The Iranian Students Association will host a free Persian concert where grammy-nominated musician will perform traditional Persian music.
Students who listen to a lot of classical music may want to add traditional Persian music to their playlists once they listen to famous Persian musicians perform classical music with handmade traditional instruments.
The Ohio University Iranian Students Society is hosting a Persian music concert that will feature composers and musicians Hossein Alizadeh and Pezhham Akhavass, who will play traditional Persian instruments such as the tar, setar and tombak on Saturday at Baker Theatre.
“There’s something very versatile about the way he plays,” Shahriar Shafiani, a second-year graduate student studying film, said. “The music he plays is so tied up with the region. I look forward to meeting this guy. He’s like a legend. He’s literally one of the top five legendary traditional musicians in my country.”
Hossein Alizadeh is a leading Iranian classical composer and musician who plays the tar and setar. Alizadeh has been a musician for 43 years and has taught at the University of Tehran. He was also nominated for the Best Traditional World Music Album award at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards.
Amina Alipour, a 2015 alumna from Ohio University who helped find money to fund the event, said Alizadeh’s music is relaxing and she can listen to it for hours.
Pezhham Akhavass, a Persian percussionist, will perform with Alizadeh at the concert. Akhavass plays the tombak, a goblet drum from Persia. He graduated with a degree in music from the University of Tehran and teaches private tombak lessons in San Francisco. He has performed with famous vocalists and musicians, such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
The musicians will sit on Persian rugs on two platforms and will perform “Radif,” traditional Iranian music preserved orally through many generations.
“It seems that people are not very familiar with cultural aspects of the middle east region,” Mohammad Gholami, a graduate student studying mechanical engineering, said. “There’s not enough information about the cultural aspect of the middle east, so we are focusing on Persian concert.”
Worried many American students would not pay for a ticket, the Iranian Student Association tried to make the event free for all students by finding multiple sponsors, Gholami said.
Shafiani is planning to make a 15-20 minute documentary of the concert and will follow the Alizadeh around Athens. Shafiani has seen Alizadeh perform and said he likes his music.
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Shafiani said he wants to film the audience’s reaction to the traditional music since they might not have heard Persian music before.
“Music is a language for people to connect — be of whatever faith or background— listen to music and connect,” Shafiani said. "It’s not about politics, wars or nuclear deals. It’s just about a guy playing music, and the music is actually pretty cool.”
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