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TITLE: Classical Music of Persia: The Precious Heritage of Iranians
SPEAKER: Roya Bahrami
EVENT DATE: 04/02/2008
RUNNING TIME: 56 minutes
DESCRIPTION:
Honoring the arrival of Spring and celebrating the age old tradition of Nowruz, Roya Bahrami presented a lecture-recital based on her research to give historical and structural review of Persian Classical Music. The recital component was selections from her recently released album "Roya," inspired by the timeless wisdom of Persian poets Rumi, Hafez and Sepehri, as well as Persian roots of Spanish Flamenco.
Speaker Biography: Born and raised in Iran, Roya Bahrami moved to the United States in 1977 and worked as a telecommunications engineer for 20 years before dedicating herself full-time to what had been a part-time career as a musician. With more than 22 years of experience performing on her Persian santur, she has studied the Persian Classical repertoire (radif) with the leading masters of the art form. Bahrami has performed at numerous educational and cultural institutions in Washington D.C. area, including the National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian Institution's Freer and Sackler Galleries, the Arts Club of Washington, Mary Washington University, George Washington University and the University of Maryland. She has also performed at similar venues in New York, West Virginia, Oregon and the state of Washington. In 1999, Bahrami appeared on Spain's national television Program "Imaginaria" broadcast live from Granada, Spain, and later that year released her first CD, in which she explored the melding of Persian melodies with other musical traditions. In 2004, Bahrami composed santur pieces for the flamenco dancer, Carmela Greco, and accompanied Greco on her 2004-2005 U.S. tour. Bahrami holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland.