Renowned Iranian vocalists, cultural activists, and master teachers Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat lead two Mother's Day Weekend workshops exploring Persian lullabies.
Lullabies are the most simple and pure musical expressions of love. These melodies convey a sense of comfort and security between a mother (or father or other caretaker) to a vulnerable child. Lullabies are fundamental to across cultures. They have been handed down orally from family to family, generation to generation, and have travelled from country to country as people have migrated across borders. Colored by the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and geographical and political situation of every place in which they are sung, these gentle yet powerful songs develop and transform as they are passed on from singer to singer.
After participating in the Lullabies from the Axis of Evil project in 2003, lullabies became important part of Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat’s musical repertory in their albums and performances. In this workshop the sisters will share lullabies they learned from their grandmother as well as cradle songs from a variety of Persian regional folk traditions, reshaped with their own creative musical expression and interpretation.
The workshop will be in masterclass format with each participant being invited to sing alone and receive individual coaching from Mahsa and Marjan. All participants are also asked to share a lullaby that holds special meaning for them.
Registration is limited to 20 participants and open to singers of all backgrounds, genders, geographies, and levels of experience.
About the Artists
Mahsa Vahdat is an award-winning performer of Persian vocal art and a strong advocate of freedom of expression in music. Her career has given a deeper knowledge of Iranian poetry and music to large audiences in the world and has taken Persian poetry and music to new heights. Mahsa believes in creating a universal expression of music based on her traditional and regional musical roots. Without being visible in her own society because of restrictions of female solo voice after the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in Iran, she and her sister Marjan Vahdat have continuous contact with a large audience who appreciate their art, both in Iran and abroad.
Mahsa has three decades of pedagogical experience in teaching classical Persian music to Iranian, and non-Iranian students alike, and has mentored her students on a variety of wide-ranging collaborative projects. On June 19, 2020 Mahsa celebrated the release of her new Enlighten the Night CD (available on the KKV label).
For more information, visit https://mahsavahdat.net/
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Iranian singer Marjan Vahdat's career has given a deeper knowledge about Iranian poetry and music to large audiences in Europe, America, Asia, Oceania and Africa. Marjan has developed her personal style based on the Persian vocal tradition of classical and regional folk music, with a contemporary expression. she always searched for ways to make her music relevant to the present world. Even if the origin of her styles is Iranian, she believes in her music’s ability to express a universal message of humanism and freedom.
Since 1995 she has performed as an independent singer and musician in many concerts and festivals in Asia, Europe, America and Africa. Following her participation in the album Lullabies from the Axis of Evil (2004), Marjan together with her sister Mahsa started a long lasting collaboration with the Norwegian record label Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV) and This collaboration led to a worldwide release of a series of records and a number of tours and concerts in many countries. See less
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