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On Friday we went to the concert by Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, who was accompanied on his tour through 9 european countriesby the Shahnaz ensemble. The prospect to hear and watch the perhaps biggest and most famous representative of classical persian vocal music here in Munich attracted the audience that filled the Hercules-Hall of the royal residence up to the last seat.

Five concerts of the european tour that the maestro together with the young musicians of Shahnaz ensemble performed in Turkey, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, England, Austria and Sweden were given in Germany, and rumour has it that the concert halls were always as packed as in Munich.
Grand Maestro Mohammad-Reza Shajarian is Iran"s most prolific and popular classical vocalist who is generally regarded as a living legend of Persian music. In his remarkable performance of classical Persian music he was accompanied by the unique 17 member Shahnaz Ensemble directed by Majid Derakshani, one of Iran's most dynamic and innovative composer and instrumentalist.

In addition to traditional instruments such as Setar, Daf, Tanbak, Tondar and Oudh, the young musicians of Shahnaz also played the Saghar, the Saboo or the Kereshmeh, instruments that have some similarities to a lute but were completely new designed and constructed by Shajarian himself. The background of the highly professional and inspiring young members of the Shahnaz ensemble was described by Shajarian: "the lack of a large Persian musical instrument ensemble with new colours and textures performing new polyphonic arrangements on the one hand and the ever increasing number of extremely talented young music graduates who needed to be absorbed in classical Persian music ensembles on the other, were the main incentives for the formation of the Shahnaz Ensemble in 2007. The ensemble was named Shahnaz (persian for prince) as a tribute to Jalil Shahnaz, the grand maestro of Persian music and his everlasting arts.

After three hours performing Songs composed for classical persian poetry by Hafiz, Saadi, Sayeh and Mowlana, the audience greeted with standing ovations the new hymn of a free Iran "Morghe Sahar".

The last concerts of this remarkable european tour will be given in Sweden (27th and 29th of October in Goteborg and Stockholm) and in Cologne/Germany (30th of October), respectively.