TEHRAN – The Ireland-based Iranian musician Hormoz Farhat, who is most famous for theme music for director Dariush Mehrjui’s 1969 cult film “The Cow”, was honored during a ceremony organized at the Iranian Artists Forum last Tuesday.

Farhat who was once the dean of the Music Faculty of the University of Tehran returned home after about 40 years to attend the ceremony, where maestros Loris Tjeknavorian and Hushang Kamkar delivered speeches.

Tjeknavorian said that those who follow music in the country have organized the gathering.

Kamkar called Farhat an honorable musician who has trained many great students.

Composer Shahin Farhat who is Hormoz’s cousin said, “He still needs to write more. He owes a lot to Iran’s music. His works are unforgettable.”

For his part, Hormoz, 90, expressed great thanks to the organizers and also musician Amir-Mahyar Tafreshipur for the help and words of encouragement he gave to convince him to return home after all these years.

“After all these years I have enjoyed and received positive energy from every single thing here except the traffic jams of Tehran,” he said.

He added music has made good progress in the country and that people must learn that music is an important art. 

“However, the art will find its high status when we can create a new school in Iranian music,” he noted.

Farhat has studied music at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Mills College, California, graduating with the degrees of BA in music, and MA and Ph.D. in composition and ethnomusicology. 

After holding a number of academic music posts in the USA and Iran, he took up the post of professor of music at Trinity College Dublin in 1982 until his retirement in 1995.

As a composer, he has written a sizeable body of works including concertos for piano, flute and clarinet, six string quartets and numerous chamber works.

Farhat collaborated with Mehrjui in “Cow”, which won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1971. It was the first award that Iranian cinema received in an international event.

Photo: Hormoz Farhat speaks at a ceremony organized by the Iranian Artists Forum on May 1, 2018 to honor the composer for his professional career. (Mehr/ Mohammadreza Abbasi)

RM/MMS/YAW