Tomorrow 22nd November is International Music Day and, as a commemoration, Casa Asia is organising a small recital of traditional Persian music by Hamid Vodjdanpak (in the photo), musician, composer and singer, and Morteza Fath, performer and psaltery teacher, at 7 p.m. at its headquarters in the Palacio de Cañete (Calle Mayor, 69).
Iran has a vast musical tradition, the result of its interaction throughout history with numerous cultures, thanks in part to the Silk Road, an important gateway to the Persian Empire for influences from the rest of Asia. The recital will be a sample of the richness of this art and there will be the opportunity to listen to the ney, a mythical reed flute in Persian culture and possibly one of the oldest musical instruments still in use, whose representation in tombs of Ancient Egypt and its discovery in the excavations of the Sumerian city of Ur, show that it existed more than 4,500 years ago.
The daf, a large framed Middle Eastern drum used in the performance of classical and folk music, will also be heard. It is carved on the Behistun reliefs from the 5th century BC, commissioned by King Darius the Great. And finally, the psaltery, mentioned in the Old Testament, which tells how King David intoned his psalms accompanied by this noble instrument.
At the end of the concert, Tea Vardosanidze, president of the Spanish Society of Iranology since 2020, will speak briefly about Persian music, its main instruments, its influences and its origins.
