TEHRAN – An album featuring a folk tale from the oral Persian literature with music by Hossein Alizadeh has been released.

Alizadeh and a number of his colleagues unveiled copies of the album “The Sad Story of Fereidun” in a special ceremony at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center on Saturday evening.

“The Sad Story of Fereidun” is about Fereidun, a young man, and his lover, Hicha, who live in a village in which laughing is banned. Afterwards, Fereidun who loves the smiles of his darling is determined to protest against the new legislation.

“Many beautiful feelings can be conveyed through the sayings and witticisms hidden in the spoken Persian language,” Alizadeh said the ceremony.

“The spoken Persian language has been used in this powerfully artistic album and I think the outcome is extremely satisfying,” he added.

The reading performance on the album was directed by Nima Dehqan based on a folk story that was rewritten by Peyman Qadimi.

“Writing the story was a return to a trend toward the verbal Persian language that flourished among Iranian writers such as Ahmad Shamlu during the 1950s,” Qadimi said.

“However, it rapidly sank into oblivion,” lamented Qadimi who spent four years researching for the story.

Dehqan said, “The story was performed like a theatrical project and Mr. Alizadeh painted it by his music.”

The role of Fereidun was performed by Saber Abar, a star of Asghar Farhadi’s award-winning “About Elly”.

Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, Jaleh Olov, Morteza Ahmadi, and many other actors also collaborated in this project.  

Recorded at Tar-o-Pood Cultural Institute, “The Sad Story of Fereidun” also features Puria Akhavas, Alireza Berenjian and Dariush Kazami on vocals.    

Photo: Composer Hossein Alizadeh speaks during the unveiling of “The Sad Story of Fereidun” at Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center on July 22, 2017. His colleagues are also seen in the photo. (IRNA/Mohsen Sajjadi)

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