A musician believes that the closure of the Fajr Music Festival could be a wake-up call for the coming years, explaining, “It was possible that if the economic situation was difficult next year, the authorities would not hold “They should not consider the festival as a special issue and spend its budget on other issues, which could be a wake-up call for this festival.”
In an interview with ISNA, Hamid Askari, the leader of the Ordibehesht Choir, said about the virtualization of the 36th Fajr Music Festival: “The Ordibehesht Choir is also present at the Fajr Music Festival this year, and due to the existing restrictions, we have prepared only four pieces which will be published from the festival platforms”.
He emphasizes: We recorded our works in compliance with health protocols; In such a way that the singers of the group never gathered around each other and no rehearsals were done in this sense and they recorded all the pieces as audio files in their house, then it was done in the studio, mixing and mastering and again based on the audio version, the choirs Sent the recorded video; Finally, the works, editing and video of the performances were prepared. Among the works of the Ordibehesht Choir, the piece “The Opening” can be seen, which is based on the English translation of Surah Al-Hamad and is a novel work in its kind.
time the members of the Ardibehesht choir came together, he went back to the Fajr Music Festival in 2009, and since then we have not had any rehearsals; For this reason, naturally, the sounds have dropped to some extent and are out of readiness. However, the members of Ordibehesht Choir have tried to perform the desired quality pieces with individual exercises and with maximum power. We tried to participate in this festival for a very important reason; And that is the belief in the need for artistic dynamism in the current context in which everything has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, energies have come down and the performing arts have been threatened. In my opinion, attending this festival helps the dynamic movement of art in the society.
Askari states: In such an event, the quality of the work may be lower than the live performance of the scene, but this guarantees our artistic life. The Fajr Music Festival has always been an exhibition of musical achievements, and regardless of all the currents that have formed around this festival, it has always strived to strengthen the country’s music art. Certainly what we see in a live performance will never happen in a virtual performance; Because live performance has its own characteristics, In such a way that the sound with all the acoustic features reaches the viewer. However, in virtual performance, some of these sounds and acoustic properties of sound can not be recorded and transmitted; So the performance that is recorded is very different and not comparable. It should also be added that the artist creates a part of the spirit of each performance in interaction with the audience, and in fact, the audience in the concert hall participates in the performance of the piece, which is absent this year and of course affects the quality of performances!
The head of the music faculty of the University of Arts in response to the question whether it was not better that this period of the festival was not held? “Experience has shown that when something stops in the country, it will be very difficult to get it back on track, and unpredictable things may happen in the future,” he said. Basically, not holding the festival in one period will lead to its weakening, and now the goal is to preserve the life of the festival. It should be added that giving hope and creating energy in the current situation is a kind of worship. Scientific research has shown that music can reduce stress and improve the function of the human brain and strengthen the immune system.
In the end, we raise the issue with him: was it possible for the Fajr Music Festival to be held like a face-to-face film festival? Which states: If experts in any field comment, things may go better. In this situation, for example, in the field of health, medical professionals or the Corona Anti-Corruption Headquarters, which is the decision-making authority, have the authority to make decisions, and of course, if the Corona Headquarters allowed this, it might have been possible to do so using facilities. But there were some other considerations and sensitivities about music that were not ineffective; For example, the fact that a significant number of musicians have to sit next to each other when performing orchestral works, for example, it is possible that the wind blowing of the wind musician besides the orchestra musicians also engages the audience; While at the film festival, the works are shown on screen and the “performance process” is not dangerous.
