Mahsa Vahdat

Mahsa Vahdat (in Persian مهسا وحدت) (born 29 October 1973, Teheran, Iran) is an Iranian artist and singer and strong advocate of Freedom of expression. Her music style is contemporary expression inspired by old traditional and folk and regional music of Iran that she developed for many years and it is the result of work with many musicians from Iran and other countries. She writes most of her songs.

In her music she also developed dialogue between other cultures in a high artistic quality and she got a huge response internationally. The text of her work is contemporary texts of different Iranian poets and classic poetry of Persian poets such as Hafez, Rumi, Hallaj and Tahereh Ghoratolein. She has released materials with her sister Marjan Vahdat (in Persian مرجان وحدت).^[1] as in albums Songs from a Persian Garden, I Am Eve and Twinklings of Hope.

After learning to play piano, she studied traditional Persian singing from Pari Meleki and Mehdi Fallah and also studied setar with Ramin Kakavand then with Masoud Shoari. In 1993, she entered Tehran University obtaining a BA in Music from the university's music faculty, working alongside Sharif Lotfi, Ahmad Pejman, Hooshang Zarif, Behnam Vadani, Abdorreza Sajadi, Hushang Kamkar, and Mohammad Reza Darvishi. Her career in Iran was curtailed after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, when Ayatollah Khomeini decreed that women would no longer be allowed to sing solo in public, unless the audience was exclusively made of women. Most of her later materials were recorded outside Iran where she enjoys great fame with the Iranian diaspora and in world music circles.^[1] She has been living in Iran despite the restrictions in her career as she thinks it is so important to live in Iran. She encourages many women to learn and keep the Persian vocal arts.

In Iran she teaches Persian traditional singing in her home, she has many students that come with dedication and they are so serious even though they do not see any bright landscape for singing officially. Mahsa encourages them a lot for keeping this tradition and she believes that they have a big role in keeping the treasure of this music for future and next generations ,they can transmit this music to their children and people among them and It keeps the female and also traditional Persian music alive. If she finds any international possibility to present her students or any talent, she encourages and helps them to take part. Following her participation in Lullabies from the Axis of Evil (2004), Mahsa started a long lasting collaboration with the Norwegian record label Kirkelig Kulturverksted (KKV) and producer Erik Hillestad, which led to a world wide release of a series of records.

Since 2007 Mahsa has been one of the ambassadors of Freemuse Organization, an independent international organization that advocates freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide. In 2010, she was granted the Freemuse Award.

Since 1995 Mahsa has performed as an independent artist in concerts and festivals in Asia, Europe, the US, and Africa together with musicians from Iran, Europe and America.

All her works mean a lot for Iranian people in different layers of society and also for non Iranian audiences. In Iran she has a huge amount of fans in the younger generations and she developed a style based on traditional music that could impress young generations. She is one of singers that could attract a young generation to traditional and Persian classical music and poetry with her new musical expression rooted in tradition and regional music of Iran. Mahsa Vahdat has worked with many acclaimed musicians in the world such as Tord Gustavsen, Knut Riersrud, Pasha Hanjani, Atabak elyasi, Shervin Mohajer, Mathias Eick, SKRUK Choir, and Mighty Sam Mcclain.

In 2007 she recorded “Songs from a Persian Garden “ in a charity concert in Tehran in the residence of Italian embassy in cooperation with UN for disabled children in Zahedan and it was released in 2007 in Norway and Europe and America. It was a mix ensemble of Norwegian and Iranian musicians together with her sister Marjan Vahdat as another lead singer. It has been arranged by Knut Reiersrud (famous Norwegian guitarist and musician). In 2008 she released I am Eve Album with her sister Marjan Vahdat that has a strong message for women in Iran, the lyrics of the first track “I am Eve“ is so strong and it expresses the power of women who have many restrictions under Iranian government .It has been arranged by Atabak Elyasi (Iranian composer).The album received many attention in world music societies and people in Iran and excellent reviews in world music magazines such as froots ,songlines and many other reviews.

In 2009 she released “Scent of Reunion “ (love duets across civilizations) together with Mighty Sam McClain (American Blues singer) with KKV .The idea was based on poetic dialogue between an Iranian Poet (Mohammad Ebrahim Jafari) and Norwegian Poet (Erik Hillestad) about love .The importance of the album apart from its artistic value, that It was a dialogue between two singers that live in two countries who has no diplomatic relations and the two countries regarded each other as enemies. The message is strong “Love has no border “and no difference in culture and religion can stop lovers from searching each other in this planet. Mahsa and Sam both came from a society that suffered discrimination ,Sam because of the color of his skin in America (many years of his life) and Mahsa as a woman and also female singer in Iran .This project was recorded exactly before June 2009 Presidential election in Iran where the society of Iran was full of hope and people wanted to change their future and It was released after people ‘s uprising and green movement, where the situation was full of pain and tension. Even this project was about love but It was extremely well received in Iranian society and got a huge amount of attention and popularity among people and also musicians and many regard it as an important music event . It was also well received in many world music societies. It was arranged by Knut Reirsrud . In 2010 she released “I vinens Speil” (In the mirror of wine ) album with KKV. It was recorded with Norwegian Choir SKRUK and was arranged by Tord Gustavsen acclaimed Norwegian jazz Pianist .The idea started when Mahsa and Erik Hillestad started to work on Hafez poems and in the Jakob church in Oslo they started to use the translation of poem of Hafez in the Mass of that church every Sunday and It was a dialogue and presentation of Mystical old poems in Mass. It was an opportunity to introduce Persian poetry to society in Norway. Later Mahsa and Hillestad translated one hundred of Hafez' poems to Norwegian in a book (Hafez, Ivinense speil ,100 utvalgte dikt) that was published in 2010 in Norway by www.forlagetpress.no. It was the result of some years research. Hafez poem and the message that his poems have for Iranian society for centuries was very interesting and the book and the album had a lot of meaning for many Norwegians and also immigrant society in Norway. She also made a concert again In the residence of Italian embassy in Tehran with the whole choir in Tehran in May 2011 despite of many problems that security police of government created in front of the door of embassy and prevented some guests to come to concert . This Hafez project also was arranged in smaller setting as Hafez quartet and they had a tour on many schools in Norway in purpose of presenting Iranian culture and poetry for young generation in Norway in the time when people just see the dark political aspect of Iranian society and It had a big influence and It meant for many Iranian immigrants in Norway. In 2011 she released "Twinklings of Hope" together with her sister as another lead singer. This project was with Iranian ensemble and It was recorded in Italian embassy in an Persian old house and It was released by KKV .The lyrics are by some old classical and also some contemporary poets .The last track “Twinkings of hope “ (Daram Omidi ) is about hope and it is encouraging for many people. Twinklings of Hope is among Songlines Magazine’s editor’s choice selection of the 10 best new releases (Top of the World) in August–September 2012. Mahsa & Marjan Vahdat took top honors in the category of world traditional album with album Twinklings of Hope in the 12th annual International Independent Music awards in the US.

In 2012 she also released album A deeper Tone of longing that is another love duet together with Mighty Sam Mcclain. It is the follow up of Scent of Reunion album and the idea is the same and it received excellent reviews from world music society and Downbeat Magazine. In 2013 she produced the album Blue Fields for Marjan Vahdat solo album together with Erik Hillestad.

Mahsa Vahdat took part in the albums Listen to the banned and Iranian Woman produced by activist and singer Deeyah that was released by Grappa Records in Norway.

Mahsa and Marjan Vahdat also have been working with ZAR theater with Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, Poland, for years in a project "Armine Sister".

She has collaborated in two joint albums with Mighty Sam McClain (Scent of Reunion in 2010^[2] and A Deeper Tone of Longing in 2012) and in one with Norwegian choir group SKRUK (In the Mirror of Wine in 2010).

Discography

Mahsa Vahdat has released a number of albums – some in collaboration.^[3][4]

Personal life

She is married to Iranian musician Atabak Elyasi, who supports her arts and they cooperate in many projects together .

References

External links

• Official website
• Valley Entertainment artist page