MetaFilter posts tagged with iran and persia

غزل گفتی و در سفتی بیا و خوش بخوان حافـظ

Lutoslawski — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:21:09 -0800

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.

An American Hero in Iran

empath — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:42:34 -0800

On a windswept plateau near the foothills of the Sahand Mountains in northern Iran stands the grave of a martyr. An American presbyterian minister who fought and died for the Constitutionalist cause in Iran 100 years ago, Howard Baskerville is still revered by Iranians today.

Illustrations of the Shahnama, the Persian epic poem

Kattullus — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:26:29 -0800

The Princeton Shahnama Project is an "archive of book paintings--commonly known as Persian Miniatures--that were created to illustrate scenes from the Persian national epic, the Shahnama (the Book of Kings). The Shahnama is a poem of some 50,000 couplets that was composed by Abu'l Qasim Firdausi over a period of several decades in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. The core of this archive is a fund of 277 illustrations from five illustrated manuscripts of the Shahnama that are housed in Princeton University's Firestone Library." The site also has the complete Shahnama in the Warner & Warner translation but here's another translation by Helen Zimmern Many illustrated versions of the Shahnama exist. You can see a few images of The Great Mongol Shahnama with some information on two webpages on the Metropolitan Museum website and at The Legacy of Genghis Khan website, part of a 16th Century copy can be browsed on the Asia Society website and it's also been turned into a comic book. MeFite and all around gentleman & scholar tellurian posted about Cambridge University's massive Shahnama Project last Nov. 3rd which has even more images.

An electronic corpus of paintings in Shahnama manuscripts

tellurian — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:52:18 -0800

The Shahnama or “Book of Kings” is the longest poem ever written by a single author: Abu’l-Qasim Hasan Firdausi, from Tus in northeastern Iran. His epic work narrates the history of Iran (Persia) since the first king, Kayumars, who established his rule at the dawn of time, down to the conquest of Persia by the Muslim Arab invasions of the early 7th century A.D.

Persia

homunculus — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:05:12 -0800

Persia: Ancient Soul of Iran. "A glorious past inspires a conflicted nation."

Pictures from the land of my country's supposed enemy

localhuman — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 10:49:53 -0800

This collection of photos contains many beautiful photographs of Iran. Here is a link to the photography sorted into galleries. *note: some broken links, but all in all a nice collection-

Images of Iran

BuddhaInABucket — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 07:22:18 -0800

Images of Iran. Includes pictures of art, landscapes, and architecture.

The Persians Call it Nesf-e-Jahan (Half The World)

adamvasco — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 07:15:47 -0800

Esfahan is home to the Blue Mosque and other buildings with their unique blue tiles which are beautifully shown in photographs by flickr's horizon. Esfahan is a world heritage site and is home to many examples of traditional Persian Architecture which is made up of eight traditional forms which taken together form the foundation on which it was based in the same way that music was once based on a finite number of notes.

Cristobal Vila's Isfahan Movie

silusGROK — Sat, 07 May 2005 17:55:49 -0800

An amazing piece of animation made all the better by its magical subject: the lovely architecture of Persia and its storybook capital for some 200 years, Isfahan. Cristobal Vila, principle of Eterea Studios, shares behind the scenes information... and you can even purchase a print from the movie, if you're so inclined. Be sure to check out his other works. Via Times & Seasons.

Images of Iranian actresses say a lot about the social changes

hoder — Mon, 08 Mar 2004 20:37:48 -0800

Iranian actress, Hedieh Tehrani, is one of the most popular stars who, unlike the previous actresses, usually portrays a strong and independent women in her works (See more). On the other side is Niki Karimi who once was the hottest actress in the country, showing a rather traditional image of the Iranian women. What is this change of taste telling about the Iranian society? See more stills from Iranian movies.

Love and Yearning

moonbird — Sun, 19 Oct 2003 18:52:58 -0800

Love and Yearning: mystical and moral themes in Persian poetry and painting. (Flash req'd)

Iranian blogger arrested

dagny — Sun, 20 Apr 2003 12:34:56 -0800

Iranian blogger arrested Sina Motallebi, well-known blogger and journalist was arrested this morning. He is accused of threatening the national security by giving interviews to Persian language radios outside Iran, wrtiting articles both in newspapers and his weblog. His weblog, WebGard (i.e. web surfer), was among the top 5 Persian most popular weblogs while his wife, Farnaz, has her own weblog, mostly writing about their newly-born baby boy, Mani. [via jj]