Research works on music will be reviewed in the peripheral section of the 23rd Fajr Music Festival in Artists’ House.
Announcing this, secretary of the festival Kambiz Roshan-Ravan told the second media conference on the event that topics for discussion include challenges and problems facing the sector, reported MNA.
As per schedule, Mohammad Reza Azadehfar will talk about music that incites violence as well as the dilemmas facing this type of music.
Mansoureh Sabetzadeh will deliver a lecture on the communal aspects of Iranian and Tajik music while Ali Zadeh Mohammadi will present a paper about therapeutic features of local music.
Referring to the grouping of entries at the festival, Roshan-Ravan further said that this edition of the event will be held in the competition, international and peripheral sections.
A total of 42 groups are participating in the competition section, of which 25 bands will take part in blending traditional, seven groups in classical music and seven in the pop music categories.
He added that 38 bands including chamber orchestra conducted by Pari Zanganeh are taking part in the peripheral section.
Eight groups from Austria, Azerbaijan, France, Holland, India, Romania and Turkey will take part in the international section of the event.

Ali-Ashraf Darvishian at Mehregan Literary Awards ceremony

Award ceremony of the 8th Mehregan Literary Awards was held at Honar Cultural Center on Monday evening.
Secretary of the event, Alireza Zargar in a short speech noted that the organizers had intended to hold the ceremony in a small town, away from Tehran’s snarling traffic and air pollution, but it did not materialize.
He appreciated the sponsors of Mehregan Awards including Shokuh Fargah and Akram Taherpur and hoped that Iranian literature would flourish in the next decade in the same way as it had in the 1960’s, reported MNA.
Zargar added that in the children’s literature section, no winner was announced due to the small number of works submitted. He hoped that next year there would be more entries and winners in this category.
Mehregan literature award went to Ali-Ashraf Darvishian. In view of his physical handicap, the award was presented to his wife by renowned female writer Simin Behbahani.
Darvishian, who was seated amongst the audience, expressed his pleasure at receiving the award and added that he was content to be alive and be able to attend such ceremonies.
In the ’Science for All’ section, Houshang Ziaei was honored for his great efforts in safeguarding the environment and writing a guidebook on desert mammals of Iran.
Ziaei requested Iranian authors to focus more on the environment and how to safeguard it, adding, “There are many rare species in Iran which play a matchless role in nature.“
A number of writers, poets and translators including Mahmud Dolatabadi, Medya Kashigar, Goli Taraqi and Asadollah Amraei also attended the ceremony.

Visual arts exposition ’Seven Views’, currently underway in Isfahan Museum of Contemporary Arts, has been warmly welcomed by the local populace.
According to IRNA, the exhibition, co-sponsored by seven of Tehran’s galleries, is featuring 56 artworks by prominent artists, including Aidin Aghdashlou, Iran Daroudi, Seyyed Mohammad Ehsaei, Gizella Varga Sinaei, Hannibal Alkhas.
A painting by Asadollah Kiani, with a price tag of 40 million rials, was the first artwork to be sold at the event.
Aria, Elaheh, Dei, Golestan, Haft Samar, Vaali, and Mah-e Mehr galleries teamed up in March 2006 to hold the first ’Seven Views’ exhibition in Niavaran Cultural Complex with the aim of promoting economy of art in the field of visual arts.
The event will run until December 13.

Ebrahim Haqiqi

An exhibition of graphic designs by noted Iranian artist Ebrahim Haqiqi will be held in Dei Gallery from December 7 for ten days.
According to the Persian daily ’Iran’, the event titled ’Our Image on Water’ is being held to commemorate the eighth birth centenary of Molana Jalaleddin Rumi, well-known Iranian mystic and poet.
Haqiqi, a prolific artist, is among the few graphic designers whose works in the fields of illustration, poster designing and book cover designing are
popular.
Haqiqi, who is the chairman of the board of directors of Iran’s Graphic Designers Guild Association, was born in 1949. He graduated from the Fine Arts Faculty of Tehran University in architecture in 1975. He took up graphic designing from 1968.
Haqiqi also served as production designer in several films including ’Report of a Murder’ (Mohammad Ali Najafi).
Dei Gallery is located at 3, Taraneh Dead End, Naz Yekom Alley, Fourth Tangestan, Pasdaran St., Tehran.
Following the exhibit, Haqiqi will visit Kerman to take part in a ceremony to be held in his honor on December 19.

'Red Robin' directed by Parviz Sheikh-Tadi

The film ’Red Robin’ directed by Parviz Sheikh-Tadi and produced by Majid Esmaeili was selected among the best five films at the Malaysian Film Festival.
According to www.sourehcinema.com, the film, which is sponsored by Martyr Avini Cultural Artistic Institute, narrates the story of a boy who looks for somebody who could resurrect his deceased friend.
Malaysian Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim said in a message to the festival that the event seeks to promote cooperation among countries in the field of film production.
Referring to the significance of filmmaking industry, he said organizing such events will facilitate exchange of views and experiences among filmmakers while promoting creativity and innovation.

Based on a literary analysis about the novel ’Candide’ by the French writer Voltaire, the informed character of the book was inspired by the personality of Molana Jalaleddin Rumi, well-known Iranian mystic and poet.
According to MNA, the novel is one of the great stories of the 20th century and is considered by some critics as heralding the era of enlightenment.
Voltaire concluded his novel by taking advantage of Molana’s altruist thoughts, inviting all to peace.
Part of the novel says that a ’Dervish’ lived in the neighborhood of Candide and Pangloss. People respected the dervish and called for his view on problems.
The article says that the ’Dervish’ was none other than Molana himself. It also believes that Molana has influenced great philosophers including Friedrich Hegel and Ben Johnson.
Voltaire, the pen name of Fran�ois-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, deist and philosopher. He was known for his wit, philosophical sport, and defense of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and the right to a fair trial. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform despite strict censorship laws and harsh penalties for those who broke them. A satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize Christian Church dogma and the French institutions of his day.
Many of Voltaire’s works and ideas would influence both the important thinkers of the American Revolution and the French Revolution, an honor he would share alongside other political theorists such as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) held a panel discussion in Paris on Wednesday as part of its programs to mark the 75th anniversary of translation in the world.
The organization invited translators, editors and cultural directors from member states to take part in the programs.
Deputy director general of UNESCO for cultural affairs in a statement called on member states to help the organization promote the culture of translation, reported MNA.
Part of the statement said that in today’s world, significant improvements have been seen in cultural relations among countries thanks to systematic improvement in translations.
However, the advancement sometimes experiences fluctuations and the rate of translations decreases. Cultural directors, researchers and translators are duty-bound to promote cultural development in the world.

Khonya ensemble, conducted by Pari Maleki, will stage concerts in Tehran’s Vahdat Hall on December 13-14.
According to MNA, the group will present pieces in the Dastagahs (Iranian music sound system) of Chahargah, Isfahan and Mahour, in the first section of the event.
In the second part, the group will perform works by veteran composers, including Majid Vafadar and Nasrollah Zarrin.
The band includes Pouya Saraei on ’Santour’ (Dulcimer), Bamdad Maleki on ’Tonbak’ (Persian goblet drum), Moslem Alipour on ’Kamancheh’, (a traditional Iranian string musical instrument), and Nima Zeik-Tabkh on ’Daf’ (a tambourine-like instrument).