Iranian festival takes music performances into villages
The 18th Iran’s Regional Music Festival will send artists in campervans to villages and nomadic areas for the first time, bringing traditional music to local communities beyond concert halls, festival secretary Pirouz Arjmand said on Monday.
The festival will run from November 30 to December 5, 2026, in Kerman,southeastern Iran, and artists will travel across Kerman province and perform with local musicians, linking regional music with tourism, Arjmand said.
Programs scheduled in seven cities across the province. Organizers aim to extend activities beyond the provincial capital to other cities and areas with rich cultural histories, helping residents feel part of the event, IRNA reported.
“The festival will focus on preserving the authenticity of regional music, reviving local rituals, supporting younger generations and documenting the works of master musicians,” Arjmand said.
Plans also include instrument-making workshops and programs to revive local traditions. Organizers will record performances and artists’ accounts to build a lasting archive of this cultural heritage.
The festival will open with a parade of artists and musical performances along the route from Arg Square to Ganjali Khan Square in Kerman. Kerman’s Culture and Arts Hall will be the main performance venue, while the historic Ganjali Khan Caravanserai will host some events.
Artists from countries along the historic Silk Road, including India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Iraq, have been invited to the international section.
The move could widen access to cultural programs in rural communities, but its lasting impact will depend on continued activities after the festival and sustained support for local musicians.
At the conference, Mahdi Shafiei, deputy culture minister for artistic affairs talked about the importance of regional music and described the festival a way to boost historical memory, cultural identity and the voices of communities across Iran.
He said the country’s cultural unity lay in bringing together different languages, traditions and stories rather than making them uniform.