Concert spotlights Persian poet

Show promotes cultural exchange
By Dean Calbreath
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 28, 2006

In the past decade, the works of medieval Persian poet Jelaluddin Rumi have been resurrected in many forums, from readings by the likes of Madonna and Goldie Hawn to an operatic extravaganza by composer Philip Glass.

Iranian-Kurdish singer Shahram Nazeri performed his son, Hafez's, composition "In the Steps of Rumi" - a melding of Western and Persian themes.
In a break from tradition, the Nazeris have developed an interpretation of Rumi's work that melds classical Western music with the traditional music of Iran, blending the sounds of the viola and cello with such ancient Persian instruments as the daf and setar. Hafez Nazeri, who composed the work, hopes this combination of Western and Persian traditions might serve as a model for both sides to learn from each other.

“The idea is to embrace change while remaining true to your own culture and the traditions of the past,” Hafez said. “That's vital for the health of Persian music – and the health of Persian culture as a whole.”

The composition, “In the Steps of Rumi,” resonated with the 1,000 or so Iranians and Kurds who heard the Nazeris perform at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido on Friday. They tapped their feet and clapped along with some of the livelier pieces – folk tunes from Shahram Nazeri's hometown of Kermanshah – and gave the troupe no fewer than four standing ovations.

Rumi was a natural choice for an intercultural composition. In his day, the Sufi Muslim's ruminations on the nature of love struck a chord among listeners from the Buddhists of China to the Christians of Europe.

In the 1990s, Rumi had a revival in the West. An English translation of his poems sold more than 100,000 copies – a decent run for 800-year-old poetry. Bill Moyers featured a show on Rumi in his PBS poetry series “Language of Life.” Madonna, Hawn and the late civil-rights activist Rosa Parks were among the voices on a CD of Rumi's poetry. Deepak Chopra set Rumi's poems to music.
But in Iran, the most popular settings of Rumi's poetry were the strictly traditional interpretations of Shahram Nazeri, a Kurdish singer who has spent the past 35 years reviving ancient traditions in Persian music.

Five years ago, Shahram's son, Hafez, who was then 21, put together the Rumi Ensemble, a troupe that toured 20 cities in Iran with a slightly modernized take on the age-old music. One performance in Tehran drew 140,000 people – one of the biggest concerts ever in the Middle East.

With encouragement from his father, Hafez moved to New York to study Western composition at the Mannes College of Music. While reading Franz Kafka's “Metamorphosis,” he decided to create a piece of music that would reflect a cultural metamorphosis by intertwining the classical strains of Persia and Europe.

Unlike classical Persian music, in which individual pieces stay within the same musical scale, Hafez used the broader Western range of multiple keys. He kept the quarter-tones found in Near Eastern scales, but melded them into Western harmonic structures.

In Friday's performance, Hafez played the Persian setar, similar to the Indian sitar, as his father sang. Hafez's cousin, Siavash Nazeri – who is moving to San Diego – played the daf, a Persian drum so versatile that it had the power of a small percussion ensemble.

Taiwan-born Liuh-Wen Ting, who is more accustomed to accompanying Broadway musicals than medieval Persian music, played the viola. Peter Wyrick, associate principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony, played the cello. Salar Nadar, an Afhgan from Germany, played tabla, bongo-like drums from Northern India.