The Merchant and His Clever Parrot

TT Art Desk - Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The Children of Iran band is to perform a musical version of “The Merchant and his Clever Parrot”, a story from Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi’s Masnavi, at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall from November 21 to 23.

“Thirty-six children are slated to participate in the musical, which will be performed using regional Iranian instruments,” band leader Sudabeh Salem told the Mehr News Agency on Sunday.

“I think the project will help the children to become familiarized to some extent with the origins of Iranian music,” she added.

“The Merchant and his Clever Parrot” was one of the topics that used to be part of the fourth grade syllabus in Iran’s primary schools, but it has been excluded.

Salem is to conduct the band and pieces composed by master of Iranian music Abolhassan Saba (1902-1957). “Master Saba has played an important role in the development of contemporary Iranian music. His works contain many useful points, which should be taught to children,” Salem said.

[Picture: Terpsiphone paradisi. Image from: http://www.bird-stamps.org/species/140017.htm].