IRAN: Time to Learn about and Cherish a Rich Culture & Land - A Beautiful People

For more than one thousand years, the Silk Road was the vital trade link between medieval Europe and the exotic lands that stretched across the vast expanses of Asia.

The inner life of the people who lived along the Silk Road is carried on in the music, poetry, and visual arts that express the most profound experiences of the soul.

From Istanbul, a choir of Dervishes sings Persian poetry in its traditional form, as performed at the court of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century.

A Sufi call to prayer is performed on the ney, a reed flute whose tone is the symbol of the ecstatic, in an order of Dervishes founded in the 13th century by the poet and mystic Jallaludin Rumi. A Sufi melody is performed on the ney in the mode of nostalgia, bringing the past and present together in a timeless rhythm. A flute solo from Samarqand improvises on a Sufi theme, evoking the mystical feeling of this ancient land.

The DVD includes a 20-page booklet with detailed music and photo identification. "Judith Frey's DVD on the Silk Road brings to life a marvelous artistic combination of visual representations of architectural treasures with rare and wondrous musical selections from a private collection." Dr. Brenda Romero, Chair of Musicology, University of Colorado-Boulder "The DVD is a stunning journey through music, art, and poetry from Istanbul to Samarqand."
Wes Blomster, music critic, The Boulder Daily Camera
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(While unavailable at Amazon - surely there are some available other ways. Do let readers of this blog know if you find copies of this interesting DVD and/or other such ways to learn and celebrate Iranian culture, nature, history and land with a comment below.)

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