A less heard song from Mohammad Reza Shajarian in a theater + sound

Theater News Base: The official page of Shajarian House has recently published a different and less heard performance by Mohammad Reza Shajarian. This work is related to a ritual play in which Shajarian played the role of Taghi, the key maker.

The description of this piece reads as follows:

“What you are hearing is actually a part of a ritual drama series with the theme of” Chaharshanbeh Soori “in which Professor Mohammad Reza Shajarian was present in the role of Taghi, the key maker. The poems of this play were written by Abolghasem Halat based on some ritual poems of old Tehran and the master Ismail Mehrtash also composed and directed the collection.

Ismail Khan Mehrtash, composer and theater director, was the head of the Barbad community during the heyday of the old Lalehzar as a cultural and artistic hangout in Tehran. At that time, Mehrtash was preparing aprons on the theme of traditional Iranian rituals such as New Year, Haftsin, Yalda night, spring, various jobs, autumns and songs of traveling sellers, whose songs came from the voices of people in the streets and bazaars. Some satirical poets, especially the late Abolghasem Halat, based on these folk poems, reconstructed some of these songs and Master Mehrtash composed them.

Among Mehrtash’s works, two musical plays “Chaharshanbe Soori” and “Haft Sin” have been made in the atmosphere of Eid and Nowruz nights in old Tehran.

Muzaffar Shafiee, who has appeared in both theaters as an actor-singer, says: “The actors of Chaharshanbeh Soori (because it was musical) all dominated the song. Apart from Professor Shajarian and Mohammad Montashari, Ahmad Arabani (a famous cartoonist), Mohammad Amin Ramezani and I were all students in Mehrtash singing class. Master Shajarian played the key role with a heavy make-up, and I played the role of his student. This relationship later came true in singing, and after Mehrtash’s death, I went to Shajarian to study singing. At the time of the TV recording on Wednesday, Souri Shajarian was a well-known figure due to her singing in radio stations and the Shiraz Art Festival, and she attended the show out of Mehrtash’s credit and respect. In addition to directing, Mehrtash played the strings with a person named Zahedi. Sadeghi accompanied them with violin and Behzad Razavinia accompanied them with tonbak along with three actresses. “Syrian Wednesday was broadcast on television every year on the eve of Eid and during the Nowruz holidays from 1975 until the time of the Syrian Revolution.”