded by music in a full house of drums. She started
playing the tonbak when she was six under the supervision of her father, and was
encouraged to learn a melodic instrument to gain insight into the melodic aspect
of music as this would make her a better accompanist. So she started playing the
santur under the guidance of Faramarz Payvar and Pashang Kamkar. Besides
learning traditional music, Naghmeh found the daf to be very powerful and
spiritual and began learning Sufi and Kurdish rhythms from Bijan Kamkar and
Masoud Habibi. She has performed in many well-known traditional ensembles in
Iran and at festivals around the world, and was honored to perform with ney
master Hassan Nahid and famed vocalist Hengameh Akhavan. In 2010, she moved to
Canada and started working with musicians in world music and jazz. She is the
founder of the Sharghi percussion ensemble.

— PANEL DISCUSSION —
The festival will begin with a discussion
featuring scholar Kathryn Spellman Poots, whose work has focused on the Iranian
Diaspora and transnational migration networks, Mahyad Tousi, Co-founder of
BoomGen Studios and producer on Reza Aslan’s recently premiered television show,
“Believer”, Persian tar virtuoso, Sahba Motallebi, who will grace us with her
presence again later in the evening, and Siamak Ghahremani, founder of Noor
Iranian Film Festival. This panel will be moderated by Carla P. Cota, a PhD
candidate at University of Arizona with a main research interest in the
connection among culture, identity and education, especially as it relates to
the education of second generation children in the US.

Panelists will discuss where Iranian American arts stand today, especially in
light of the current administration’s ban of certain travelers from Iran and now
5 other Muslim-majority countries. Additionally, we will explore how artistic
expression may help shift public sentiment toward a more just and equitable
world, or society.

— PERSIAN FUSION CUISINE – By Chef Patrick Connolly of Rider Restaurant —
Critically acclaimed chef, Patrick Connolly, of Rider restaurant at National
Sawdust, will be offering a Persian-inspired, fusion menu available for purchase
during the festival’s dinner break. Be ready for an American twist on Persian
cuisine filled with familiar saffron and turmeric hughes to reel you in.

— FILMS – Curated by Noor Iranian Film Festival —
Enjoy your Persian-inspired cuisine over Noor Iranian Film Festival’s
award-winning selections to ring in the New Year:

No Land’s Song, by Ayat Najafi (93 minutes)

The Islamic revolution of 1979 banned female singers from appearing in public in
Iran. They are no longer allowed to perform solo, unless to an exclusively
female audience. Recordings of former female icons can only be bought on the
black market. But Sara Najafi is determined to refresh the cultural memory by
roaming Tehran in the footsteps of famous singers of the 1920s and 1960s. She is
about to revive the female voices in the present as she courageously plans an
evening of Iranian and French female soloists to rebuild shattered cultural
bridges—a concert that is not allowed to take place. For two-and-a-half years,
director Ayat Najafi follows the preparations between Tehran and Paris that are
always touch and go. What’s still possible? What goes too far? Sara’s regular
meetings with the Ministry of Culture shed light on the system’s logic and
arbitrariness, though officials there can only be heard and not seen. Can
intercultural solidarity and the revolutionary power of music triumph? A
political thriller and a musical journey, No Land’s Song never loses sight of
its real center – the female voice. See trailer here.

The Role of Each Fret, by Maryam Farahzadi (9 minutes)

The union of a couple in love, by getting assistance from a joint effort of
music and nature performed in Persian miniatures, from ancient land of Iran.

Posted in Arts, Events, Music

10TH ANNUAL PERSIAN ARTS FESTIVAL PROGRAM

Posted on March 19, 2016 by admin

Posted in Uncategorized

10TH ANNUAL PERSIAN ARTS FESTIVAL

Posted on February 27, 2016 by admin

Friday, March 18th, 8:30PM – 1AM

at National Sawdust, 80 N 6th St, Brooklyn, NY 11249

The Persian Arts Festival celebrates 10 years of showcasing the work of hundreds
of Iranian American artists from around the world at the prestigious new
Brooklyn venue, National Sawdust. The 10th Annual Persian Arts Festival will
feature multiple art forms including short films by Iranian Americans,
performances by established Persian poets, hosted and curated by Zahra Saed and
Sara Goudarzi, the NYC premier of vocalist and daft player, Aida Shahghasemi,
who fuses her exquisite Persian classical vocal training with indie-rock
tendencies, and Mitra Sumara, a big-band of NYC-based musicians dedicated to
Pop/funk music from Pre-Revolutionary Iran.

Space is limited, so we ask that you purchase tickets in
advance: http://nationalsawdust.org/event/persian-arts-festival-10th-anniversary-celebration/

THE VENUE

It is an honor to bring the Persian Arts Festival to NYC’s iconic National
Sawdust, an unparalleled, artist-led venue, hailed by the New York Times as a
game-changer in the way new music is presented. www.nationalsawdust.org

FESTIVAL LINEUP:

MUSIC PERFORMANCE by Aida Shahghasemi

Aida, initially a Daf player, studied with Amir Samadi in Tehran, Iran. She
moved from Tehran to Minneapolis in summer of 2000. One unsuspecting summer day
back in Tehran, she was pushed to sing on stage by Samadi, and she fell in love
with it ever since. Her passion for Persian classical music stems from the
cultural identity she craved after immigrating, and the women she met during her
years of study. Her senior project at University of Minnesota’s Anthropology
department centered around restrictions on the voices of female classical
vocalists in Iran, through which she met, interviewed, and studied with Parissa
for a short period of 3 months. While residing in NYC, Aida worked with a few
non-profit organizations as a teaching artist promoting the arts as a tool for
social justice. She created and taught a class called Iran’s Arts Activism
centered around the effects of society on art and vise versa, at NYU’s Tisch
School of the Arts. http://www.aidashahghasemi.com/

MUSIC PERFORMANCE by MITRA SUMARA

Mitra Sumara is New York City’s only Farsi Funk group. This international party
band gets down with the vibrant pop and funk music of 60s/70s Iran, an
infectious pre-Revolutionary sound which combined the beats of Fela Kuti, salsa,
and disco with Middle Eastern melodies and flowery poetry.

Interpreting hits by Iran’s beloved singers Googoosh, Pooran, Aghassi, Leila
Forouhar, Nooshafarin, and Zia Atabi’s intoxicating Bandari beat tunes, Mitra
Sumara’s repertoire also includes American hits of the era translated into
Farsi. East meets West meets East while delighted audiences sing along.

Mitra Sumara’s musicians are among New York City’s top players in the
avant-garde, jazz, indie-rock, and Broadway scenes. They include Yvette Perez
(vocals), Julian Maile (guitar), Sam Kulik (bass), Michael Evans (drums/congas),
Brian Geltner (drums/percussion), Bill Ruyle (hammer dulcimer), Jim Duffy
(keyboard), and Peter Zummo (trombone).

Mitra Sumara is the creation of Brooklyn-based half-Iranian lead singer Yvette
Perez. Adopted and raised by American parents, Yvette founded the group after
studying Farsi and re-uniting with her Iranian birth father just four years ago.
This cross-cultural music project is inspired by her family story.

Mitra Sumara has played the John F. Kennedy Center Millenium Stage as well as
New York City venues including Le Poisson Rouge, Brooklyn Bowl, WestBeth,
Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center and Café Nadery, and the Tropicalia Club in
Washington, DC.

POETRY

Curated by Zohra Saed and Sara Goudarzi, this segment of the program will
bring poets, authors, scholars of both Iranian and non-Iranian descent together
in celebration of Spring, renewal, and rebirth.

In 2010 Fayre Makeig received a PEN/Heim Translation Fund grant for a selection
of Hushang Ebtehaj’s free verse. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and
their two children, two and under, and supports family as a line editor of banal
bureaucratese and academic claptrap. She loves spring.

Angelo Verga has been widely published, translated, and anthologized. A former
owner of, also longtime literary curator at The Cornelia Street Cafe, Verga has
helped to promote poetry as a popular and much-needed art form. His seventh book
of poems is Long & Short, including The Street in Your Head (2016) and is
available on Amazon.

Sahar Muradi is a writer and performer born in Afghanistan and raised in the
U.S. / is co-editor, with Zohra Saed, of One Story, Thirty Stories: An Anthology
of Contemporary Afghan American Literature / is co-founder of the Afghan
American Artists and Writers Association / has published in Drunken Boat,
dOCUMENTA, phati’tude, Green Mountains Review, elsewhere literary magazine, Bone
Bouquet, and The Poetry Project Newsletter / is a Kundiman Poetry Fellow, an
AAWW Open City Fellow, and twice recipient of the Himan Brown Creative Writing
Award in Poetry / has an MFA in poetry from Brooklyn College, an MPA in
international development from NYU, and a BA in creative writing from Hampshire
College / directs the poetry programs at City Lore / and believes in the bottom
of the rice pot.

Ravi Shankar is an award-winning poet, editor, translator and professor of
writing who founded the international online journal of the arts Drunken Boat,
and has published or edited 10 books and chapbooks of poetry. His most recent
collection is “What Else Could it Be: Ekphrastics and Collaborations.”

Soraya Shalforoosh’s first collection of poetry, This Version of Earth was
published by Barrow Street in November 2014. Soraya has been a featured poet in
the Journal of the Academy of American Poets Emerging Poet Series, and has had
poems and reviews in Tribes.org, Good Foot, Taos Journal, Barrow Street, Skanky
Possum, Bomb Magazine, Marlboro Review, WSQ, Can We Have Our Ball
Back.com, Shampoo Poetry, Brink: An Anthology of Post Modern American
Poetry, Four Corners, Salonika, etc. Soraya has her MFA in Creative Writing from
the New School and as an undergraduate at Clark University, won first place in
the Prentiss Cheney Hoyt Poetry award.

Ms Shalforoosh has been a Writer in Residence at William Paterson University in
NJ, a guest poet at Berkeley College in New York, guest speaker at the American
Embassy in Algeria. Soraya has performed her poetry with jazz, blues and world
music bands in clubs, universities and Central Park.

SHORT FILMS

Short films will be presented that reflect the Iranian heritage, family history,
and commemorate our widely celebrated holiday, Norouz.

1. “Current”

By Nika Khanjani

This short experimental uses re-photography onto black and white 16mm film which
was then hand processed (very rough and stinky process using buckets of
chemicals and film reels dunked like tangled spagetti in a makeshift darkroom),
then digitized for online editing.
I originally called this film Current Landscapes because it was an honest
reflection of my inner emotional landscape at that time.
————————————–
I have chosen to call my film Current Landscapes because it refers to the inner
landscape that exists in each of us, simultaneously particular and universal.
Like any study of a landscape, looking at the inner geography requires time,
patience, and a steady gaze so that what is subtle and easily overlooked is
given significance. This piece is about the excavation and search for memories,
images, sounds, impressions and tones that inform who we are. While these
memories are of things past, they remain current because they are present in us
all the time. Just because we may not remember does not mean that they do not
exist. It is simply our choice whether we will sit still long enough to
recognize their presence and let them surface in whatever form they exists.
I have chosen to use re-photography of my own family as a method of exploring
these landscapes. I spent a great deal of time with a number of photographs that
evoked memories of my childhood. I filmed them then hand processed the film in
order to create the scratches you see. These scratches are meant to create
distance between the viewer and the image, a veil of sorts, because these images
are phantom-like, as memories sometimes seem to be. Just out of reach, below the
surface, seemingly of another world. To express this visually, I allowed the
photos to begin obscurely and out of focus. This represents the initial moments
of remembering things from the past—–they are not very clear at first but, with
time, may become clearer. The scratches that were the result of rough hand
processing added to the visual effect of separation and distance in that even
when memories and impressions from our past become clearer, they are still
evasive and just out of reach.

2. “Even Gray Feels Blue”

By Negin Sharifzadeh

No one speaks;
Nothing to say;
Nothing to teach.

Silence is truly the best speech!
– Poem by Ahmad Shamlou, Translated by: Maryam Dilmaghani

“Even Gray Feels Blue” investigates the nature of melancholia and solitude,
translating these most intimate and deeply personal feelings into their
aesthetic essences. The echoes of the individual move into collective realities.
Sorrow becomes social malaise.

The film avoids the structure of story and narrative, built instead as a musical
composition, creating an ambiguous psychic space for the viewer to enter. The
images have been created in conversation with a composition, The last Turn, by
the Iranian master Oud player Negar Bouban, based on “Shabaneh,” a poem by Ahmad
Shamlou. Even Gray Feels Blue edited and composited by digital master Harold
Moss. Both music and image utilize repetition to create a trance-like dynamic,
intensifying the emotional resonance by tapping into memories as individual
history and an act of collective remembrance.

3. “Norouz (نوروز) – Songs of Pardis”

By Negar Behbahani & Saloomeh Sayah
www.pardisforchildren.org/

From the Album: Songs of Pardis

Vocals by Hani Niroo
Song written by Negar Behbahani
Arranged and mixed by Salmak Khaledi
Produced by Pardis for Children, Inc.

The most important symbol of Norouz is Sofreh Haft Seen (Haft Seen table
setting).
Haft Seen or seven S’s represent the main elements of the sofreh.
Each element has a meaning and is a symbol of what we wish for ourselves, our
family and our friends in the new year.
The Seven Symbols
Senjed: Silverberry, symbol of love
Samanoo: Sweet Wheat Pudding, symbol of affluence
Somagh: Sumac (red spice), symbol of patience
Seer: Garlic, symbol of good health
Serkeh: Vinegar, symbol of wisdom
Sabzeh: Sprouts, symbol of growth and rebirth
Seeb: Apple, symbol of beauty

4. “Imagine Native”

Director: Mina Bozorgmehr & Hadi Kamali Moghadam
Producer: Hadi Kamali Moghadam & Mina Bozorgmehr
Screenwriter: Hadi Kamali Moghadam & Mina Bozorgmehr

This short documentary fiction, tells the legend of Love between man and fairy.
It is a journey to the depths of the beliefs, imaginations, and magic of the
people from South of Iran, Hormoz island, the land of thousand-colored sands.
This short film is the story of a southern artist, called Mousa, who collects
the worn out leg-covers of native women from the washed out rubbish on the shore
and puts them together to make tableaus that lay the groundwork for a modern
legendary story. It has been told that there was a tradition in the past, where
Island people would offer the clothes of a dead person to Mother Sea, so she
could cleans that person’s soul and …

Imagine native, is a prelude to a longer documentary fiction, called \”Janbal\”,
which is in the process of being edited.

5. “Cycles of Lambent Frequencies”

By Negin Sharifzadeh

Animists recognize the spirit of life in every object—a blade of grass, a stone,
a brick in a wall. In every nook and cranny,against every wall, life finds its
way towards growth and transformation. In this installation, I am taking
advantage of light and the technology of projection mapping to reveal to our
eyes this magic inside nature in all its manifestations. The sort of magic one
imagines transpiring in a clearing hidden deep in the woods, late at night when
no humans eyes are there to witness, is instead seen on a wall in SoHo.

A stone face of some ancient deity hangs on a brick wall in the darkening
evening. Suddenly, the eyes open. Light flows from her mouth. All the seasons of
the year break out at once, sped impossibly up. Green things grow from below.
Leaves fall and are blown about. The eyes look around, taking in this explosion
of life. Mythic images layer on top of this great fecundity. The light and
sounds from all this activity are thrown from the wall to the space around,
encapsulating the viewers within this magical place.

As in nature, no sooner is this frenzy reached, then it begins to recede. New
growth falls back into the earth. Leaves settle and are absorbed. The eyes grow
sleepy, and the light begins to fade. Sleep overcomes the wall, and darkness
returns, only to begin the cycle again.

Posted in Arts, Events, Literary, Music

9TH ANNUAL PERSIAN ARTS FESTIVAL: NIGHT OF MELODIC WANDERLUST – A SPRING VOYAGE
TO CELEBRATE IRANIAN & AMERICAN FUSION

Posted on March 20, 2015 by admin
Persian Arts Festival and Drom Present: Night of Melodic Wanderlust – A Spring
Voyage to Celebrate Iranian & American Fusion

Persian Arts Festival is proud to announce its 9th annual Nowruz
celebration, Night of Melodic Wanderlust, a spring voyage to celebrate Iranian
and American fusion, MC’ed by comedienne Susan Peret, featuring
Persian-Americana rock from three of the city’s hottest bands. The
highly-anticipated event will take place at NYC’s premier global music
venue Drom on Friday, March 27 at 7:00pm ET.

Headlining the event will be Vatan a Persian meets Americana, or self-described
as, “Iranicana”, group hailed by Aslan Media as one of the top emerging Middle
Eastern bands to watch for boldly redefining bi-national American identity in
melodic terms.

The evening’s line up will also feature acoustic singer-songwriter flair from
opening act Arian Saleh, as well as East-meets-West classical fusions from
Persian folk master Navid Kandelousi. Rounded out with Vatan’s signature
Perso-country grooves, the three acts create a seamless bridge between Iranian
and American fusion, amplifying what it means to empower heritages, pay tribute
to family roots and celebrate cultures through musical dialogue.

Advance tickets cost $15 for standing room, $25 for guaranteed seating, and $35
for guaranteed seating with a pre-fixe menu. Door prices are $20 for standing
room, $30 for guaranteed seating, and $40 for guaranteed seating with a
prix-fixe menu. Tickets can be reserved online at dromnyc.com. The venue will
also feature a mini Shurka Bazaar, where guests are invited to peruse through
arts, crafts, books, jewelry, and more throughout the event.

Be sure to purchase your tickets HERE in advance as SPACE IS LIMITED! For more
info and updates, be sure to RSVP on our facebook event page.

Posted in Arts, Events, Music

PERSIAN ARTS FESTIVAL CO-PRESENTS MEHREGAN: NYC LITERARY + CULINARY ARTS
FESTIVAL ON 10/25/14

Posted on September 7, 2014 by admin

NYC Literary and Culinary Arts Festival Highlights Iranian-American Experience

Mehregan is a new Iranian-American literary and culinary arts festival
celebrating the ancient Iranian holiday marking the coming of Fall. This first
annual New York City-based festival will take place Saturday, October 25, 2014
(11am – 9pm) at Café Nadery in Greenwich Village.

Mehregan honors the change of seasons with a day of events by prominent
Iranian-American writers, foodies, and musicians. Authors featured include Tara
Bahrampour (Washington Post journalist and author of the memoir To See and See
Again), Roger Sedarat (poet and author of Dear Regime: Letters to the Islamic
Republic), Amir Parsa (author of Divan and Open Epic) and Sara Goudarzi (poetry
featured in Taos Journal of International Poetry, Drunken Boat, and The
Adirondack Review). Journalist and food writer Leila Darabi (Tehran Bureau,
everydaytrash.com) will read and invite participants to be interviewed about
their experiences with Iranian cooking.

The festival offers a new take on contemporary Iranian-American culture with
personal stories of coming of age, identity, family, nostalgia, and who makes
the best tahdig (crunchy rice).

Mehregan will also feature videos of shows from the golden age of Iranian TV, a
Pomegranate Peel-Off challenging participants to take apart the convoluted fruit
for prizes, and a special performance of Iranian pop/funk hits from the 60s and
70s by members of the Farsi-funk music group, Mitra Sumara.

“By featuring food, literature and music from Iran and the Iranian diaspora,
Mehregan brings together the best that our culture has to offer. New Yorkers of
all backgrounds are in for a treat.”
– Leila Darabi, journalist and writer.

Mehregan will broaden people’s understanding of Iranian-American culture and
experience. Through accessible and eclectic events, Mehregan will create a
collaborative environment that showcases a shared culture.

Café Nadery 16 West 8th Street, New York, NY

Tickets: $15 / day pass; $40 day pass plus special dinner.

Mehregan is an Iranian-American festival showcasing Iranian-American culture and
experience through literary and food memoir readings, contests and interviews,
nostalgia films, and music. Produced by Persian Cardinal Productions in
partnership with Persian Arts Festival and hosted by Café
Nadery. http://cafenaderyny.com/ and https://persianartsfestival.org/ and event
link: https://www.facebook.com/events/691382260955821/#

Posted in Events, Literary, Music

AMIR NOJAN & THE NAVA ENSEMBLE * MYSTICAL PERSIAN MUSIC APRIL 26, 2014

Posted on April 20, 2014 by admin

Robert Browning Associates presents first NY appearance of acclaimed Persian
ensemble

AMIR NOJAN & THE NAVA ENSEMBLE

MYSTICAL PERSIAN MUSIC

Saturday, APRIL 26, 2014 8:00 PM

+ 7:00 PM pre-concert artist talk

ROULETTE, 509 Atlantic Avenue (at 3rd Ave), Downtown Brooklyn

$25; $20 seniors, students Box office (917) 267-0363

Info, video & tickets: www.robertbrowningassociates.com

The Music from the Mediterranean to Asia series presented by Robert Browning
Associates continues with the first New York appearance of Amir Nojan and
the Nava Ensemble in a meditative program of sung poetry and instrumental music
in the classical Persian tradition. The ensemble is under the direction of Amir
Nojan, a virtuoso setar (lute) player who studied with leading names in
traditional Persian music, including Dariush Tala’i, Mohammad Reza Lotfi, and
Jalal Zolfonoun. Nojan is joined by vocalist Taghi Amjadi, who has mastered the
intricate and ornate singing tradition of Persian music and has a deep
understanding of the mystical Persian poetry tradition, and Sina Dehghani, a
percussionist par excellence whose instruments include tonbak (goblet-shaped
drum) and daf (frame drum). The program’s songs are drawn from a rich history of
mystical poetry that ranges from 11th – to 14th-century poets such as Baba
Taher, Nizami, Rumi (Molavi), Hafez, and Sa’adi, and more modern poets of the
17th – to 20th-centuries.

As with most Asian and Middle Eastern music, there is a close link between music
and poetry. At times, when the Persian language and identity were under assault
(as during the Mongol invasion), it was poetry that kept the culture alive. With
religious proscriptions against music and dance at various times, the culture
was often maintained through poetry because of its connection to Sufism, the
mystical branch of Islam that plays such an important part in the lives of the
Iranian people. Instrumental music is nearly always performed as part of a suite
that includes sung poetry. Improvisation is an essential part of any
performance, and the musicians draw on their experience and mastery of technique
to convey the emotions described by the song texts while adding their personal
interpretations.

Amir Nojan, born in Shiraz, Iran in 1980 and currently living in California, is
known for his brilliance on the setar, and his comprehensive knowledge of radif,
the Persian traditional/classical repertoire. He started studying traditional
Persian music at the age of 12 and over the years has benefited from the
teachings of great masters of Persian music such as Dariush Tala’i, Jalal
Zolfonoun and Mohammad Reza Lotfi. He established and directed the Nava Ensemble
in 1998 in Iran and has continued that work in the US. He has performed in Iran,
Europe and the US as a composer, soloist, improviser and ensemble player, and
collaborated with such renowned musicians as Alim Qasimov and Shahram Nazeri. In
2012, he founded the Shiraz Arts Academy, the first professional academy for the
teaching of Persian music and arts in Northern California (San Jose).

Taghi Amjadi grew up in Iran, where he began performing at the age of 14. He
studied with master musician Esmail Mehrtaash, and continued his studies in the
US with Mahmoud Zofonoun, Mohammad Reza Lotfi and Mohammad Reza Shajarian. He is
a co-founder of the Barbod ensemble, and has been teaching and performing with
various artists in the Bay Area since 1980. He currently teaches classical
Persian singing at the Shiraz Arts Academy in San Jose and works as a
psychotherapist privately in the Bay Area and at San Francisco State University.

Sina Dehghani, born in 1976 in Tehran, has been playing two ancient Persian
percussion instruments, tonbak and daf, since the age of 14. He studied with
master percussionists Bahram Dehghani, Majid Hesabi and Navid Afghi; in recent
years he has continued his study of daf with Bijan Kamkar, one of Iran’s most
prominent daf players, and Mas’od Habibi. In Iran, he played with several
ensembles, including Daf Zanan Delahor. A new immigrant, he currently teaches
Persian percussion at the Shiraz Academy of Art and culture.

*********

Robert Browning Associates continues the programming initiated by the founders
of the music programming at the Alternative Center for International Arts
(Alternative Museum) from 1976 to 1985 and the World Music Institute from 1985
to 2011. Current activities include curating World Views, a concert series
presented at Zankel Hall by Carnegie Hall in partnership with Robert Browning
Associates; a US tour by Asif Ali Khan, a senior disciple of Nusrat Fateh Ali
Khan, and his Qawwali ensemble; and a 4-part concert series of meditational
music from the Mediterranean to Asia at Roulette in Downtown Brooklyn.

The last concert in this season’s Music from the Mediterranean to Asia series at
Roulette features Omar Faruk Tekbilek with Murat Tekbilek – Sufi Music of Turkey
(May 3).

For press information, contact: Helene Browning
at 718-541-2366 or mailto:helene@robertbrowningassociates.com

Posted in All, Events, Music, Recommended

CHECK OUT THESE PERSIAN MUSIC SHOWS IN NYC!

Posted on March 15, 2014 by admin

Posted in Events, Music

IRANIAN-AMERICAN WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE COMES TO NYC SEPT 8TH!

Posted on August 19, 2013 by admin

Posted in Events, Recommended, Uncategorized

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