Tirgan Nowruz Festival is proud to welcome Ali Azimi to Toronto. This concert is part of Nowruz Festival 2019 and will be held at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. With great pleasure and enthusiasm, we invite you to join us for another wonderfully memorable night with Ali Azimi.

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Born and raised in Tehran, Iran. Ali Azimi -musician, guitarist, singer and songwriter- began his interest in music at a young age. Coming from a musical family, he self-learned to play the Piano and studied classical guitar with Bagher Moazen. In his early 30’s, after years of work and study in the field of Mechanical Engineering, Ali Azimi set aside his work as an engineer in the UK and began to follow his passion for music. The song “33” from the album, Mr. Mean and the song Tatilat, from Radio Tehran album, are both based on this experience. During the same time, Ali founded his own production company Sakkou, which documented underground Iranian music to help promote his fellow musicians who are unable to freely express their love for music in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

After quitting his engineering career Ali Azimi went to Iran and in the year 1388 (2009) and formed the Iranian rock band Radio Tehran. Leading this new band, Ali recorded the album 88. Touching on the issues of the young Iranians, the album gave a fresh sound and perspective within the Iranian alternative music scene. Departing from his previous band, Ali Azimi’s first solo album, Mr. Mean, was released in October 2013. This album includes major hit songs such as “Prelude”, and “Aghaye Past”. The music video for the song “Mr. Mean” was a first prize winner at Farhang Foundation’s short film festival.

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“His album ‘Of Love and Other Demons’ recounts a character-driven, love-hate relationship story based on the artist’s real-life experiences from the very first track to the last. The album borrows its title from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s renowned book (with the discrepancy in ideology), which the artist has an affinity with since adolescence. His lyrics are immensely influenced by contemporary poets such as Shamloo and Taha Mohammad Ali (Palestinian poet) as he doesn’t actually relate to classical Persian poetry, finding them much exaggerated in the manner of expression and lacking honesty. Azimi has composed his recent pieces in a way that ‘sound more Iranian’ due to his experiences combined with the contributions of the featured musicians, ‘resulting in innovation in its kind’. Moreover, the new album (which will debut over the span of two years) has paved the way for a collaboration between British and Iranian musicians both inside and outside the country; an aspiring project whose fate predominantly depends on crowdfunding and support for its survival.”

Ali Azimi in Nowruz Festival

 

Join us for a concert focused on the wealth of Iran national music, orchestral repertoire written for renowned Iranian singer Alireza Ghorbani with pieces composed by Homayoon Khorram, Farhad Fakhreddini, Fardin Khalatbari, Mahyar Alizadeh and many other influential Persian composers. This concert will feature Toronto Multicultural Orchestra, conducted by Maziar Heidari and North York Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Arash Fallahi.

Virtuosity, ornamentation, invention and the ability to improvise are qualities common to several contemporary Iranian artists. But what remains remarkable about Ghorbani is the conjunction of all these perfections in a single singer. Alireza Ghorbani is part of the new generation of Persian classical singers. While deeply rooted in Persian classical music, Ghorbani has an insatiable curiosity and open-mindedness, which comes through in his vocal style. Born into a religious family, he acquired the intonations and rhythms of Koranic chanting at a young age.

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Ghorbani, born in 1972, began studying the Persian classical repertoire (radif) at the age of 12 with such masters as Mehdi Fallah, Hossein Omoumi and Ahmad Ebrahimi. His later work with Ali Tajvidi and Farhad Fakhre’ddini opened new horizons as he experimented with art songs (tasnif) from radio broadcasts of the 1960s and 1970s.

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#Repost @alireza_ghorbani with @get_repost ・・・ . من از عهد آدم، تو را دوست دارم از آغاز عالم، تو را دوست دارم چه شب‌ها من و آسمان تا دم صبح سرودیم نم‌نم، تو را دوست دارم نه خطی، نه خالی! نه خواب و خیالی من ای حس مبهم، تو را دوست دارم سلامی صمیمی‌تر از غم ندیدم به اندازه‌ی غم تو را دوست دارم بیا تا صدا از دل سنگ خیزد بگوییم با هم: تو را دوست دارم جهان یک دهان شد هم‌آواز با ما تو را دوست دارم، تو را دوست دارم قیصر امین پور آهنگساز: #مهیار_علیزاده @mahyar.alizadeh خوشنويسى: كسرىٰ كركزى ‏@kasra.karkazi . . تصوير بردار، تدوينگر، كارگردان: محمد صادق قمى ‏@mohammad.sadegh.qomi . . شعر:#قیصر_امین_پور #عليرضا_قربانی #عليرضاقربانى #alireza_ghorbani

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In 1999, he joined Farhad Fakhre’ddini’s National Iranian Orchestra as lead vocalist, performing in Iran and abroad. His warm, resonant voice and songs that speak to the spirit of the times in Iran have made him particularly popular. He has made many recordings and collaborated with Majid Derakhshani, Sadeq Cheraghi, Pezhman Taheri, Houshang Kamkar, the National Iranian Orchestra, and the Shams Ensemble. His four years of study with a master of the tar (plucked lute) and setar (lute) at the Tehran Conservatory of Music acquainted him with the infinite possibilities found in Iran’s musical heritage. Ghorbani is widely considered a worthy successor to the undisputed masters of Persian classical music such as Maestro Mohammed Reza Shajarian.

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A traditional vocalist, Alireza Ghorbani got his start by reciting the Quran before some serendipitous meetings with well-known Iranian conductors open new doors for him. Since this time, he’s performed in countless national and international festivals and concerts and has been the vocalist for Iran’s National Orchestra for almost two decades. His voice will reach the depths of your soul and have you appreciate the beauty of the Persian language, even if you don’t understand a word of it.

 

 

 

Persian music is refracted across generations in this exceptional triple bill anchored by legendary singer-songwriter and guitarist Faramarz Aslani. Beloved for setting classical Persian poetry and original lyrics to pop grooves, Aslani has been one of the most respected Iranian artists since his 1977 hit song “Ageh Ye Rooz” (If One Day). Faramarz Aslani’s stylish guitar playing and singing has made numerous fans and followers for him. He has been one of the most respected musicians among Iranians since he introduced himself by his hit song “Ageh Ye Rooz…” (If One Day…). Through 40 years he has made, produced, and performed music in a variety of musical genres and styles from Middle Eastern pop to acoustic jazz.

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Aslani started as a journalist for several Persian and English publications, after he graduated from London University’s College of Journalism in the early ’70s. He used to work at the Tehran Journal for years but moved to CBS in late ’70s. Joining CBS was a critical point in his musical life, since he could get the opportunity to publish his first album, Ageh Ye Rooz… (If One Day…), in the late ’70s, which attracted much attention. The title song became one of the greatest Iranian music hits. Perhaps the most important element that made Ageh Ye Rooz… a unique album was that the songs were arranged for two, and in some songs three, Spanish guitars as main instruments. This had been rarely seen in Iranian music before. His second album, Be Yad e Hafez (Hafez, a Memorandum), was also recorded for the same label. Be Yad e Hafez was a tribute to Hafez, a great Iranian traditional poet, and showed Aslani’s deep respect to him. The album consisted of eight songs written for eight poems of Hafez.

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After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Aslani with his family, like most of his colleagues, left Iran and headed toward England, where he continued both as a journalist and a musician. In 1992 he started a U.S. tour which was opened at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and attracted much attention by eager Iranians all over the U.S.

Aslani released his third album, Rooz-haye Taraneh va Andooh (Days of Songs and Sorrow), in 1999, about 20 years after Ageh Ye Rooz… The album is comprised of songs that are quite diverse, both in style and concept, some lyrics of which belonged to Aslani himself. In Rooz-haye Taraneh va Andooh once again he showed his respect of traditional Iranian literature and used Rumi’s well-known poem called “Beshno az Ney” in the song “Listen to the Tale.” In 2003 he released another tribute album, Rumi, with Dariush and Ramesh, which consisted of 13 songs written for 13 poems of Rumi, or Molana Jalal-e-Ddin Mohammad Balkhi, a traditional Iranian poet as well as a mystic who lived in 13th century (about hundred years before Hafez).