TEHRAN – The Tehran Symphony Orchestra conductor Shahrdad Rohani will be substituting two instrumental compositions for the song Alireza Qorbani was due to sing in Russia in honor of Team Melli, Iran’s national football team, during the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament.

Qorbani was scheduled to perform a song from poet Saed Baqeri, which was set to music by Rohani, according to the Rudaki Foundation, the main organizer of the concerts.

However, Qorbani withdrew from the concerts with a statement he published last week. In his statement, Qorbani said the performances might be in disharmony with what the organizers expect.

“Since the song was specifically composed based on the style of performances by Qorabni, the foundation avoids replacing another new singer out of respect for vocalist Qorbani and will replace the song with two instrumental compositions,” the foundation published in a recent statement.

Two more songs specifically composed for the performances will be performed in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kazan.

The lyrics for one of the songs have been composed by Ehsan Afshari while Babak Zarrin has put them to music. Vocalist Salar Aqili is scheduled to perform the song along with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra.

Fereidun Shahbazian, the conductor of the National Orchestra, has also composed music for a poem by Abdoljabbar Kakai, which will also be performed in Russia. The singer of the piece has not been announced as yet.

Photo: Shahrdad Rohani conducts Tehran Symphony Orchestra in Shiraz on September 1, 2017. (IRNA/Reza Qaderi)

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