A Poetry reading and music at the Mexican Cultural Center in Tehran
03/10/09By Syma Sayyah, Tehran
In Tehran, there has been a sniff of spring as the temperature is slowly rising, despite the sudden yet short lived rushes of cold wind, and we have been lucky in attending some cultural events, besides our less often but regular gallery hopping. One of the most interesting events that we attended last week was at the Mexican Cultural Center which is not far from our house, in one of the side streets off Africa Avenue (better known to all as Jordan Avenue).
Madina
On arrival we were greeted by Ms Shirin Rezvani, the cultural assistant, and Ms Banafsheh Bazri, the ambassadors assistant, as well as His Excellency Carlos Tirado Zavala, the gentle, soft spoken Mexican Ambassador who also welcomed the guests and made an introduction of the cultural event, at the beginning of the program which lasted over an hour.
Carlos Tirado Zavala, Mexican Ambassador
During the program we enjoy the reading of poetry by the great Iranian poet, writer, translator and performer Ms Nahid Kabiri, who has recently been a guest performer at the Barcelona and Columbia poetry festivals. Ms Kabari gave us an excellent recital of eight of her own poems which were accompanied by Mohammad Farmanian on guitar and tar.
Nahid Kabiri
All of these poems have been translated and were given in both Farsi and Spanish in the leaflets that were distributed. The audience enthusiastically received each poem. I like both her writing and poems, especially one which titled Az taromi be sayeh (De la balaustrada a la sombra).
Mohammad Farmanian
Ms Kabiri's performance was followed by Madina, a group of 12 Iranian musicians which the audience enjoyed very much. The finale was Ms Kabiri reading a few lines of her poetry along with the Madina group, which was most stunning and moved all the guests.
Madina-4
One can only hope that Tehran, thirsty for culture, enjoys more of such interesting cultural events. We would like to thank Ambassador Tirado Zavala and his staff for arranging such a wonderful event which was attended by many literary figures, such as Mrs. Simin Behbahani, Mr Doulatabbadi, Mr Cyrus Ebrahimzadeh, husband of Ms Kabiri, Mr and Mrs. Zarafshan, Ms. Mahin Khadivi, Ms Mojdeh Daghighi, Mr & Mrs. Jahangir Hedayat, Nahid Tavasouli and her family, Amirhassan Cheltan, Ms Hedieh Sadr and Mr Alberto Zanconato among many others.
Your places were empty (we missed you). Here we have a few photos to share with you.
Mrs. Simin Behbahani
Mr. Doulatabbadi
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Ambassador Zavala and Nahid Kabiri
Mrs. Simin Behbahani and Mr. Amirhassan Cheltan
Madina and Nahid Kabiri