TEHRAN – The 2nd International Music Festival of Muhammad, the Prophet of Kindness (S) will open in Tehran today.

“Music groups from different countries in addition to Iranian musicians will be giving their performances in several cultural centers across Tehran,” director of the Art and Cultural Organization of Tehran Municipality Mahmud Salahi said in a press conference held on Sunday.

The groups are coming from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Pakistan, Tunisia and Tajikistan, he remarked.

Jean During, a renowned French ethnomusicologist and foremost expert on the music of Inner Asia, has been invited to this edition of the festival, he added.

A senior fellow at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris (CNRS), During has published over a dozen works and more than fifty recordings. 

The French expert, along with over 40 musicians, has been invited to attend the international section of the festival, he said. 

Musicians Ahmad Pejman, Esmaeil Tehrani, Keivan Pahlevan, Karim Qorbani, Reza Mahdavi and Amir Abdolhosseini are among the selection board members, he stated.

The festival has been organized by the Art and Cultural Organization of Tehran Municipality to promote folkloric music on Prophet Muhammad (S) and will be running until Thursday.

RM/YAW