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February 9th, 2021 
Awake Goy 
TEHRAN – Veteran musicians Mohammadreza Es’haqi Gorji, Maliheh Saeidi and Hassan Nahid will receive lifetime achievement awards at the 36th Fajr Music Festival, the organizers announced on Monday.
They also plan to pay tribute to composer Ahmad-Ali Ragheb, who died of cancer last December.
Es’haqi Gorji, 73, is a dotar virtuoso who is an expert on the folk music of the Mazandaran region. He has recorded over ten albums of Mazandaran folksongs, including “The Epics”, “Love Songs” and “Titi Kak”.
He has also contributed to ritual performances, including tazieh, that are organized during religious occasions every year.
Saeidi is a veteran qanun player who has also written several books about the history of the instrument. She has her own special style of playing, which helps musicians improve their performance in Iranian music.
The 72-year-old musician has collaborated as a composer in the children’s album “Sabzeye Rizeh Mizeh”, which was recorded by pianist Saman Ehteshami and actor Hamid Jebeli.
Ney virtuoso Nahid has recorded many albums with santur virtuoso Faramarz Payvar, who was also a prominent composer.
They remade numerous works by Iranian musicians, including Abolhassan Saba, Ali-Naqi Vaziri, Ruhollah Khaleqi and Rokneddian Mokhtari.
Ragheb was known as “one thousand music man” and wrote music for numerous revolutionary songs.
The epic piece “Congratulations on This Victory” was one of his most famous works composed with a poem by Hamid Sabzevari on May 24, 1982 hours after the liberation of the southwestern Iranian city of Khorramshahr during the Iran-Iraq war.
The song was recorded with singer Mohammad Golriz who also collaborated with Ragheb on another revolutionary piece “This Is the Call of Freedom from the Orient” composed by poet Sabzevari.
He also wrote music for Sabzevari’s “USA, USA, Shame on Your Deceits!”, which was performed by a chorus and solo tenor Esfandiar Qarabaghi after the occupation of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1979.
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting holds over 1,400 compositions by Ragheb in its archives.
Due to the pandemic, the 36th Fajr Music Festival will be running online from February 16 to 21.
Photo: This combination photo shows images of Iranian musicians Mohammadreza Es’haqi Gorji, Maliheh Saeidi, Hassan Nahid and Ahmad-Ali Ragheb.
MMS/YAW
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