غزل گفتی و در سفتی بیا و خوش بخوان حافـظ

November 13, 2009 11:21 AM

Thousands of people who play setar in Iran are against me,” he said. “They say why add two more strings to the instrument? But I don’t get upset with them.

Hafez Nazeri, son of renown Persian singer Shahram Nazeri, is an Iranian setar player and composer. Tomorrow night, he will be the first Iranian composer to headline a concert at Carnegie Hall. The concert will feature a new instrument invented by Nazeri: the Hafez.

The Hafez, named for both its inventor and for the celebrated Persian poet, is a modified setar with added bass strings, making the instrument more suitable for a broader range of music.

posted by Lutoslawski (5 comments total)

Hafez plays the instrument at the end of the last link before the "more inside". Sounds really, really nice to me.
posted by Corduroy at 11:54 AM on November 13

Ain't never gonna do it without Hafez on...
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:57 AM on November 13 [1 favorite has favorites]

What a wonderful post. I wish I could go to the concert . . . gorgeous music. Thanks especially for the father/son musical clip.
posted by bearwife at 12:58 PM on November 13

This is great. I like the setar a lot, but the hafez sounds so full and beautiful. An alternate approach is to add "fretlets" to a classical guitar so that it can play quarter tones, which is what the Iranian guitarist Lily Afshar has done ("Gozaar" links to an mp3 where that guitar is used). The setar/hafez has the advantage of accommodating just intonation, though.
posted by invitapriore at 1:11 PM on November 13 [2 favorites has favorites]

Thanks, Lutoslawski.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:11 PM on November 13