تور آمریکا و کانادا – آواز پریسا ، نوارنده نی آهنگساز و سرپرست گروه حسین عمومی، نوازنده تنبک پژمان حدادی نوازنده دف سام

ABOUT THE MUSIC 

In Persian (Iranian) classical music, the poems, which are usually chosen by the vocalist, play a crucial role. This performance includes poems from Boustan by Sa’adi (13th century) and Masnavi by Rumi (Mowlana) (13th century), as well as a poem by Foroughi-e-Bastami. The ghazal (a form often used for love poems) by Sa’adi describes the poet’s love and passion for his beloved, and the impressions of the beauties of nature on his sensitive soul. Although Sa’adi describes deeply spiritual concepts in his poems, he uses common words and accessible images: each individual will then

experience Sa’adi’s poetic figures and vocabulary according to his/her own vision and personality. The masnavi, which is performed as a vocal duet is by Rumi. Masnavi is a poetry form which has found its way in the classical music.

The classical music of Iran has been preserved and passed on from teacher to student as an oral tradition, and it has naturally gone through changes influenced by the taste of every generation. If a change is accepted by the artists and aestheticians, it becomes a tradition and is taught to the next generation. The use of daf and ney to accompany the avaz (vocals) is based on an old tradition. Many Persian poets of the past centuries have used the name of these instruments to describe spiritual feelings and moods. A vocalist accompanied by a ney and one or several dafs is often the subject of many miniature paintings dating back to the 12th century.

Compared to the old traditions, this performance offers some variations. The vocal lines are based on rhythmical poems. While the ney keeps rhythmical forms in mind, it also improvises in accompanying the vocals, sometimes in rhythm and sometimes in a free form inspired by the vocal lines. The tombak is in tune with the Shahed (center note) in both sections, and one can say that this is the first time in Persian classical music that the percussion is consciously tuned to the melodic instrument. My belief that the percussion instruments need to be in tune with melodic instruments have led me to design a tunable tombak, which is used in this recording. I should also mention that I have made some changes to the ney that allow me to play certain notes, such as the note lying one-and-a-half step above the shahed, which cannot be played on the traditional ney. With these changes I am able to connect the first and second sound of the ney and play all the notes of the two-and-a-half octave range of the ney.

Hossein Omoumi, Spring 1998
Translated by Shahrokh Yadegari

ABOUT THE ARTISTS 

Parisa started her musical work under the supervision of the renowned Persian Radif teacher, Mahmoud Karimi, with whom she studied for ten years. Two years through her pupilage, she was invited by the Ministry of Culture to work in the National Radio and Television Broadcasting. Her unique outlook and solid discipline obtained her special recognition among Iranian musicians and intellectuals during her five years collaboration with the Ministry of Culture.

Parisa’s musical talent truly bloomed when she was introduced to “The Iranian Center for Preservation and Dissimination of Music” founded by Daryoush Safvat. Her recordings of this period show a tremendous depth and growth in her musical understanding.

In recent years, Parisa has been successfully concentrating on teaching and guiding young talents. Since 1995, she has been performing in collaboration with Hossein Omoumi and Saam in various festivals and concerts in Europe. Parissa currently lives in Iran with her husband and three children.

Hossein Omoumi was born in 1944 in Isphahan, and is considered as one of the best ney players of Iran. Captured by the magical sound of master Hassan Kassai’s ney, Omoumi began to learn the instrument with him when he was fourteen years old. At the same time he studied the vocal Radif with master Mahmoud Karimi. Later he collaborated with the Iranian National Radio and Television broadcasting. Omoumi taught the ney at The Iranian Center for Preservation and Dissemination of Music, the National Conservatory, and the Tehran University.

He left Iran in 1984 and pursued his artistic career in Europe and the United States. He received his doctorate in architecture from the University of Florence. Later he moved to France and started teaching ney and Avaz at the Center for Oriental Music Studies in Paris. His research on the making of the ney opened new possibilities in playing techniques which have been approved by master Kassa’i. Omoumi has been featured as the ney soloist in the soundtrack of the movie “The Sweet Hereafter”, which won several awards at the 1997 Cannes International Film Festival.

Pejman Hadadi born in 1969 in Tehran, started playing Tombak at the age of ten under the direction of Asadolla Hejazi. Later he studied with the renowned Tombak player Bahman Rajabi to further perfect his technique and understanding of rhythm in Persian music. while loyal to the tradition of the old masters, he uses a modern approach to technique and expression on the Tombak creating impressions of melody within rhythmic structures, and more complex ornamentation’s of the basic sound of the Tombak. Adding a vast variety of fingering techniques are part of this modern view. His innovative style and rhythmic ingenuity has made him one of the most sought after Tombak players today. He is also an accomplished Daf player, which he plays according to the traditional style. Hadadi is a members of Dastan ensemble and has toured the U.S.A Canada and Europe with many great musicians. He has also collaborated with many great percussionists and percussion Ensembles. Hadadi currently resides in California where he teaches Tombak and Daf.

Saam was born in 1966 in Istanbul, Turkey from a Persian mother and a German father. He spent his early childhood in Iran and learned the techniques of the daf from Kurdish daf players in Iran and Turkey. He also studied the fundamentals of rhythm and playing tombak under the supervision of Jamsheed Shemirani in France.
For the past ten years, he has given numerous concerts as accompanying player with Hossein Omumi, and since 1995 has participated in joint concerts of Parissa and Omoumi. He has also collaborated with European groups performing Middle Ages Western music and participated in the production of several documentaries.