Date: April 15, 2012
Venue: Symphony Space (NY)
Concert review by Aida Shahghasemi
Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, the virtuoso tar and setar player came to the Symphony Space stage on W. 96th street after almost ten years of absence from New York City. As he regularly does, Lotfi walked on with his white cotton shirt and pants and gracefully carried himself to the point of readiness, legs crossed, tar in hand, looking up at another world for the initial inspiration. On his side, he had his loyal tombak player, Mohammad Ghavihelm.
- Courtesy of World Music Institut
Lotfi began his career over forty years ago. He was born in 1947, in Gorgan, a northern province of Iran. Encouraged by a musical family, he delved deep into playing tar and soon he was the student of some of Iran’s biggest traditional music masters such as Aliakbar Shahnazi, Habibollah Salehi, Hossein Dehlavi, Abdollah Davami, Sa’id Hormozi, and Nourali Boroumand. His studies carried him to Western classical music conservatories, where conducting, composing, and orchestral membership became additional areas of study and fascination. Lotfi rose out of a fertile cultural and musical era in Iran. The seventies holds memories of influential individuals such as Dr. Dariush Safvat and initiations such as the Center for Preservation and Propagation of Iranian Music, from which some of the most prominent Persian Classical musicians of today prospered. These include Mohammad-Reza Lotfi, Hossein Alizadeh, Parisa, Hossein Omoumi, Naser Farhangfar, Dariush Tala’i, Majid Kiani, and Mahmoud Farahmand.
(Note: this is a video of the duo’s recent concert in Niavaran, Tehran.)
Lotfi has founded and worked with numerous ensembles and individuals. One of the noteworthy collaborations is that of him and Mohammad Reza Shajarian. They had a prosperous musical relationship for years, the product of which can be heard in records such as Eshgh Danad, Cheshmeye Noush, and Moammaye Hasti. Lotfi traveled and worked internationally and eventually settled in United States in1986, and founded the Shayda cultural center in Washington D.C. His return to Iran six years ago brought with it a revival of an evolved version of his Shayda ensemble, which he had co-founded many years back before his international travels. “Hamnavazan e Shayda”, is branched off into two ensembles, male and female. Young and vibrant, each ensemble brings with it a fresh perspective on both older tunes and new compositions.
With the tremendous effort, creativity, and dedication that Lotfi has so vividly demonstrated over the decades, it comes with hardship to express that the New York concert was less daring than expected. The first half of the show consisted of solos on tar and was accompanied by Ghavihelm’s tombak and daf. Lotfi sang a few lines from time to time. the second half consisted of Lotfi’s setar playing, Ghavihelm’s tombak, and at the end, Lotfi’s daf. The fact that magical moments existed is certainly not negated. The closeness of the bond Lotfi has with his instruments is tangible (in this performance, especially with the setar; it held a much stronger presence), yet it is precisely this familiarity with his previous work that sets a high standard which this particular performance did not match. The rhythmic bond between the two musicians was not very strong and the interpersonal connection that is an important characteristic of Persian music was inconsistent. The performance left you with the feeling that if only they had three more hours to play, maybe they would have started hitting the strong connected point where something out of this world would have eventually been born. Of course, it must be pointed out that as we were told by the organizers this performance was supposed to be with Shayda’s female ensemble, and unfortunately, visas were not given to the members. Maybe much was planned for this gathering that simply had to be given up, like the hopes of many musicians that must deal with the logistics of crossing borders. Maybe if it was not for our lack of trust in fellow human beings, Sunday night’s concert would have carried much more magic. In the end, I appreciate Lotfi and Ghavihelm’s time and thank them for putting up a concert, even though it was not as they had planned it to be. I hope that their following concerts carry more weight and inspire a tighter musical bond.
