No Space for ‘Hatred’

MNA, "Imitation leads to superficial productions: vocalist Nazeri" - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Iranian vocalist Shahram Nazeri is convinced that imitation leads to superficial productions.

In a press conference held here on Tuesday at the Iranian Artist Forum, Nazeri said that Iranian music is heading toward imitation by some masters of music, and that, “we are encountering an unpleasant situation for music these days.”

“Following a spectacular decade of music that we experienced right after the Islamic Revolution, some masters began to train students to imitate their own styles. This has spoiled ‘creativity’ which, of course, is the major essence of any artist,” he added.

He went on to say, “The old masters used to train their students in such a way that each one would find his own style and feeling and as a result would create something new, leading to variety in the art of music.”

Nazeri remarked that he considers himself a musician first, then a singer. As a musician he has always been trying to study and to do research work, saying “I never liked to be an imitator and always liked to exalt my art and music.”

“I believe in change and I hope these changes will lead to great results and that I can carry new messages about my homeland to the rest of the world,” he explained.

In Nazeri’s opinion, one of the major messages of art and music is “peace” and that there is no space for ‘hatred’ in an artist’s heart.

Nazeri who has been making use of ‘blank verse’ poetry in his songs, continued, “I mainly focus on poetry by Rumi, Ferdowsi as well as Persian blank verse.”

Nazeri and his band “Molavi” are resuming concert tours after a lapse of five years, with a two-night performance in Qazvin on July 15 and 16.

They will travel to other cities including Yazd, Isfahan, Shiraz, Kerman, Rasht, Sari and Tehran.

Nazeri was presented with the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur medal, one of the most coveted trophies in the world of art and culture, by the French government during a ceremony in Paris in September 2007.

It was given to him in recognition of the meticulous attention he has paid to the musical interpretation and vocalization of the transcendent lyrics of the Iranian poet and mystic Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi.

[Picture: Iranian vocalist Shahram Nazeri attends a press conference at the Iranian Artist Forum in Tehran on July 8 for his upcoming tour concert in Iran. Photo: Mehr/Azin Zanjani].