The World in a Grain of Sand The Shanbehzadeh Ensemble
Ya l d a Z a m a n i
Embracing life, celebrating diversity
As the country’s main trade center over the course of several centuries, the Iranian city of Būshehr—situated on a vast plain running along the Persian Gulf coastal region in the south-western part of Iran—has experienced an enormous cultural exchange between ethnic groups and populations. This includes those who travelled to Iran, such as Indians, Africans, and Arabs, as well as other Iranian populations such as Lurs, Nomads, and Jews, who left many cultural traces, their musical instruments, folklore, popular songs and stories, and their influence on the language, food, and music of this region. Music always played a vital part in all aspects of life here, accompanying work, social events, and religion, expressing hopes and dreams as well as fear and pain. It was the culture brought to this land that first shaped its music. But it was music that later influenced the culture and left its mark on everyday life. Born in Būshehr, Saeid Shanbehzadeh is one of the few musical representatives of the Persian Gulf and of his home town in particular. Offering a mesmerizing experience of music and dance from a part of the world where the meeting of cultures created an astonishing r ichness, his Shanbehzadeh Ensemble turns the stage into an invitation to embrace life and celebrate diversity, a place where sound and movement become inseparable. At the age of seven, Shanbehzadeh started playing Ney-anbān (a bagpipe made of lambskin) and Neydjofti (a double reed flute) and learned the dances and songs of his homeland. Saeid, who has since dedicated his life to protecting, preserving, and transmitting the music of southern Iran, explains that he only realized later that the music performed at different social or religious events 11
