{"id":316280,"date":"2026-05-15T00:08:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:08:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/316280\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T00:08:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T00:08:15","slug":"iranian-artists-embrace-music-as-a-salve-for-strife-in-their-homeland-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/316280\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian artists embrace music as a salve for strife in their homeland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good news from Iran is hard to come by,<\/a> a situation that has prevailed since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.<\/a> But 2026 has marked a new nadir for one of the world\u2019s oldest civilizations, with the government\u2019s massacre of anti-regime protestors in January and widespread destruction from the United States\u2019 and Israel\u2019s intermittent war.<\/p>\n

For Iranian artists long exiled from their homeland,<\/a> the conflict has heightened the difficulties and dangers of keeping in touch with family and colleagues in Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been cut off,\u201d said Sacramento-based vocalist Marjan Vahdat,<\/a> who performs at The Freight in Berkeley on May 24 in a concert co-presented by Pleasant Hill-based Diaspora Arts Connection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can buy internet access but it\u2019s very expensive. No matter what happens the government isolates people. The executions of protestors don\u2019t stop, and they use them as a tool for spreading fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vahdat is no stranger to the government\u2019s tactics. She and her sister, Richmond-based vocalist Mahsa Vahdat, were forced into exile when they were charged with performing outside unveiled, after a rooftop video of them went viral on YouTube. As female performing artists they were essentially banned from pursuing their calling at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the revolution my family was in trouble,\u201d Vahdat said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t go to the university. After high school I had to go to Germany to study musicology. After facing my sentence I had to move again. I was not able to perform in Iran but I wanted to keep the base in Iran. I left about eight years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

A regular collaborator with Kronos Quartet, Vahdat presents a different side of her music in collaboration with Orange County-based\u00a0Sahba Motallebi<\/a>, a Grammy Award-winning master of the six-string tar, an essential instrument in classical Persian music. Motallebi doesn\u2019t usually perform as an accompanist for vocalists, and the Freight performance marks a reunion for a relationship that started when they were teens in Tehran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to play in Bah\u00e1\u02bc\u00ed community events when we were so young,\u201d Vahdat said. \u201cWhen I found she lives in Orange County we said let\u2019s go to the stage together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focusing on Vahdat\u2019s repertoire of classical settings for verse by great Persian poets both ancient (Hafez, Rumi) and contemporary (Forough Farrokhzad), as well as songs she\u2019s gathered from Iran\u2019s various ethnic groups, the project includes percussionist Nariman Assadi on tombak and daf.<\/p>\n

Rather than performing as defiance against repression, Vahdat sees singing as\u00a0an act of strength, resilience and self-protection. \u201cThis is my safe zone, a sanctuary where I feel the best,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s ultimate freedom. As someone who had to leave Iran and live in exile, I find my home in my music and voice and teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Vahdat\u2019s music is a bridge that connects classical practice with contemporary urgency, vocalist Mamak Khadem<\/a> brings Persian classical vocals into trance music settings in Axiom of Choice with<\/a> guitarist Loga Ramin Torkian. A creative force on the world music scene in the 1990s, the\u00a0Los Angeles ensemble is playing two reunion concerts, regrouping for the first time in two decades May 16 at Marines\u2019 Memorial Theatre in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Axiom also performs in L.A., and while the concerts were planned before the outbreak of war,\u00a0Khadem sees her music as a response to the divisions that have beset the Iranian diaspora, with some seeing the conflict as a potential opportunity for overthrowing the regime. She sees the war as an unmitigated disaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m totally against the Islamic Republic, but right now a lot of people are pro-war and say that people against the war are backing the Islamic Republic,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Bay Area, some in the Iranian community have been gathering weekly at Central Stage in Richmond for dialogue and support and sharing information gleaned from family and friends in Iran. A manifestation of that spirit takes place May 15 at Ashkenaz in Berkeley, where oud player and composer Sirvan Manhoobi leads \u201cSirvan Manhoobi\/Chant of Compassion: A Benefit Concert for Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

A fundraiser for the Keep Children in School Foundation\u2019s emergency relief fund, which provides food, clothing and other basic needs to more than 6,000 families in Iran, it\u2019s a talent-rich gathering of Persian musicians, including percussionist Nariman Assadi.<\/p>\n

Like Manhoobi, several of the players have worked extensively in productions by Diaspora Arts Connection, which focuses on Iranian performers but also includes artists from across the wider region.<\/p>\n

In the face of differences in musical approach and politics, music and poetry help bring the diasporic world together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat makes a difference in how I listen, it\u2019s not the type of music someone does,\u201d Mamak said. \u201cIt\u2019s all the elements that make a good project, and beautiful voices like Marjan and her sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Andrew Gilbert at\u00a0jazzscribe@aol.com.<\/p>\n

IRANIAN MUSICIANS ON STAGE<\/p>\n

Mehrekani\/Chant of compassion: 8 p.m. May 15 at Ashkenaz, Berkeley; $25- $100; www.ashkenaz.com.<\/p>\n

Axiom of Choice: 7:30 p.m. May 16 at Marines\u2019 Memorial Theatre in San Francisco; $56-$127; www.diasporaartsconnection.org<\/p>\n

Marjan Vahdat and Sahba Motallebi: 7 p.m. May 24 at The Freight, Berkeley; $39-$64; www.thefreight.org<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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