TEHRAN -- Musician Hamid Motabassem, vocalist Homayun Shajarian and conductor Mohammadreza Darvishi are teaming up to give a concert entitled named Simorgh, the mythical Iranian bird, here in Tehran opening Thursday.

The location of the three-day concert is not finalized yet, since the group must first gain permission for the concert from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
In a press conference held here at Rudaki Hall on Thursday, the musicians outlined the details of their upcoming performance.
“Simorgh is a multidimensional performance and a rare event in the history of Iran’s music,” began Darvishi.
“I believe this concert will be an auspicious event in the history of Iranian music, since not many orchestras in our country perform with indigenous instruments,” he said.
The instruments for the concert will consist of six tars, three lutes, six kamanchehs (spike fiddles), one santur and several other native Iranian instruments. Accompanying will be eight vocalists and soloist Homayun Shajarian.
Musician Motabassem next continued, “The Shahnameh of Ferdowsi is a visual image of human life and is filled with tragedy. For example, the story of Zal (Rustam’s Father) is one of its biggest tragedies. The story begins with the father’s desire to have a son and when the baby is born, they see that he is an albino (zal in Persian also means albino). The king of Iran, Sam thinks his son is a fiend and orders that he be taken to the jungle and be killed.
“And Simorgh is composed of five acts describing Zal’s different stages of life; the birth of Zal, Sam and Zal, Simorgh and Zal, the return of Zal, and Zal and Rudabeh (Zal’s sweetheart).
“The vast treasure chest of Shahnameh contains stories of Iranian kings and heroes as well as the deepest feelings of mankind in various stages of life, expressing beauty, love, bravery and even hardship,” he explained.
Motabassem next described the music of Simorgh and continued, “The poetry of Ferdowsi is not like that written by Rumi or Hafez, which describes the internal nature of mankind. Instead, it describes the exterals and this is why Shahnameh is so colorful. The music must also reflect the colors and exhibit a full spectrum. One cannot recite the poetry of Ferdowsi using a single tar. Ferdowsi keeps on describing and explaining which cannot be interpreted using only one instrument, so I tried to project this wide spectrum of colors through the musical lenses of different native Iranian instruments.”
Singer Homayun Shajarian also gave his opinion of the performance and said, “The composition enjoys its own unique characteristics and presents diverse vocal sections. I believe this will be an exciting experience in compiling various instrumental and vocal tones in singing.”
Photo: Mohammadreza Darvishi conducts a group rehearsing for the Simorgh Concerts at Tehran’s Rudaki Hall on July 22, 2010. Vocalist Homayun Shajarian is also seen in the photo. (ISNA/Hamid Forutan)