Seminar of "Persian Messiah" held
10 Dec 2011 17:12
Mahmoud Omidsalar, the scholar of Shahnameh, who had come to Iran to attend the seminar of "Persian Messiah" said:" Emotions and feelings should be set aside in a literary research, especially regarding "Shahnameh" which in most of cases can be misunderstood. "Shahnameh" must indeed be analyzed with fairness and accuracy, rather than poetic thoughts.
IBNA: The seminar of "Persian Messiah" was held in the presence of Shahnameh scholars, artists and a group of officials and students of Tehran University by the Students’ Organization of Academic Jihad, at Ferdowsi Hall of Tehran University, on Monday November 21.
Ferdowsi has indeed immortalized the Iranian culture
During the session, Reza Faridzadeh, president of the Student's Organization of Academic Jihad, emphasizing on holding such a meeting in honor of Ferdowsi, called him " A great man at the peak of Iranian literature and wisdom".
He continued: Ferdowsi is the incomparable master of Persian literature and poetry and the world's biggest epic poet. Composing Shahnameh, he not only immortalized Persian Language, but also the entire culture and history and in general the Iranian races’ nobility.
Faridzadeh added: Ferdowsi knew well that by keeping alive a particular language of a nation; in fact, he would have gifted immortality and life to the nation.
He empshasized: Shahnameh is a treasure of wisdom and knowledge and it reminds us the lessons of humanity, morality and virtue.
At the end of his speech he pointed out to the objective of the meeting and said: Besides celebrating Iranian prominent figures, the goal of the meeting is to acquaint students with the rich sources of Islamic-Iranian identity more than before.
Poor cultural management
Then Hojat Al-Islam Ebadi, the head of the Presidential office of province's culture and art work group emphasized that all the literati and intellectuals talk about Ferdowsi in their assessments and said: Iran has great celebrities that if they are introduced to the world punctually, others cannot register or introduce them as their own figures.
He added: But unfortunately, we suffer from some sort of weakness in cultural management, and this is why most of our cultural possessions have been arrogated by and registered under the name of other countries.
Ebadi noted: Ferdowsi is the best option of paying attention to the Iranian celebrities; and the meeting is in fact the unveiling session of “Iranian Figures Celebration Secretariat” which has been coincident with the commemoration of Ferdowsi.
Moreover, Reza Khakrahov, responsible for the printing and publication department of the National Academy of Tajikistan delivered a lecture on “Shahnameh in Tajikistan," and said: Ferdowsi and Shahnameh are much respected in Tajikistan. Our country has celebrated its obtained independence for 20 years.
He added: after the former regime statue was collapsed by the demonstrators; the statue of Ferdowsi was built and installed instead.
Khakrahov pointed out to the poets of Tajikistan and said: the great poets of Tajikistan such as Layegh Shirali have some poems inspired by Shahnameh. We also have contemporary poets who have many poems and books to describe Ferdowsi and Shahnameh.
Then explaining about the reasons of Ferdowsi's importance and his impact on the world he said: both Ferdowsi and Shahnameh have universal characters; when Ferdowsi pens the great personages like “Rostam” and “Esfandyar”, these figures will no longer remain within the Iranian borders; they will inevitably go beyond and obtain universal importance.
Bring Shahnameh out of the “the graveyards of the libraries”
Moreover Amir Sadeghi performed some Naqali pieces which were widely welcomed by the students.
In this part Sadeghi said: Over the Persian history; the traditional coffee shops and scops have only shouldered the burden of reading Shahnameh and reclaiming Ferdowsi. Even today Ferdowsi and Shahnameh are still being kept alive in the traditional coffee shops as well.
He emphasized: most of the literature colleges, especially Tehran University are mostly responsible about Shahnameh and Ferdowsi, and this work should indeed be kept alive in academic environment, but unfortunately there hasn’t been done much in this regard, for example, in the Ferdowsi Hall of Faculty of Literature of Tehran University we observe only several paintings about the stories of Shahnameh.
He added: I know many Shahnameh readers that passed away without any reminiscence of them. This is while, our media pays more attention to the soap operas like “Jou Mong” (a Korean TV serial made based on an ancient Korean legend) while have forgotten “Shahnameh" and consider it as a myth and fantasy.
Sadeghi noted at the end: Ferdowsi has beautifully described the adventures of all our ancestors to the last Sassanid king. Now it is our duty to bring Shahnameh out of the cemetery of the libraries.
After the speech of Sadeghi, the commemoration ceremony of the Shahnameh reader was held by the officials of Tehran University.
The other speech was delivered by Mahmoud Omidsalar. The subject of his lecture was:" From the stories of Shahnameh to the stories of Shahnameh studies".
He said: like any other art, studies of Shahnameh- if it is to be considered as a science- must be conducted as the topics like physics or chemistry, rather than mere reading a piece of poem and paying pure attention just to its apparent beauties.
Omidsalar further stated: in other words, in the issues of literary researches emotion and feeling should be set aside, though this is very difficult in connection with "Shahnameh" because this work is our national epic and we are indeed suffused with it. So we cannot be easily separated from it and talk about it from outside.
The researcher pointed out to the importance of "Shahnameh" and described: It is obvious that "Shahnameh" is an amazing dramatic work, but every year, we gather together and only talk about the greatness and importance of "Shahnameh”; without doing anything to maintain it . What is important and should be emphasized in such meetings is something beyond the rhetoric and significance of "Shahnameh". This vital mission is upon the shoulders of the next generation of students of literature.
Finally he added: of course, reviewing "Shahnameh" we should notice that this work enjoys the potentiality to be misunderstood in many cases. So, try to look at the poems of Shahnameh with fairness and accuracy, rather than through poetic thoughts.
Then the commemoration ceremony of Mahmoud Omidsalar and Khakrahov was held with the presence of SMR Darbandi, the head of Persian Language and Literature Expansion Center, the president of School of Literature of Tehran University and some other officials of the university.
The commemoration ceremony of Shahram Nazeri and the Ferdowsi music group
The last part of the meeting was devoted to music performances by Shahram Nazeri and the Ferdowsi group. Before beginning this section, the ritual celebration of the music group and Shahram Nazeri was held by the students of Tehran University. Samaneh Anvari, Elham Rezazadeh, Majed Hamidian, Amir Hussein Akrami, and Narges Soori were the students responsible for the section.
Farid Elhami, composer and Tambour player, Saber Nazargahi, the Divan player, Saied Nayeb Mohammadi, Oud player, Farnood Elhami, Tambour player, Mihrab Esrafili, Tambour player, Younes Paknezhad, Fiddle player, Farhad. Safari, Beat and Percussion Instruments player, Shahryar Nazari, Daf and drum player and S. Amin Mousavi, the executive director, were the members of Ferdowsi group who were celebrated in this section.
Nazeri: Ferdowsi is the Superman of the Persian history
Shahram Nazeri also spoke a few moments before his performance, and said: Ferdowsi is the Superman of the Persian history and has been of a great service to our culture because he has pulled the Persian language out from under debris.
He added that students are the Eyes and Lights of every society and explained: I hope the cultural officials pay attention to the students’ cultural loves and likes and provide more and appropriate facilities for them to work in these fields.
