Dela Ensemble, Second Iranian Music Festival

Dela Ensemble, comprising eight stellar Iranian musicians, were a highlight of the four-day Second Iranian Music Festival, now in its second year of running. Their performance, attended by esteemed community leaders from Ryde Council and the MP for Ryde, Jordan Lane, was championed well before it began. Dela Ensemble’s primary goal was to introduce Iran’s rich musical history to wider audiences – and they achieved this ambition. 

The ensemble worked effortlessly to create a mythic layering of instruments and their respective sounds. In their opening piece, this layering worked much like a pulse – wavelike in its up and down movements, coming to a complete stop and then repeating accumulated sounds as it showcased each instrument; the violin, kamancheh, sitar, bass tar, oud, tombak and daf. This layering method served as foundational knowledge for the audience, being introduced and reintroduced to the distinctive sounds of each of these instruments.

Musical ensembles are quite mysterious in how they operate, given there is no onstage leader or conductor to unite them. But, much like the ensembles of the ancient Persian royal courts, the magic of Dela Ensemble lives in the eye contact made and body language read between the closely bonded musicians. Seeing them in coordinated outfits, even as simple as black bottoms and white tops, would have further evoked a sense of visual harmony.

“Daryaye shoor, avaze cheshmat che zibast”: [most likely referring to a lover] translates into “salty sea, the song of your eyes are beautiful”. This was just a snippet of the poetry of the Farsi language used to inform the musical aspects of Dela Ensemble’s work, and conveyed through Ramin Etemadzadeh’s classically trained voice.

The final piece that the ensemble played deviated from what is conventionally understood as Iranian music, both within the community and beyond. It was sung in the style of the Lorestan province of Iran and – in addition to the traditional instruments – was accompanied by the Nigerian udu, a percussion instrument, shaped like a jug, and belonging to the Igbo people.

These additions show that, like any other 21st century nation or people, Iran and Iranians are products of globalisation. And we’re all the better for it.

It was second nature for the audience to clap in tune, to click or beshkan, and to sing out loud as they celebrated the vibrancy of their homeland. Moments before the aforementioned piece began and the audience erupted with joy, Amirsalar Makhzani, player of the daf, dayere and udu, exclaimed, “Hoping for peace all over the world” and “Whatever escalations in the Middle East to end soon”.

In these statements, he captured a sentiment shared by the Iranians in the audience. However, as he proceeded to play with the rest of Dela Ensemble in their final piece, a spiritual resolve ignited on stage in their music, but also beyond the performance space. 

Dela Ensemble performed at the Second Iranian Music Festival on 26 October 2024.

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