Iranian Week gives valuable insight

ST AIDAN’S COLLEGE played host last week to Durham’s first ever Iranian Cultural Week.

The event was organised by the Centre for Iranian Studies and was an ambitious project aiming to showcase in detail as many different aspects of Iranian culture, both traditional and modern, in five days.

Visitors had a chance to explore and celebrate the heritage of the country through a programme of film and music. There was also an exhibition of traditional Iranian arts and photography running alongside these events.

The first half of the Iranian festival featured the Iranian band Safa, which gave much-appreciated recitals of Sufi and dervish spiritual music in a series of evening concerts.

Having performed in both European and Middle Eastern countries before, singer Fariborz Alagheband said that they were very pleased to be in Durham, adding, “We think it went well and hope the audience liked it. Audience members have described it as absolutely wonderful and we enjoyed every bit of it”.

Meanwhile, artists demonstrated traditional Persian calligraphy and miniature painting live, such as Maryam Mirzaei who, like Safa, travelled all the way from Iran to be at the festival, where she continued her work in illumination at the college throughout the week.

Her colleague Mr. Salehi, an expert calligrapher, helped visitors understand the art form and explained its history in a Persian context.

A large collection of photographs and books also showed off Iran’s impressive archaeological heritage and informed visitors of the many peoples who live within Iran’s deserts, mountains and forests today as pastoral nomads.

A documentary played in the background gave visitors a a glimpse into the extraordinarily rich history of Iran and the historical influences on its art to the sixteenth century.

However, the festival also examined aspects of contemporary Iranian culture. Iranian cinema has undergone a revival and achieved international critical success over the past decade, and the screenings in the week addressed key moments in Iran’s more recent past, such as The Third Day, set in 1980 in Khoramshahr, which is a challenging examination of the Iran-Iraq War and its effects.

The event was attended by students and academics from across the UK. Executive director for the Centre for Iranian Sudies Dr. Reza Molavi said that they were “very happy to have been instrumental in the first ever cultural exchange of its type.”

Durham’s Iranian visitors certainly enjoyed the time they spent in the city, members of Safa all agreeing that, “We want to stay in Durham forever!”