In the summer of 2014, musicians Hossein Vali (Iran) and Ignacio Béjar (Spain) meet for the first time in a meeting of Sema (turn of the dervishes) organized by Dr. Oruç Guvenç in
Yalova, near Istanbul, and from The magic came from the first moment they began to play together, improvising. Their instruments began to resonate and to speak in a common
language, as if they had always been playing together, anticipating each other in each phrase and every melody. It was music that came from the heart.
It was clear that this encounter was not accidental and that something very special had just come up that had to be shared with others.
Thus, FIROOZEH is born as an echo of the memory of shared history and the important cultural and spiritual exchange that existed between Persia and Al-Andalus centuries ago,
where characters like Ziryab, among others, created a bridge between distant worlds geographically but united by a Same feeling.
FIROOZEH tells us about the encounter and the connection beyond words, it is music that tells us about the journey and enchants us with its richness, its contained strength, its
nuances and its colors.
An original proposal, with own compositions that seeks to create something new from traditional instruments and languages giving us a message of brotherhood, and how to
share a common space through the invocation of Beauty.
Music for Peace.
Hossein Vali: Tar, Setar, Shoorangiz, Composer.
Hossein Vali (born in 1979, in Tehran) was raised in a family in which Persian art and culture was a matter of great importance, his mother being a professor of Persian literature and his father a calligrapher and painter. Hossein Vali began his career with playing Tar and Setar at the age of 12. He learned the Persian music repertoire with well-known masters such as Houshang Zarif and Mohammad Reza Lotfi and has collaborated with many bands. He studied music at Tehran’s University of Art and Architecture. Through his BA dissertation, for which he composed a piece for a trio of Violin, Cello and Piano, Hossein Vali entered the realm of contemporary music. Now he studies an MA in music composition at Tehran Art University.
In 2010, he founded the “Ansoo” music band, a world music ensemble which began by using traditional Iranian Maqam and Dastgah melodies in order to make his own musical language. Ansoo had two concerts in Tehran and recently released its first album “The Closest Planet” which contains duet pieces for Piano and Shoorangiz, a relative of the Setar.
Hossein Vali has over 12 years of experience in teaching music. In recent years he has been exploring new methods in music education. Now he is working on Ansoo as a lifetime project in the companionship of his wife Sara Zandevakili, a professional photographer. They wish to transform the learning process into a more joyful communal activity which helps each student to become more self- aware and self-confident.
Ignacio Béjar: Ney, Oud, Turkish clarinet, Composer.
Ignacio Béjar: ( Born in 1963, in Bilbao, Spain) Musician, composer, musical researcher,cultural promoter, producer and music therapist who has performed numerous concerts in places like Turkey, England, Germany, Austria, Morocco, Spain, Portugal in such prestigious places as the Berlin Philarmonie, the Festival Bridge for Peace in Istanbul, the Casa do Música in Porto (Portugal), Los Jardines de los Reales Alcázares in Seville, Colet House in London, the Instituto Cervantes in Casablanca (Morocco), Sounds of Light (a tour through Turkey), El Festival de Música de Cadaqués, the FEX (Music and Dance Festival of Granada) among many others.
And also he has participated, as musician, in many SEMA ceremonies (the whirling dervishes).
His motivation has always been that of the search for a universal language through music and improvisation to recover the ritual and healing significance of this art that all traditional cultures have used since the beginning of humanity to connect with nature, with the spiritual world; to create a sense of unity and of gathering beyond ethnic, cultural or religious differences.
In addition to participating as a founder, musician and composer in emblematic groups in World Music such as EL SOMBRERO DEL ALQUIMISTA, CARAVASAR, KHAIRKAN, ESTAMBUL or RIFAK among others, with which he tours the stages of theaters and festivals at international level, he has studied Sufi Music and Music Therapy with Dr. Oruç Guvenç from Istanbul, acquiring knowledge transmitted orally for centuries, from master to pupil in accordance with Oriental traditions from generation to generation, and has participated as a musician in “SEMA” rituals or the whirling dervishes in Spain, Turkey,
Austria and Germany and also as a member of the group TUMATA which researches and performs ritual music from Central Asia and Sufi music.
He has released two solo CDs: “EPIKEYA, la Historia de un Sueño” (2000) and “HACIA LA LUZ” (2013), apart from other albums with different groups: “AKASHA SOUND, A Journey Through Sound” (2012), “EL SOMBRERO DEL ALQUIMISTA” (2009), “ALMINARES MEDITERRÁNEOS” with the group CARAVASAR (2006).
He has made soundtracks for documentaries, cinema and plays.
He gives workshops on SUFI HEALING MUSIC, others on SUFI MUSIC, CREATIVITY AND CONSCIOUSNESS, workshops on INITIATION IN THE NEY AS AN INSTRUMENT FOR HEALING AND INTERIOR DEVELOPMENT. He also offers individual sessions with SUFI HEALING MUSIC (an ancient healing technique utilized in the hospitals of Al-Andalus and the Ottoman Empire to harmonizing and balancing through music).
He is also the creator of several cultural spaces which have been real landmarks in the alternative culture of Malaga like the DOCE LUNAS (Twelve Moons) teashop in 1994 and the CENTRO RUBAYAT in 2009.
Additionally he has organized different festivals such as the three editions of the Festival of World Music of the University of Malaga, the four editions of the Festival of World Music of the Cueva del Tesoro in El Rincón de la Victoria (Malaga), The Festival of Music of the Soul in the Bil Bil Castle in Benalmadena, among others.
Sufi Music is used by the whirling dervishes to perform their rituals, the object of which is to open the heart and connect with the divine essence we all have inside through dance, poetry and music.
Sufi Healing Music (Oriental Music Therapy), based on the principles of Sufi Music uses the different Oriental scales or “makams” to balance body, mind and soul, in such a way that each makam creates a specific state of mind for the purpose of balancing the different organs of the body. In Al- Andalus this technique was used to heal, in fact it is known that in the hospital of Maristán in the Albaycín of Granada there was a section dedicated to Oriental Music Therapy.