Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Afghanistan and Iran follow ups!

Last week I quoted from Rory Stewart's The Places in Between - a walk through the wilds of Afghanistan, one of the commenters, gautami tripathy, referred me to her review which I've just - now! - got around to reading, well worthwhile a visit and here's the link.
The Places in Between uncovers and revels in the diversity, strains and struggles of the people, their land and culture. It is a fascinating journey into a place as diverse as Afghanistan. A man’s walk brings all of it alive for us. We get a very good glimpse into a world wholly unknown to us.

In Iran, following the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Shah Pliable writes a piece about the changes and non-changes especially viewed though the eyes of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. He also covers the present state of Iranian music:
He quotes wikipedia:
'In 2007, Keyvan Yahya, young mathematician and musician that has done many works on mathematical foundations of music theory and his special field image processing, established a symphony orchestra named Satrap Philharmonic Orchestra,this orchestra performs some classical and modern music by western composer and also concerns Persian symphonic pieces in its repertoire.
It is excellent news that contemporary music is now being programed in Iran. However, 30 years after the revolution, the cultural climate in the country remains fragile.
We went to see Persepolis back at the end of 2007.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This paragraph you've qouted from Wikipedia has been written by this person, Keyvan Yahya, himself. I know this man for years, and I can assure you that he is not in a very healthy state of mind. I suggest you to refer to more accurate resources regarding persian music influential people.

rajm said...

An interesting objection to an anodyne item which was, I see, removed from wikipedia last night by Maryam6182 - is that you? I think a little more googling around Keyvan Yahya is called for to establish what's going on here.

Anonymous said...

You can google him more, but I guess you may just find the same quoted part from Wikipedia or some of his delusional statements.
I just wanted to tell you that Wikipedia is not a very strong source for getting your information. Specially when it doesn't have a valid reference.
This charlatan has shamelessly presented himself as a prominent Iranian musician and mathematician and has put his own name besides some hardworking, talented Iranian artists. You should understand that my concern is that people like him have a tendency of harming the reputation of any well respected Iranian artist or scientist.

rajm said...

I'm hesitant for a couple of reasons -
- you're anonymous though there are good reasons as well as bad reasons for that considering where you're commenting from!
- I'm surprised you've not commented on the blog I'm quoting (not wikipedia!) or is it waiting moderation there?
- Your change to wikipedia leaves the article giving the impression (maybe true) that there is little indigenous Iranian 'western-like classical' music, something which probably please the authorities
- I'm making other investigations and will report back, one way or the other - thanks for the trigger to this!

rajm said...

I've added a new post on this issue, you should also see On an Overgrown Path for more information.