37th Fajr Music Festival announces winners

The 37th edition of the Fajr Music Festival has come to an end with awarding the winners.

The closing ceremony of the gala, held on Friday at Tehran's Vahdat Hall, honored the winners of the Barbad Awards, which are presented to top musical productions of the year.

The closing ceremony was held in presence of Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili and several other cultural officials.

The minister said “Iranian musicians are among the most genuine artists of the country. They have always respected Iranian culture and rituals, and nobody is allowed to view them as anything else”.

He added “These people are our cultural asset and nobody is allowed to speak about them in an ill-mannered fashion”.

“The organizers have done well to hold art festivals under difficult conditions, and it’s not fair to generalize a weak point to other parts,” Esmaeili also noted.

He said regional Iranian music is a great treasure and asked the organizers of the Fajr Music Festival to pay special attention to the genre.

 ‘Talesh’, a musical project initiated by Majid Kalabi, placing a spotlight on melodies used in the Talesh region in the northern province of Gilan, won the Barbad Award in the regional music category.

The Barbad Award in the Modern Iranian Music without Vocals category went to ‘Provativa’ by Asou Kahzadi.

Behnam Abolqasem’s ‘Still, the Moment of Rain’ and Amin Homaee’s ‘Where Have Gone?’ won the honorable mentions in the Modern Iranian Orchestral Music with Vocals category.

In the Modern Iranian Orchestral Music with Vocals category Pouria Akhavas was selected as best singer for the album ‘Still, the Moment of Rain’.

Reza Vaali’s ‘Longing’ was selected as the best Western classical music, while Arman Mahdieh’s ‘Parallel to Infinity’ received the Barbad Award in the Instrumental Music without Vocals category.

The Pallet band’s ‘North to South’ won the award in the Vocal Pop and fusion Music Composition section, and the best singer award went to Omid Nemati for ‘Meridian Origin’.

In the Fusion Music without Vocals category, an honorable mention was presented to Hessam Inanlou ‘Amid’, and Amir Sharifi’s ‘The Story of Separation’ won the award in the Instrumental Music with Vocals category.

Noufe managed by Moeen Farzad was selected as the best label, while ‘The Bustan of Sadi’ brought the best singer award in the Instrumental Music category to Mojtaba Asgari.

‘Detresse’ by Elyas Dejahang and Majid Eidani-Asl won the award in the Pop Music without Vocals section, and the award for performance in the Classical Music category went to Mehrdad Gholami’s ‘Pieces for the Flute’.

The 37th edition of the Fajr Music Festival also honored harpist Azarnoush Salek, tombak virtuoso Morteza Ayan, and singer and kamancheh player Faraj Alipour with lifetime achievement awards.

MG/MG