TEHRAN – The Persian literary monthly Bokhara honored Kambiz Roshanravan, the composer of music for many Iranian films and TV series, during a ceremony held at the Mahmud Afshar Foundation in Tehran on Sunday.

The ceremony was attended by a large number of musicians, including Managing director of Iran’s House of Music Mohammad Sarir, tar virtuoso Keivan Saket and composer Karan Homayunfar.

Speaking at the ceremony, Sarir emphasized that compositions by Roshanravan enjoy an organic connection with the national music of Iran and are actually rooted in the national music.

“He knows the rhythm of words; he permits the melody he has created to find its own way into a concert rhythmically. Roshanravan now stands on the peak of experience and creativity and can add more chapters into the book of the art of his life,” Sarir said.

Singer Fazel Jamshidi pointed to Roshanravan’s kindness and honesty and said, “The role he plays in the music world is first related to his honest and noble character, and second to his dominance over the effective management, third to his justice, fourth to his knowledge of music, and to many, many more.

“His other good characteristic is his being an intellectual. An intellectual is always unprejudiced. He is well aware of the social issues and is also brave,” he remarked.

Karan Homayunfar next talked about the influence of Roshanravan’s works on the thought of musicians of his time, and talked about his film music productions.

“With the problems we faced during the 1980’s, we found out that we could communicate with film music, and Roshanravan played a key role for my generation.

“The efforts he made opened the way for us. This is something we should not forget,” he added.

For his part, Roshanravan also expressed thanks to the organizer of the event, Ali Dehbashi, and said, “This great art is actually an instinctive art. It is actually the word of love.

“I really hope I can be a part of what the masters have said here tonight. I need to express thanks to Dehbashi who has devoted his life to the art and culture of this land. 

“I used to work 22 hours a day when I was young and you can see the results here tonight, that I am here and you showed your good feelings toward me. I must thanks you all,” he concluded. 

The ceremony was followed by several short performances by Keivan Saket (tar) and Kurosh Bozorgpur (tonbak).

The music films “Bibi Chelcheleh” (Kiumars Purahamd), “The Passenger” (Abbas Kiarosami), “Little Bird of Happiness” (Puran Derakhshandeh) and “The Tenth Night” (Jamal Shurjeh) are among Roshanravan’s noteworthy credits. 

He has also published several books on music. 

Photo: A poster for a ceremony that Bokhara held in Tehran on Sunday night to honor veteran composer Kambiz Roshanravan.

RM/YAW