Saeid Shanbehzadeh - Musiques du Golfe Persique

Shanbehzadeh Ensemble (Persian: گروه شنبه زاده) is an Iranian folk band, formed in Bushehr in 1990.

The band offers a rare aspect of the traditional music and dance of the Persian Gulf, more specially of the province of Bushehr, south of Iran and bordering Persian gulf.
The principal instruments of the ensemble are the neyanbān (bagpipe), neydjofti (flute), dammām (drum), zarbetempo (percussion), traditional flute, senj (cymbal) and boogh (a goat’s horn).
The band was founded by internationally acclaimed Iranian musician and dancer, Saeid Shanbezadeh in 1990. Hailing from the south of Iran, and tracing ancestry to Zanzibar in East Africa, the Shanbehzadeh family upholds a tradition that blends Sufi trance ritual and Persian and Arabic idioms.

 

Saeid Shanbezadeh was born in Bushehr, Iran, where he started playing music at the age of 7 with the old masters of the music of the region. He began with percussions, singing, and traditional dance. At 20 he founded the group of Shanbehzadeh Ensemble and won the 1st prize at the Fajr Music Festival in Tehran in 1990. In 1996 he was invited by the University of Toronto to teach a half-a-year course. In 2007 he was invited again by La Cité de La Musique of Paris to teach dance, singing and music. In 1998 he was named the professor and director of the House of Culture, Music and Dance of the Isle of Kish in Iran. That same year he portrayed himself in Talking with the Wind by Bahram Beyzaei.
Saeid Shanbehzadeh left Iran in 2002 and now lives in Paris.

there's a lot of influence in the music of south Iran, like the African influence, exactly like my face. You know if you look at my face, you cannot say I'm Iranian, not African, not Indian. You know, I am mix of all. I don't have the African nose, but my color it is. Because my mother's side from four or five generations they come from Zanzibar to Iran.
We play the music for a special reason. We have the music for the trance, for the "zar." We have music for wedding. We have music for work. We have music for the funeral. And what we present on the stage we try to introduce the people to different part of the life of south Iran.

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The Shanbehzadeh Trio, with its driving rhythms, trance-inducing songs, and striking hip-swinging dances offers a rare opportunity to experience the fascinating music and dance of the southern Iranian province of Bushehr.. A cultural crossroads for centuries, Bushehr has been influenced by Sufi, Persian, Arab, African and Indian traditions. The ensemble is led by multi-instrumentalist and dancer Saeid Shanbehzadeh, who traces his ancestry to Zanzibar in East Africa, and includes his son Naghib Shanbehzadeh and Habib Mefhta-Busheri. Their alluring instruments include neyanban (double-reed bagpipe), neydjofti(double flute), and boogh (goat's horn).

les Musiques

Saeid Shanbezadeh – neyanbān, neydjofti, dammām
Naghib Shanbehzadeh - tombak, zarbetempo
Habib Meftah-Busheri

all photos by Borna Izadpanah

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