Iran’s Regional Music Festival underway
The 16th Iran’s Regional Music Festival is currently being held in a national scope from June 27 to July 14.
The festival, organized by the Iranian Music Association in collaboration with the Cultural and Islamic Guidance Departments of various provinces nationwide, is non-competitive in nature, according to IRNA.
The event, hosted by five provinces, namely Golestan (June 27 to 29), Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari (July 1 to 3), East Azarbaijan (July 5 to 7), Kermanshah (July 8 to 10), and Kerman (July 12 to 14), is overseen by Mohammad-Ali Mer’aati as the secretary and is carried out under the auspices of the Music Office of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
In Golestan province, the festival came to an end on June 29 after showcasing four captivating folk music performances of different styles.
For a span of three days at the city’s Varna venue, various musical groups hailing from the provinces of Golestan, Tehran, Mazandaran, Qazvin, North Khorasan, and Alborz entertained the crowd with their distinctive folk and local music in a non-competitive festival, the report added.
Although the festival was traditionally held annually in Kerman, southern Iran, last year the organizers decided to move it to Gorgan, reportedly due to a lack of technical infrastructure at the central hall of the city that was supposed to accommodate the participating musicians.
The 15th festival concluded with the introduction of the Lotfi Medal by the organizers.
The medal is named after Mohammadreza Lotfi, the late master of stringed Iranian instruments and composer, who worked with great musicians such as vocalist Mohammadreza Shajarian.
The decoration will be awarded biennially to musicians with outstanding works. In the previous year, the festival welcomed four musical groups from Turkey, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan alongside various ensembles originating from diverse regions of Iran.