Iranian Music

Maryam Akhondy (born 1957) is a classical trained singer from Teheran/Islamic Republic of Iran. She was student of Ostad Esmail Mehrtasch and Ostad Nassrollah Nassehpour, two masters of classical Iranian music. Because of the difficult situation for artists in Iran after the Islamic Revolution of 1979 – especially female artists – she moved to Europe and lives since 1986 in Cologne (Germany).After 1986 Maryam Akhondy started working with other Iranian musicians in exil. With “Nawa” and „Tschakawak“ – both groups of traditional classical Iranian music – she performed in Germany and Scandinavia.At the same time she founded “Ensemble Barbad”, a group with three to five musicians, all classical trained artists. Barbad has been touring all over Europe for the past years…

History of Iranian Piano Music. When we consider urban Iranian music of the 20th century, the piano is unquestionably one of the most culturally influential actors and symbols. The piano first appeared in Iran as a gift from Napoleon III, to the court of King Fath’Ali Shah (Qajar dynasty, 1797–1834). It was then progressively incorporated by the master court musicians of Nassereddin Shah (Qajar, 1848–1896); the process took a mere 50 years. Sheherazade: At certain moments in this collection, the music reaches the threshold of atonality, that is, writing which takes us out of the Iranian space of the music.