Tárrega

A warm late afternoon in Alhambra Palace, several hundred years of beautiful memories, next to a small water fountain, a man holds his love close to his chest and cuddles her long hair. The man is Francisco Tárrega and his love is his guitar. It is said the dance of the water fountain inspired him to compose one of his masterpieces Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

Tárrega dedicated pieces to many cities in Spain, which are known as the best portrait of those cities ever created. However, the fact that Tárrega almost lost his sight at early ages makes the pieces more fascinating.

Tárrega arranged the greatest pieces by others for guitar, including works by Beethoven, Chopin and Mendelssohn. Tárrega and pianist composer Isaac Albéniz were the pioneers of Spanish music era in combining the prevailing Romantic trend in classical music with Spanish folk elements. Tárrega is considered to have laid the foundations for 20th-century classical guitar and for increased interest in the guitar as a recital instrument. The legendry guitarist Andrés Segovia used much of Tárrega's work on technique and many of his compositions to take the classical guitar into concert halls of Europe.

Pieces composed by Albéniz, arranged by Tárrega and performed by Segovia have affected many hearts around the world for about a century. Althought only few performances of Segovia himself are available on records, contemporary guitarists still follow his methods and try desperately to play pieces as passionately as he did.

I am not surprised that even many pianists may not believe Asturias was originally written for Piano.

Some guitarists say there is nothing more influencing than sound of a guitar, except the sound of two guitars playing together! That is one of the best characters of Tárrega art. It is hard to figure out how a single guitar plays Alhambra or Asturias.

Introducing Nour Ensemble

In my last trip to Tehran I went to my favorite store "Beethoven" which is now in mirdamad Ave. and bought couple of CDs. Here I want to tell a little about one of them "Alba" from Nour Ensemble.
"Nour Ensemble was founded in 2000 practically for the performance of the piece entitled "Alba",a new experience in combining Persian and European music." The music is a combination of Gregorian music, "Cantigas de Santa Maria"( written during reign of Alfonso X el Sabio -1221,1284-, who was known for fostering interaction between Christian, Muslim and Jewish intellectuals), The "Llibre Vernell de Montserrati"(Red Book of Montserrat, another source of spanish religious songs, written at the end of 14th century and a mixture of popular and mystic inspirations) and Persian and Kurdish Music! (The persian poems are from Baba Taher, Rumi and Hafez and the Kurdish from Nali, Mowlavi Kurd, Vafaie ghassem Moayedzadeh and folklore texts.).
I have always loved Gregorian music( though I don't understand what they say, I just appreciate their voice as a musical instrument)and kurdish music. To me what they did is not only very meaningfull , but is also very brave!
It's interesting to know that they recorded the whole work in Ardeshir Babakan's Castle,which is 1800 year old. "What is interesting about the archtiecture is that it can neither be categorized as a Parthian nor a Sassanid style. The core of Nour Ensemble music belongs to the eastern and western traditions of the middle ages. Realizing those textures in today's world, pictures Nour as an edifice standing out among its surrounding architecture."
It is made up of nine tracks:(Alleluia, Santa Maria Amar, Villancio,Alba, Cunctissimus Concantes,Uterus, Lullaby Miragres Fremosos, Novus annus or ستایش، مریم مقدس، پایکوبی، سحر،سماع، تولد، لالایی، معجزه زیبا و فصل نو)
I really liked the music. To finish this introduction I'll quote what Hossein Alizadeh wrote after hearing this work:
!امروز نور راشنیدم
پس می توان
.سایه ها و رنگ ها را هم شنید
می توان حتی عطر گلها، شکوه درختان
.و طعم تک تک میوه ها را هم شنید
،می توان چهره، نگاه، عشق انسانها را شنید
.می توان صلح را دید
،هرکس با صدای خود چیزی را ترسیم می کند
که گویی
،آنرا قبل از تولد شنیده است
.همه همصدا می شوند، هرکس با زبان خود
.مقصد یکی است
.دنیا کوچک است و پرواز پرندگان بزرگ
تو کیستی؟ از کدام دیاری؟
.من صدای نورم، پرده یی از آرزوهای دیرین
!کاشتم عشق است به تو. تو هم بکار
،منهم کاشته م با تو
در زمین، در زمین تو
،نیایش
.و ستایش
.نه از من، نه از تو
.از او....
(I listened to Nour today,Therefore it's possible to listen to shadows and colors as well, And to listen to the splendor of the trees,and to savor of each and every fruit. You can listen to faces,looks and human love, You can see peace. Man inscribes something with his voice, as if, He had heard it before coming to this world, All voices become one, each in his own language, All reach to one. Small is the world. Yet so grand is the bird's soar. Who are you?Where do you come from? "Iam the sound of light, an act of old dreams.I sow love for you. You sow too!" So I have sown with you, In my land, in yours, Prayer and Praise, Not of me, Not of you,...of Him.)
-Translations are not from me