TEHRAN – The 37th edition of the Fajr Music Festival will totally be held in person as some Persian news websites are warning about a new wave of COVID-19 in the country, the organizers announced last Wednesday.

Several groups from neighboring countries will give performances at the festival, which will be organized from February 11 to 15.

Performances in the pop category will begin two days sooner and winners will be honored on February 18. 

The 2020 and 2021 editions of the festival were held online due to the pandemic.

“After a two-year hiatus, I would like the festival to provide an excuse for the musicians to dust off their instruments,” the secretary of the festival, Hassan Riahi, said after unveiling a poster for the festival.

According to the organizers, representatives of several foreign news agencies from Italy, Germany, Japan, Azerbaijan, Russia, China, Iraq and Lebanon will cover the festival.

Moslem Nadlaizadeh is the president of the jury for the lyrics section of the festival. Mohammad-Ali Bahmani, Esmaeil Amini, Mahmud Ekramifar, Mehdi Amin-Forughi, Milad Erfanpur, Majid Afshari and Leila Kordbacheh are the other members of the jury.

Ardavan Jafarian, the director of the international section of the festival, said earlier, “I hope people will return to concert halls, because musical performances find their meaning with people’s presence and the audience makes musical performances more enjoyable.”  

Photo: A poster for the 37th Fajr Music Festival.

MMS/YAW