Iran postpones Fajr Music Festival

Following the demise of former Iranian president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the 32nd edition of the Fajr International Music Festival has been postponed until Friday.

The festival, that was scheduled to open on January 11, is postponed to January 13 after the death of Iran’s Expediency Council chairman on Sunday evening.

Hashemi passed away after a heart attack at the age of 82 at a hospital in Tehran.

Born on August 25, 1934, the influential Iranian politician and writer was the fourth president of the Islamic Republic, serving from 1989 to 1997.

Following his death, all Iranian cultural and art organizations dismissed their programs for three days, paying tribute to this late honored Iranian political icon.

The festival organizers held a press conference on Monday to announce that the music festival will be held with a few changes in its schedule.

Tehran’s Milad Tower will host a few more concerts, a number of performances are scheduled to be mixed and a performance has been canceled.

The event organizers have also noted that individuals who have bought tickets in advance need to follow the new schedule of the festival.

The festival includes national and international competition sections with additional category for this year, titled ‘Cultural Iran’.

In addition to various Iranian ensembles, as well as Tehran Symphony Orchestra, a number of foreign musicians from Central Asian countries, Azerbaijan Republic, India, Lebanon, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Germany and Japan among others will take part in the festival.

Fajr International Music Festival is Iran’s most prestigious Music Festival was founded in 1986, several years after the formation of the film and theatre festivals in the artistic sphere of Iran.

Since then, the festival has enjoyed strong performances of many famous national and international artists.

The 2017 edition of the event is directed by Iranian musician and traditional vocalist Hamid-Reza Nourbakhsh, who is also the current director of Iran’s House of Music.

The festival is a platform to introduce and create awareness about less-known musicians, Nourbakhsh said.

Regardless of the new schedule, the event will come to conclusion on January 20 as before.

MG/HY