Woman, Life, Freedom!

Tell us a little bit about your commissioned work for SFGC!
"Woman, Life, Freedom" is a protest song and a musical piece dedicated to the women's movement in Iran, which has a long-standing history. However, the suspicious death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini under the custody of the morality police in September 2022 reignited the movement. Her death sparked a new wave of protests, challenging outdated traditions and the theocracy dominating Iranian politics. Mahsa Amini had been detained by Tehran's morality police for allegedly failing to properly cover her hair. Since her death, protests have led to the deaths of 551 protestors at the hands of security forces, including 502 men, 49 women, and 68 children, across 26 out of Iran's 31 provinces.
 
What was your approach to writing “Woman, Life, Freedom”? How did you consider childrens’ voices in your writing?
My approach to writing music is purely intuitive. I am an improviser, and my music always emerges from this process of improvisation. However, in recent years, I have entirely abandoned the intellectual aspect of music, seeking instead depth and impact in topics that possess these qualities. I believe that when I immerse myself in something profound and impactful, my voice becomes part of that process. By progressively losing myself and my ego in this process, the music becomes more transparent and clearer. Children are the closest entities to divinity in our world, so as long as the music written for them is playful enough, they have the chance to express that divinity within them. Gamification is the key, allowing even older children to extend their childhood and return to that point of divinity, even if the subject of the piece is serious and intense. In the case of this piece, many of our children at SFGC are close in age to Mahsa Amini and many young people in Iran who have endured such horrific events. In many ways, those young women in Iran are shouting through the piece and through the voices of the SFGC.
 
In 2021, you worked on an online version of your current project at 836M, The Language of the Birds, with the Kronos Quartet and SFGC’s Level II. How has this project evolved since then?
I have always been fascinated by the story of The Language of the Birds (known in the West as The Conference of the Birds) by the 12th-century Persian (Iranian) poet Attar. The story has older roots in Indo-European cultures and was later adapted by Islamic movements such as Sufism. Sufism, which began in the 10th century, was initially created as a spiritual consolidation of highly spiritual cultures in the region but later became more of a political movement to preserve Persian culture during invasions and wars. I am particularly interested in the origins of such movements, which always start with the individual losing self within the context of a collective. I believe that the answer to many political, social, and technological questions today lies in spiritual growth and that progress is unsustainable without individual spiritual advancement.
We worked on a short piece with SFGC, the Kronos Quartet, ornithologists from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and Syrian children from Sirkhane Social Circus School (a social circus school for vulnerable and refugee children located on the Turkish-Syrian border, with which I have had the honor of collaborating). However, that project, formed during the COVID-19 lockdown, could not be expanded into a larger piece. Since then, I have always imagined creating a piece with SFGC on this topic and wanted to involve them in this story. The project with 836M was offered to me almost like a blank check, allowing me to imagine and create as I wished. This choice was inevitable, as I had been planning to immerse myself in this story since 2020, and this was a significant opportunity that made such a large collaboration possible.
 
You partake in a lot of collaborative work, including The Language of the Birds which involves SFGC’s Premier Ensemble as well as many other luminary collaborators. What is your approach to collaboration?
In the case of this specific project, collaboration is inevitable, as the story revolves around a group of birds dissatisfied with their lives. They undergo a process of losing their self and ego to find a legendary bird named Seemorgh. The narrative inherently requires the involvement of many entities in the storytelling experience. I am always interested in forming such collaborations, which become a spiritual vessel for participants to see themselves clearly in the mirror of the collaborative endeavor. Collaborations are an excellent way to measure our ego and see ourselves as we truly are, ideally leading to spiritual development. While individual processes can be great and more profitable, they typically lack the constant connection and interaction with others. It is always fascinating to observe how people manage their ego when they are about to be a small part of something larger than themselves.
 
You are the founder and Artistic Director of the Flying Carpet Childrens Festival, a volunteer-based collective of world-class musicians, circus artists, visual artists, designers, and visionaries who believe in the power of music and arts as a catalyst for positive change in the lives of vulnerable and refugee children in war-afflicted regions of the world. What has this festival taught you about how art can change lives?
I learned that the sole purpose of art is to change lives and comfort the souls of those in pain. This festival enabled me to recognize my own gigantic ego in my artistic process and initiate a process of losing it in my composing. The more I rid myself of ego in my music, the more beautiful my music became. It seemed that I was the only obstacle between the source of inspiration and the music emerging from me. My favorite poet, Rumi, describes this process as becoming like an empty ney (a flute-like instrument); the emptier it is inside, the warmer its sound becomes. I believe that the moment we take possession of what we create and try to capitalize on it is the moment the window of inspiration closes, leaving us with nothing but a collection of compositional tools and techniques that we learn in school, which ultimately mean nothing.
 
You cite a diverse collection of influences on your music, including the poetry of Hafiz, Rumi, and Saadi, as well as traditional, classical and jazz music and the albums of Pink Floyd, Beatles, and Queen. How do you find these various influences showing up in your work?
 Returning to the previous question, the process of creating this festival enabled me to reconnect with my original inspirations. I was drawn to music not through Mozart and Beethoven but through bands like The Doors, Pink Floyd, and Queen. Later I was curious and lucky enough to learn more about the music of western European countries at the conservatories that I attended. However, in recent years, I have begun to view the culture of the world as one large entity of beauty and magic. As an Iranian composer, I am often expected to write in the style of Iranian music, but I am also a global citizen who loves many genres from both the past and today. I believe that the message of the arts and music today is far more important than style, ethnicity, nationality, or racial or gender identity. We are, in fact, placeless souls distanced from ourselves and from the larger soul that we are all part of. Today, I equally listen to Bach, Hossein Alizadeh, Mohammadreza Shajarian, Nina Simone, Charlie Parker, Freddie Mercury, and Jim Morrison, and I believe they all carry the same spirit since they were all superb musicians connected to the divine. Their soul and their music belong to the people, which is why they are so successful and can reach hearts beyond borders of nationality, religion, and more.

What inspires you about working with SFGC?
As I mentioned previously, children are the closest entities in the world to the divine. Their curiosity, purity, and non-judgmental nature are especially beneficial for the future. I must also admit that I am in love with the pedagogy that my superhero friend, Valerie Saint-Agathe, has adopted for SFGC. It is humanistic, truly educational, and effortlessly diverse. Valerie is a brilliant educator, and I do not say this lightly. As a Virgo, I observe every detail during rehearsals, and the way she balances discipline, humanistic behavior, and pedagogy for children side by side is truly inspirational to me. Valerie knows that I am always there for her and would love to be of any help and support to her and SFGC since I truly believe in her and her methods. This has always made our collaborations incredibly smooth. I think more and more musical directors should observe her and learn from her.
 
What are you excited to work on in the future? Give us a sneak peek!
We are currently preparing for the Flying Carpet Festival 2024, which will gather 40 artists from 20 countries at the Turkish-Syrian border this September. Our focus will be on presenting a clown show adaptation of the story "The Language of The Birds." You can stay updated on our progress at www.flyingcarpetfestival.org.
In addition, I am collaborating with the Kronos Quartet and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus, a chorus composed of Palestinian and Israeli youth based in Jerusalem. I became acquainted with them through my TED fellowship and further at the TED conference in Vancouver.
Another inspiring project on my plate this summer involves scoring 20 minutes of animated shorts created by young children from immigrant backgrounds. This initiative is organized by my friend and fellow Flying Carpet artist, Sabina Kariat, through the esteemed art organization ARTogether based in Oakland. Learn more about them at: www.artogether.org. I am deeply committed to engaging only in projects that hold personal relevance and meaning to me.
 
What advice can you give to our singers that you wish you had received when you were their age? 
Discover life for yourself! Treasure everyone's advice like jewels and keep them close, but always remember that what you make of them is ultimately up to you. The reality is greater than all of us combined, and indeed, magic does exist! Never let anyone convince you otherwise.