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World premiere

Forbidden Echoes

Hani Mojtahedy, Andi Toma, Golfam Khayam, Nader Adabnejad, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest

Copyright information:Siamand Mohammadi

Musicians of The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will play with Iranian musicians using Western and Persian instruments to create extraordinary sound worlds in new music full of wistfulness, beauty and fierce protest. Led by André de Ridder, they will perform the delicate music of Golfam Khayam, who works and resides in Teheran. The performance will also mark the world premiere of Towards Affinity from the young Nader Adabnejad, who was trained and lives in Maastricht.


Furthermore, the Kurdish-Iranian singer Hani Mojtahedy – together with producer Andi Toma (Mouse on Mars) and arranger Ian Anderson – presents Forbidden Echoes, a captivating song cycle about loss and liberation. This work was based on the story of Shirin, a woman who hides in the mountains to mourn her lost love. The mountain in the Kurdish borderland of northern Iraq and Iran was later named after her: Jabal Shirin.


It was on this mountain that Mojtahedy sang Shirin’s centuries-old Kurdish laments once more, her voice echoing through the valley where countless victims of political struggle lay buried. The sound reached the Iranian side of the mountains, where women are not permitted to sing alone, only in choirs. Mojtahedy and Toma will bring this echo back to life in Amsterdam. Toma will use a range of microphones to create an acoustic echo chamber, while Mojtahedy - like Shirin at one time in the mountains - sings her songs at the Muziekgebouw. 



Ancient Persia has a long, rich musical tradition that saw regular renewal throughout the ages. Years of oppression would alternate with periods in which connection with other cultures was encouraged. After 1979’s Iranian Revolution, most public music performances were banned, and in current-day Iran the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and State broadcaster control the dissemination of music. Despite this, Iranian musicians manage to bless the world all over, also within Iran, with exceptional new music.   


works

Nader Adabnejad

Towards Affinity for ney, Iranian percussion and strings (commissioned composition by Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, world premiere)


Golfam Khayam  

Concert for viola, santur and ensemble (new arrangement)


Hani Mojtahedy

Forbidden Echoes (2022, i.c.w. Andi Toma, new arrangement: Ian Anderson) 

First part: Waterfall


Golfam Khayam

Concert for viola, santur and ensemble

Second part

Third part


Hani Mojtahedy

Forbidden Echoes

Second part: Valley


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dates

Fri June 27 8:30 PM

Sat June 28 8:30 PM

prices

  • default including drink from € 38
  • CJP/student/scholar incl. a drink € 17,75

information

  • English surtitles: English, Dutch

  • 1 hour 30 minutes

  • Kioomars Musayyebi - Santur

    Noah Trennhaus, Günter Plewnia - DOL NRW Tonhalle Düsseldorf

  • André de Ridder

    Milagro Elstak

  • Michael Gieler

Credits

music Nader Adabnejad, Golfam Khayam, Hani Mojtahedy, Andi Toma, Ian Anderson conductor André de Ridder santur Kioomars Musayyebi vocals Hani Mojtahedy electronics Andi Toma production Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra solo viola Michael Gieler ney Marianne Noordink ud Fouad Samiei percussion Reza Samani, Bence Major flute Kersten McCall clarinet Hein Wiedijk bassoon Justin Cherry French horn Laurens Woudenberg harp Doriene Marselje piano Ramon van Engelenhoven violin Mirelys Morgan Verdecia, Christian van Eggelen, Gemma Lee, Nadia Ettinger, Joanna Westers, Leonie Bot viola Saeko Oguma, Otoha Tabata cello Johan van Iersel, Yong-Jun Le double bass Léo Genet

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