An Iranian Man in Tehran playing a well known Jewish song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIBhS694jkY
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Musical Diplomacy at Work - Arab, Jewish and Persian musicians Team up for Performances in Chicago, Washington and Casablanca.
Brett Zongker.Associated Press. Los Angeles Times. 08/11/07(http://articles.latimes.com)
WASHINGTON -- An ensemble of musicians usually separated by oceans and thousands of miles will perform together later this month for the first time, having until now composed music layer by layer, with sound files exchanged over the Internet.
Their goal: Show how the arts can bridge diverse cultures -- even among people who have never met in person before coming together on stage.
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A singer and instrumentalist from Afghanistan, a guitarist from Iran, a bass player from Ethiopia and drummers from Morocco are all part of the ensemble. They will accompany American Jewish tenor Alberto Mizrahi; Moroccan singer Haj Youness, who is Muslim and serves as dean of the Casablanca Conservatory of Music; and American keyboard and harmonica legend Howard Levy.
Performances are scheduled for Aug. 25 and Aug. 26 in Chicago's Lincoln Park, Aug. 27 at the Kennedy Center in Washington and later this fall in Casablanca, Morocco.
"It's just a delicious space of creativity," said Wendy Sternberg, an advocate of diplomacy through arts who organized the events as director of the Chicago-based nonprofit Genesis at the Crossroads.
"I'm very interested in not only showing that Arab and Jewish and Persian musicians can share the same stage but they can actually work together and create new art," she said. "In doing that, they make a statement that's really profound about how the world can be transformed through people collaborating."
Some experts in conflict resolution advocate interfaith dialogue or political symposiums, but Sternberg says the arts have a unique power to connect with and inspire core human values.
For the third year, Sternberg's organization is producing the outdoor food, art and music festival known as Hamsa-Fest in Chicago's Lincoln Park, named for an expression of luck from the Arabic root word for the number five (similar to the word "Hamesh" in Hebrew.)
This is the first time Genesis at the Crossroads has an ensemble that will tour around the world to promote diplomacy through the arts. The Casablanca show, still awaiting a specific date, is slated to be broadcast internationally by public radio, XM Satellite Radio and by Arab TV outlet Al Jazeera.
"What we're trying to do really is to say, in spite of our differences, that our historical sameness and music itself is a binding force between peoples," Mizrahi said. "And once musicians sit down, there is no Arab and Jew and Christian or whatever. There's just musicians."
As one of the lead performers, Mizrahi is promising a unique world sound, with the combined influences of a "jazz harmonica pianist," a Jewish cantor and jazz-influenced Middle Eastern music.
At least six different languages will be heard, including Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish and French.
Each soloist will be given moments for improvisation, Mizrahi said.
"All of a sudden you can be on a magic carpet, flying from New York from the Lower East Side to Morocco and then back over to Jerusalem and then out to jazz clubs out there in Chicago," he said. "It's going to be a travel experience in music."
WASHINGTON -- An ensemble of musicians usually separated by oceans and thousands of miles will perform together later this month for the first time, having until now composed music layer by layer, with sound files exchanged over the Internet.
Their goal: Show how the arts can bridge diverse cultures -- even among people who have never met in person before coming together on stage.
Ads by Google / Ad Feedback
Live Klezmer MusicSouth Coast Simcha Band Jewish, Yiddish, Israeli Music www.scsimchaband.comDesigner Wedding BandsThe Bay Area's Place for High End Wedding bands. Designers and custom topperjewelers.com/WeddingBandsAdvertisement
A singer and instrumentalist from Afghanistan, a guitarist from Iran, a bass player from Ethiopia and drummers from Morocco are all part of the ensemble. They will accompany American Jewish tenor Alberto Mizrahi; Moroccan singer Haj Youness, who is Muslim and serves as dean of the Casablanca Conservatory of Music; and American keyboard and harmonica legend Howard Levy.
Performances are scheduled for Aug. 25 and Aug. 26 in Chicago's Lincoln Park, Aug. 27 at the Kennedy Center in Washington and later this fall in Casablanca, Morocco.
"It's just a delicious space of creativity," said Wendy Sternberg, an advocate of diplomacy through arts who organized the events as director of the Chicago-based nonprofit Genesis at the Crossroads.
"I'm very interested in not only showing that Arab and Jewish and Persian musicians can share the same stage but they can actually work together and create new art," she said. "In doing that, they make a statement that's really profound about how the world can be transformed through people collaborating."
Some experts in conflict resolution advocate interfaith dialogue or political symposiums, but Sternberg says the arts have a unique power to connect with and inspire core human values.
For the third year, Sternberg's organization is producing the outdoor food, art and music festival known as Hamsa-Fest in Chicago's Lincoln Park, named for an expression of luck from the Arabic root word for the number five (similar to the word "Hamesh" in Hebrew.)
This is the first time Genesis at the Crossroads has an ensemble that will tour around the world to promote diplomacy through the arts. The Casablanca show, still awaiting a specific date, is slated to be broadcast internationally by public radio, XM Satellite Radio and by Arab TV outlet Al Jazeera.
"What we're trying to do really is to say, in spite of our differences, that our historical sameness and music itself is a binding force between peoples," Mizrahi said. "And once musicians sit down, there is no Arab and Jew and Christian or whatever. There's just musicians."
As one of the lead performers, Mizrahi is promising a unique world sound, with the combined influences of a "jazz harmonica pianist," a Jewish cantor and jazz-influenced Middle Eastern music.
At least six different languages will be heard, including Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish and French.
Each soloist will be given moments for improvisation, Mizrahi said.
"All of a sudden you can be on a magic carpet, flying from New York from the Lower East Side to Morocco and then back over to Jerusalem and then out to jazz clubs out there in Chicago," he said. "It's going to be a travel experience in music."
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Israel Radio Often Finds Best Friends Are Iranian
Joel Greenberg. The New York Times. 02/20/1998.
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E1DE103FF933A15751C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print)
The young woman calling from Iran spoke very quietly into the telephone.
''Thank you for your very good program,'' she said to the answering machine of Israeli radio's Persian-language service. ''Your news is very reliable, because in our country the news is worthless. Thank you for the beautiful music you play. Please put on more.''
Another Iranian caller, who also kept his voice down, said: ''I shake your hands. Why do people come and plant bombs, cutting innocent people to shreds and killing Israelis? Why? Putting bombs in buses is really inhuman. Why do people do this? They get a green light from Arafat.''
Such expressions of sympathy from Iran, an implacable enemy of Israel, come as no surprise to Menashe Amir, director of the Voice of Israel's Persian section.
''The people of Iran are not the regime,'' he said, sipping tea at his desk, Persian style, a sugar cube in his mouth. An Iranian-born Jew who immigrated 38 years ago, Mr. Amir, 58, heads a small staff of Iranian-born Israelis who produce the broadcasts to the Islamic republic.
Despite Iran's hostility to Israel, the shortwave broadcasts are received across Iran, along with more than a dozen foreign stations like the BBC and the Voice of America.
For nearly 40 years, Israeli radio has been beaming broadcasts without interference to Iran, as well as more extensive programs in Arabic to neighboring Arab countries. The Israeli broadcasts are not jammed by these countries, apparently to avoid retaliatory blocking of their broadcasts to Israel.
Mr. Amir says Iranian press reports, traveling Iranians and foreign diplomats indicate that the Israeli station enjoys wide popularity. He says it has millions of listeners, and produces piles of mail to support his contention. The letters are sent to a post office box in Europe.
Listeners also contact the station through a phone number in the United States, and some of their remarks are later played on the air. The calls and letters arrive indirectly because there is no phone or mail service from Iran to Israel, although calls can be made from Israel to Iran.
The Israeli broadcasts -- which include detailed news about Iran from sources in the country and abroad as well as reports about Israel -- have an impact. Iranian papers routinely cite reports from the ''Zionist regime radio,'' and Iranian radio rebuts the Israeli radio's commentaries. Even the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has inveighed against the broadcasts.
Mr. Amir says his station is popular because it gives Iranians domestic news that goes unreported by the Government-controlled news media, like opposition speeches and information about corruption cases, in a longer news program than other foreign broadcasts.
The Israeli programs also carry foreign recordings of popular Persian music banned under the stern cultural codes of the Islamic Republic, as well as interviews with exiled Iranian intellectuals.
''We present a different Iran, which the younger generation born after the Islamic revolution isn't familiar with,'' Mr. Amir said, adding, ''We talk to the listeners informally, as brothers.''
Iranians sometimes contact the Israeli station to advertise for a prospective spouse or to pour out personal troubles. The station passes along responses to those seeking partners and airs other messages.
''Once I read out a letter from an Iranian woman who described how she had lost her fiance in the war with Iraq,'' Mr. Amir said, ''and I was so moved that I cried on the air. That caused quite a stir in Iran.''
Not all listeners like what they hear. Some call the Israeli station's answering machine to hurl abuse or to leave messages like ''Death to Israel!''
Once a week Mr. Amir delivers a commentary that seeks to counter the harsh anti-Israeli positions of the Iranian leadership.
In a recent broadcast, he even enlisted conciliatory remarks toward the West made by the Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami. The coincidence of Christmas, Hannukah and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this year shows links between the three monotheistic religions, Mr. Amir told his listeners.
The constant flow of listener responses has convinced him that ordinary Iranians are much less hostile to Israel than might be expected from the Government's position. He recalled a stream of sympathetic phone calls after Hamas suicide bombings in Israel, even as the attacks were officially being praised.
Clearly, the Israeli station provides an outlet for dissent.
''I believe in Islam, but not in the regime of the mullahs,'' said one caller.
But another asked, ''If the Iranian regime is compelled to stop its hostile policies toward Israel, will the Voice of Israel change its policy, and stop telling the truth about Iran?''
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Back to Top
(http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E1DE103FF933A15751C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print)
The young woman calling from Iran spoke very quietly into the telephone.
''Thank you for your very good program,'' she said to the answering machine of Israeli radio's Persian-language service. ''Your news is very reliable, because in our country the news is worthless. Thank you for the beautiful music you play. Please put on more.''
Another Iranian caller, who also kept his voice down, said: ''I shake your hands. Why do people come and plant bombs, cutting innocent people to shreds and killing Israelis? Why? Putting bombs in buses is really inhuman. Why do people do this? They get a green light from Arafat.''
Such expressions of sympathy from Iran, an implacable enemy of Israel, come as no surprise to Menashe Amir, director of the Voice of Israel's Persian section.
''The people of Iran are not the regime,'' he said, sipping tea at his desk, Persian style, a sugar cube in his mouth. An Iranian-born Jew who immigrated 38 years ago, Mr. Amir, 58, heads a small staff of Iranian-born Israelis who produce the broadcasts to the Islamic republic.
Despite Iran's hostility to Israel, the shortwave broadcasts are received across Iran, along with more than a dozen foreign stations like the BBC and the Voice of America.
For nearly 40 years, Israeli radio has been beaming broadcasts without interference to Iran, as well as more extensive programs in Arabic to neighboring Arab countries. The Israeli broadcasts are not jammed by these countries, apparently to avoid retaliatory blocking of their broadcasts to Israel.
Mr. Amir says Iranian press reports, traveling Iranians and foreign diplomats indicate that the Israeli station enjoys wide popularity. He says it has millions of listeners, and produces piles of mail to support his contention. The letters are sent to a post office box in Europe.
Listeners also contact the station through a phone number in the United States, and some of their remarks are later played on the air. The calls and letters arrive indirectly because there is no phone or mail service from Iran to Israel, although calls can be made from Israel to Iran.
The Israeli broadcasts -- which include detailed news about Iran from sources in the country and abroad as well as reports about Israel -- have an impact. Iranian papers routinely cite reports from the ''Zionist regime radio,'' and Iranian radio rebuts the Israeli radio's commentaries. Even the spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has inveighed against the broadcasts.
Mr. Amir says his station is popular because it gives Iranians domestic news that goes unreported by the Government-controlled news media, like opposition speeches and information about corruption cases, in a longer news program than other foreign broadcasts.
The Israeli programs also carry foreign recordings of popular Persian music banned under the stern cultural codes of the Islamic Republic, as well as interviews with exiled Iranian intellectuals.
''We present a different Iran, which the younger generation born after the Islamic revolution isn't familiar with,'' Mr. Amir said, adding, ''We talk to the listeners informally, as brothers.''
Iranians sometimes contact the Israeli station to advertise for a prospective spouse or to pour out personal troubles. The station passes along responses to those seeking partners and airs other messages.
''Once I read out a letter from an Iranian woman who described how she had lost her fiance in the war with Iraq,'' Mr. Amir said, ''and I was so moved that I cried on the air. That caused quite a stir in Iran.''
Not all listeners like what they hear. Some call the Israeli station's answering machine to hurl abuse or to leave messages like ''Death to Israel!''
Once a week Mr. Amir delivers a commentary that seeks to counter the harsh anti-Israeli positions of the Iranian leadership.
In a recent broadcast, he even enlisted conciliatory remarks toward the West made by the Iranian President, Mohammad Khatami. The coincidence of Christmas, Hannukah and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan this year shows links between the three monotheistic religions, Mr. Amir told his listeners.
The constant flow of listener responses has convinced him that ordinary Iranians are much less hostile to Israel than might be expected from the Government's position. He recalled a stream of sympathetic phone calls after Hamas suicide bombings in Israel, even as the attacks were officially being praised.
Clearly, the Israeli station provides an outlet for dissent.
''I believe in Islam, but not in the regime of the mullahs,'' said one caller.
But another asked, ''If the Iranian regime is compelled to stop its hostile policies toward Israel, will the Voice of Israel change its policy, and stop telling the truth about Iran?''
Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search Corrections XML Help Contact Us Work for Us Back to Top
Making Music, Not War. Iranian and Israeli musicians in Prague bridge their countries
Nima Tamaddon. 07/06/2008. Iranian.com (http://www.iranian.com/main)
On Saturday, June 28, when the fear of looming [1]war [2]against Iran [3] was on the rise, here, in Prague, Iranian and Israeli musicians came together to perform in a warm and memorable concert in a prestigious and the oldest Czech world music festival, Respect [4], in a Woodstockesque flavor and atmosphere. [photos [5]]
Saeed Shanbehzadeh, a maestro of Ney-Anban (or as we call it in southern Iran: Ney-Anbooneh), after an hour of playing Bushehri ethnic music together with his 15 year old son Nagheeb, a very skilled drummer and percussionist, invited two Israeli percussionists [6] participating in the festival to join them and let the people listen to an improvisation.
Shanbehzadeh has been based in Paris for the last five years and has not been to Iran, because his music does not match the Islamic Republic’s decency codes. Ironically, before inviting his Israeli colleagues to the stage, he explained to the audience that as an Iranian, he can not travel to Israel. “It is mentioned in my passport that the holder of this passport is not entitled to travel to the occupied Palestine.”
Then Saeed, Nagheeb and the two Israeli percussionists started to play an improvisation by Ney-Anban, Timpo and Tonbak.
As the show drew to a close, Saeed reminded the excited and ecstatic audience, “Did you see? Now with music, I traveled to Israel and the Israelis travelled to Iran...” The audience responded with delight and roaring applause.
Next day, while the danger of war with Iran was still looming, the most popular daily in the Czech Republic described the event as “Respect festival, in its best year, linked Iran with Israel [7].”
The Czech newspaper added: “They improvised and everybody got the impression that Iranian and Israeli musicians do not care about the politico-religious issues between policy makers. In the field of music, there is no dispute between them and both nations have great culture(s) … what the audience appropriately valued.”
After the concert, Saeed Shanbehzadeh who is very familiar with World Music events and is a well known musician in international festivals such as WOMAD [8], told me that in different places like Singapore, he had played with Israeli musicians to show audiences that, people of Iran, are not willing to wipe Israel off the map.
I personally know Saeed since the late 80's when I was living with my family in Bushehr. During that time we used to call him Ferazoo, and I still remember his strong motivation to reach success in music and in sports (I think he became a champion once in middle distance running in the province).
In his effort to send the massage of peace by performing with musicians from a country labeled as the archenemy of the Islamic Republic, Saeed is not trying to behave ostentatiously or in a conspicuous way. His intention is not to use such gestures to make a name for himself among Iranians or in the wider international arena.
Saeed wishes to be a representative of unknown Iranian musicians who put a lot of effort into their music in a place where their art is not appreciated by the government. Not only they endure official restrictions and pressures in their daily work but it is also hard for them to travel abroad and present their music to non-Iranian music lovers.
Shanbehzadeh believes that lack of government support makes Iranian music more and more isolated and the ones who are potentially the true love and peace messengers of the people of Iran can not get a chance to make their voices heard in the world.
Such an atmosphere gives a chance to “unqualified musicians to pick up an instrument like Tar, Setar, Tonbak and make themselves established as guardians of Persian music.”
Saeed Shanbehzadeh has played Bushehri ethnic music alongside other famous [9]artists [10] from the four corners of the world [11] in different international jazz and World Music festivals, including Peter Gabriel's WOMAD.
As we were having a friendly chat during his trip to Prague, he joked about the situation of Iranian music abroad and said “the efforts of those who profess to be the guardians of Iranian music abroad, while no one knows their music, shouldn't be taken so seriously, and there is a Persian proverb which truly expresses this situation by saying: LAAF DAR GHORBAT, VA GOOZ DAR BAZAR-E MESGAR-HAA.”
On Saturday, June 28, when the fear of looming [1]war [2]against Iran [3] was on the rise, here, in Prague, Iranian and Israeli musicians came together to perform in a warm and memorable concert in a prestigious and the oldest Czech world music festival, Respect [4], in a Woodstockesque flavor and atmosphere. [photos [5]]
Saeed Shanbehzadeh, a maestro of Ney-Anban (or as we call it in southern Iran: Ney-Anbooneh), after an hour of playing Bushehri ethnic music together with his 15 year old son Nagheeb, a very skilled drummer and percussionist, invited two Israeli percussionists [6] participating in the festival to join them and let the people listen to an improvisation.
Shanbehzadeh has been based in Paris for the last five years and has not been to Iran, because his music does not match the Islamic Republic’s decency codes. Ironically, before inviting his Israeli colleagues to the stage, he explained to the audience that as an Iranian, he can not travel to Israel. “It is mentioned in my passport that the holder of this passport is not entitled to travel to the occupied Palestine.”
Then Saeed, Nagheeb and the two Israeli percussionists started to play an improvisation by Ney-Anban, Timpo and Tonbak.
As the show drew to a close, Saeed reminded the excited and ecstatic audience, “Did you see? Now with music, I traveled to Israel and the Israelis travelled to Iran...” The audience responded with delight and roaring applause.
Next day, while the danger of war with Iran was still looming, the most popular daily in the Czech Republic described the event as “Respect festival, in its best year, linked Iran with Israel [7].”
The Czech newspaper added: “They improvised and everybody got the impression that Iranian and Israeli musicians do not care about the politico-religious issues between policy makers. In the field of music, there is no dispute between them and both nations have great culture(s) … what the audience appropriately valued.”
After the concert, Saeed Shanbehzadeh who is very familiar with World Music events and is a well known musician in international festivals such as WOMAD [8], told me that in different places like Singapore, he had played with Israeli musicians to show audiences that, people of Iran, are not willing to wipe Israel off the map.
I personally know Saeed since the late 80's when I was living with my family in Bushehr. During that time we used to call him Ferazoo, and I still remember his strong motivation to reach success in music and in sports (I think he became a champion once in middle distance running in the province).
In his effort to send the massage of peace by performing with musicians from a country labeled as the archenemy of the Islamic Republic, Saeed is not trying to behave ostentatiously or in a conspicuous way. His intention is not to use such gestures to make a name for himself among Iranians or in the wider international arena.
Saeed wishes to be a representative of unknown Iranian musicians who put a lot of effort into their music in a place where their art is not appreciated by the government. Not only they endure official restrictions and pressures in their daily work but it is also hard for them to travel abroad and present their music to non-Iranian music lovers.
Shanbehzadeh believes that lack of government support makes Iranian music more and more isolated and the ones who are potentially the true love and peace messengers of the people of Iran can not get a chance to make their voices heard in the world.
Such an atmosphere gives a chance to “unqualified musicians to pick up an instrument like Tar, Setar, Tonbak and make themselves established as guardians of Persian music.”
Saeed Shanbehzadeh has played Bushehri ethnic music alongside other famous [9]artists [10] from the four corners of the world [11] in different international jazz and World Music festivals, including Peter Gabriel's WOMAD.
As we were having a friendly chat during his trip to Prague, he joked about the situation of Iranian music abroad and said “the efforts of those who profess to be the guardians of Iranian music abroad, while no one knows their music, shouldn't be taken so seriously, and there is a Persian proverb which truly expresses this situation by saying: LAAF DAR GHORBAT, VA GOOZ DAR BAZAR-E MESGAR-HAA.”
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Rita Kleinstein (Yahan Farouz). Remarkable Persian Israeli Singer.
Born in 1962 in Teheran, Iran, Rita emigrated to Israel at the young age of 8. She went on to become one of the most popular singers in Israel. She released her first album in 1986 to instant acclaim combining Middle Eastern vocals with pop rhythms. In 1990, she gained international recognition when she represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest. She has starred in such theatrical productions as Habimah's staging of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof . Although her maiden name is Yahan Farouz, she is more commonly known as "Rita" or Rita Kleinstein as a result of her marriage to famous Israeli songwriter Rami Kleinstein.
She performs primarily in Hebrew with some songs in Farsi. Her music can be heard and purchased at http://www.israel-music.com/rita/
She performs primarily in Hebrew with some songs in Farsi. Her music can be heard and purchased at http://www.israel-music.com/rita/
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