TEHRAN -- Veteran musician Hushang Kamkar believes that Mohammadreza Shajarian’s recent performances accompanied by the Ava band did not do justice to the high standards of traditional Persian music.

“Everybody knows that Shajarian is a great vocalist, but this is not enough to guarantee his success in every concert and performance,” Kamkar told the Mehr News Agency on Monday.
“The arrangements of the concert pieces were weak and of a low standard, for example the band’s members simply repeated Shajarian’s words without attempting any improvisation,” he added.
Shajarian, along with his new band Ava, comprising his son Homayun, Majid Derakhshani, Mohammad Firuzi, Hossein Rezaeinia, and Saeid Farajpuri gave a series of concerts at Tehran’s National Grand Hall from July 30 to August 6.
The band had previously performed several concerts in Europe.
Hossein Alizadeh and Keyhan Kalhor, members of Shajarian’s former band, separated from him in late 2006 in order to work independently.
“I witnessed a chaotic performance with the vocal ability of the master being of a much higher standard than the ability of the members of the back-up group,” said Kamkar, who is the leader of Kamkars, an Iranian traditional music band.
“The Ava band’s major problems stemmed from the hastiness with which it had been formed and the members were unfamiliar with each others’ performance techniques,” he added