Fajr Music Festival announces winners
Iran’s 33rd Fajr Music Festival closed after 10 days of hosting Iranian and foreign music performances with a ceremony in which the winners were announced.
Culture Minister Abbas Salehi and Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Mohammad Mojtaba Hosseini took part in the award-giving ceremony which was also attended by a large gathering of musicians and cultural figures at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall, honaronline.ir wrote.
Even though music bands from the Middle East, Europe and Asia performed during the 10-day event, the competition section was only open to local musicians in separate fields.
Speaking at the ceremony, Salehi said, “Iranian music is tuned with its people’s hearts. It plays sad songs when they feel down, being with them through the thick and thin. During 1979 Islamic Revolution, it was the popular revolutionary ballads that we could all hear and love in the streets. They became part and parcel of the popular culture of songs, poems and melodies.
During the Iran-iraq War of the 1980s, it was Iranian music ballads that narrated the sacrifices made for Sacred Defense. We still remember vividly the popular songs that were produced and sung immediately after the historic liberation of Khorramshahr city, such as ‘Khojasteh Baad in Pirouzi’ (Congratulations on This Victory).”
He added that FIMF is a great opportunity for the oldgeneration masters and the new talents to convene and learn from each other; to share experiences.
It’s also a great opportunity to hear local and folklore music from across the country. It’s indeed a great venue for national and international performances as well as global dialogue among civilization through the universal language of music.
Hamidreza Nourbakhsh, who presided over this year’s festival, said after three decades, the music community in Iran finally has something to offer. The success has been witnessed in recent decade at sold-out concerts and events. Half of the proceeds from ticket sales are used to fund the annual festival.
He added, “The festival is a resume for our musicians and artists in the field. They should be part of this annual event.
This way they can help improve ourselves and the quality of the event for the coming years. Our music community needs all the help it can get from the authorities, including support for the copyright law, issuing permission for concerts, and greater freedom and support for the presence and participation of women in such activities.”
Parisa Pirzadeh won the Plaque of Honor for her album ‘Vocalize’, while the Barbod Award went jointly to Alireza Mashayekhi’s album ‘Spectrum’ and Karen Keyhani’s album ‘Garden of Leaflessness’.
In the instrumental category, the Plaque of Honor went to the album ‘Chahargan’ by Ehsan Zabihifar while Milad Derakhshani won the Barbod Award for his album ‘Say Something’.
Kaveh Salehi grabbed the award for his music album ‘This Is Also a Story’, while the award for best singer went to Alireza Qorbani and his album ‘Forough’.
In the song and album category no album won the award but the jury gave the Plaque of Honor to Salar Aqili (‘My Country’) and Vahid Taj (‘Be Alive in Love’).
In the rock music category the Barbod Award went to Kaveh Yaghmaei’s album ‘Abruptly Gone’ while the award for top pop singer was presented to Mehdi Yarrahi (‘Full Length Mirror’).
Fajr Music Festival — Iran’s most prestigious music festival — was founded in 1986, several years after the formation of the film and theater festivals in the artistic sphere of Iran.
Since its formation, the festival has enjoyed the strong presence of many well-known artists from Asian and European countries.
In addition to various Iranian ensembles, as well as Tehran Symphony Orchestra, a number of top musicians, composers, and singers from Europe, Middle East and Asia also took part and performed at the FIMF 2018.