Michael Becker

Newsroom Editor
mbecker@nsnews.cont
AN evening of Persian
classic and Sufi music
is set for Wednesday,
Dec. 20 at Capilano
College.
Zemzemch

Yalda, the

College Theatre.

Whisper of Winter, will tea
ture Amir Roushkani with the
Moshtagh Music Group,

The evening will inchide
eight to P53 setaar performers,
vocals bw Simi Ghazi and the
recital of Rumi verses in
English and Persian.

The evening is being pre-
sented by the — Iranian:
Canadian Cultural

NEWS photo Mike Wakelleld

MOSHTAGH Music Group members, left to right, Ramin
Bahrami, Amir Koushkani, Nahid Rezai and Ancushirvan
_Ghadimi are ready for their Dec. 20 concert at Capilano

arte

Assocuition (ICCA) and
marks Shab-E Yalda.
According to the ULK.-based
iran Heritage Foundation,
Shab- FE Yalda is the eve of the
birth of Mithra, the sun god.

Shab-e Yalda is celebrated
on Dee. 21. The dav has great
significance in the [ranian cal-
endar, Mithra | symbolizes
light. goodness and strength
on earth, Yalda is a
Syriac word meaning
birth. As the longest
night of the vear, the
eve of Yalda is a turning,
point, to days that
grow longer.

Koushkani, a North
Vancouver musician,
draws from a deep well
of classical. Persian
music and the poetry of
ancient and contempo-
rary Sufis.

Koushkani —immi-
grated te Canada in
1991. He was born in
Tehran in 1968. Ar 13
he began training to
play the tar and setaar
(lutes) at the National
Tranian Radio and
Television Centre for
Preservation and
Propagation of
National Music. He
studied for seven years
under Master Darioush
Peernijakan.

By 19 Koushkani
himself was oa tar
instructor at the centre.

The tar has three
double strings.
Koushkani uses a brass
pick to pluck them,
The body of the tar is
carved trom a block of
mulberry wood and
incorporates a sound-
table made of delicate
lambskin membranes.
Koushkani’s tar has 28
movable frets.

The roots of the

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classical, musical discipline
taught to Koushkani can be
directly traced back about
130) years to Ali Akbar
Farahane.

After seven years in
Canada, Koushkani has
brought to the improvisation-
al mix other rhythms trom
countries such as India.

Roushkani teaches tar and
setaar and is the founder of
the Moshtagh Music Group.

He has plaved at the
WOMAD Festival in
Toronto, the Sufi Music
Village Festival in London,
England, the Comox Festival
and the Vancouver Folk
Music Festival.

Sufism is a mystical tradi-
tion whase roots extend more
than a thousand years in the
cultures and arts of the
Middle East.

The ultimate goal in. this
tradition is to surrender one’s
individual, ego-based sense of
self'te the love of God.

Depending upon the incli-
nations of a listener, the result
may simply amount to a satis
fying session of beautiful
music. If the listener has. spir-
itual inclinations, he or she
may interpret the perfor-
mance as something deeply
inystical.

The concert is scheduled
for 7:30 p.m., Dee. 200 at
Capilano College. For tickets
and additional information
call ICCA at 519-7977.

Friday, December 15, 2000 ~- North Shore News ~ 25

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