ISRAELI-PERSIAN SINGER LIRAZ - "BIA BIA" (2020)

Israeli-Persian singer Liraz presents a one hour mix of 70’s Persian music through to psychedelic contemporary music, blended with stories of her heritage.

She brought together musicians from conflicting countries Iran and Israel to work on an album in secret and release it in the midst of a global pandemic.

Called “Zan” (2020) Persian for women, the album is a long-held dream for Charhi, fusing her Israeli roots and Iranian upbringing and paying tribute to the women of Iran. She’s set to perform Sunday in Schenectady on the Music Haven Stage in Central Park.

“These musicians are my brothers and sisters, but our countries are enemies. If they were caught, they would be jailed,” Charhi told Songlines Magazine.

Charhi was born in Israel, after her parents, who are Sephardic Jews of Iranian-Jewish descent, left Iran in 1970. That was years before the Iranian Revolution and during a time when Iran and Israel had close ties. In the ensuing years, the two countries entered into a proxy conflict.

However, growing up, Charhi felt like she was part of both cultures.

“I grew up in a very Iranian old-school home and through the second hand, I was very Israeli,” Charhi said. She spoke Farsi at home and Hebrew in school.

Her family has been rooted in music for generations. Her grandmother was a singer, though because she was a woman, she was prevented from performing and having the career she hoped for.
Chahri’s aunt Rita Yahan-Farouz, known simply as Rita, is a popular contemporary Israeli singer.

A SEPARATION [KINEMATOGRAF, 2011]

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT [KINEMATOGRAF, 2014]

GOLSHIFTEH FARAHANI IN 'PIERRE DE PATIENCE' [KINEMATOGRAFI, 2012]

JAVAD MAROUFI [GOLDEN DREAMS & OTHER ROMANTIC MELODIES, IRAN 197x] - PERSIAN MUSIC ON THE PIANO

Javad Maroufi was born in Tehran in 1919.

He was one of the first musicians who chose to perform Persian music on the piano.
Piano and violin were brought to Persia during the reign of the Qajar King Nassereddin-Shah. In the beginning, these instruments could only be found in the royal palaces and the homes of the nobility.

Qolamreza Salar Moazez, Motamedolmolk Yahyaian, and Mahmoud Mofakham were among the first musicians who introduced the piano in Persia. Alinaqi Vaziri taught piano in his music school, and later, prominent musicians like Moshirhomayoun Shahrdar, Hossein Ostovar and Javad Maroufi were the ones who were admired by the lovers of this instrument and by ordinary people.


 

Maroufi was the son of Moussa Maroufi, a renowned player of the tar.
Mousa paid special attention to his son Javad’s musical education. After completing elementary school, Javad Maroufi attended Alinaqi Vaziri's School of Music. He started with the tar, but turned to the piano after a few years. Maroufi graduated from Vaziri’s School of Music in 1932. He went on to receive a diploma from the Tehran Conservatory, where he studied Western music.
He believed that, in order to be able to play Persian music on the piano, one should also master the techniques of Western music. Maroufi began working at Radio Iran when it was established in 1941.

He collaborated closely with the great Rouhollah Khaleghi as a piano soloist, as well as an arranger of works of other composers.

He taught piano, music theory, and solfege at the School of National Music for many years. He also composed many original works for piano solo.

Maroufi passed away in 1994.