CD Number [337]
Published [26/11/2012]
Composed by Nasrollah Zarrinpanje
Vocals: Qolam-Hoseyn Banan
A collection of songs composed by Nasrollah Zarrinpanje which are performed by Banan and Zarrinpanje orchestra. Qolam-Hoseyn Banan was born on April 1911. First he played organ with his mother but when Morteza Neydavud found his talent and interest in music started teaching him the basic lessons of avaz (singing) when Qolam-Hoseyn Banan was only 11. Hoseyn-Ali Mallah on the characteristics of Banan Singing writes: "... Banan's voice according to the rudiments of Western music was baritone which Persian musicians called that Rast-kuk. The Quality of his voice or according to western musicians, timbre of his voice was beautiful and pleasing. In using tahrirs (melisma) and qalts (trill) he follows the style of Adib Khansari and like him in the situations except singing radif he preferred to sing for example Mokhalef-e segah in the tonal range of his voice, which means in a range that the melody sounds good. Banan is the first singer that uses falsetto in Persian singing, and gave some syllables a unique resonance and sang some syllables with a nuance which in musical term is called crescendo. (Singing from weak nuance to strong nuance is called crescendo). The best example is the Avaz-e Deylaman in which this characteristic is obvious. Unlike Adib Khansari, Banan granted the same value for the poem as tone so that he tried to: 1. Select a poem which is related to tonal atmosphere of musical dastgah, 2. Select a poem which is pleasant, eloquent and beautiful and avoids obsolete and unfamiliar words, 3. Select a poem which its meaning is clear to him, 4. Select a poem in which text does not sacrifice for tonal tahrirs and qalts... and we should add to above mentioned features the talent, musical ear, accuracy and knowledge of Radif and also the timbre of his voice."
Nasrollah Zarrinpanje was born in 1906 in Tehran. From early childhood, thanks to his good voice, he sang monajat (Fervent prayer), and played some songs with neylabak (A kind of wind instrument). The love for music made him to go to military school. First he learned playing Bugle (A brass instrument), then trumpet, and after that, he learned brass alto, then he played balalaika (An instrument similar to mandolin) in orchestra. Zarrinpanje learned notation in military school and he played many pieces of western repertoire. His enthusiasm for tar, made him to attend in the classes of Mirza Rabi' (Darvish-Khan's brother). Zarrinpanje says: "After some sessions of these classes, one day I was playing some marches which I had learnt in army. When my teacher was in andaruni (inner house) he heard them and suggested me to teach these pieces to him and in return he will teach me the radif of Persian music. I accepted but after learning three dastgahs I took my tar to the barrack. My playing was admirable to Mr. Hoseyn Hangafarin so he decided to teach me personally. I went to his classes where I spent seven years then I achieved the best position of the class." then He spent some time training tar playing with Morteza Neydavud, Yahya Zarpanje and Ali-Akbar Shahnazi. Zarrinpanje guided a melodious orchestra by making simple harmonies, with the minimum use of instruments. The beauty of his melodies in introductions and the instrumental response between couplets made these works more memorable in the minds of listeners. His compositions were new and also at the same time show the deep connection of the composer with the musical traditions of his past generation. Banan also with the aid of his velvet sound gave another aspect to the distinguished works of Zarrinpanje.
