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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