Iran’s acclaimed Lian Band, led by ney-anbān player Mohsen Sharifian, is making a return to Australia with From Harbour to Harbour 2 performances in four cities. In the Melbourne and Sydney shows, their Australian guest artists are William Barton and Aunty Delmae Barton, who began the concert with a poetic spoken word celebration and welcome, backed by Barton’s didgeridoo and the Lian Band members. In Melbourne, from the first moment, as each performer appeared onstage, the audience roared their delight and they didn’t stop all night.
This is no polite classical concert – there is banter, backchat and a lot of extroverted noise – it is so much fun. And did I mention the dancing in the aisles?
Sharifian is from Bushehr, a harbour city in southern Iran on the Persian Gulf. He and the Lian Band are leading the folkloric preservation of known and loved songs specific to the region, so the expat audiences were clearly thrilled to spend an evening – a lot of it on their feet, more as the night went on – dancing, clapping, hankie-twirling and singing the responses to well-loved and remembered songs. Sharifian’s daughter Liana, in traditional dress, also plays the ney-anbān, a Bushehri bagpipe made from goatskin, and joins in the backing vocals.
Rhythm is the backbone of this music and there is a lot onstage, including assorted exotic drums, along with a good old snare – all supporting the unique sounds of the oud and the ney-anbān. At one point percussionist Morteza Palizdan comes forward with a drum and then plays the kudu horn, made from an antelope antler.
The entire evening is in Farsi, so we sing and gesture along, having been coached by Sharifian with response words, which most of the Melbourne audience already knew. The songs all seem to have a similar format – the initial theme starts more slowly, mostly sung by Aka Safavi and perhaps accompanied by the oud (played by local musician Reza Kashi), then the rhythm changes with percussion and assorted drums in the middle, and off it goes.
There are a couple of more contemplative songs: ‘Ziggurat’ is a Sharifian-Barton collaboration, accompanied by images of the Chogha Zanbil ziggurat in the desert, 400 or so kilometres north-west of Bushehr, and assumed to date from the 14th or 13th century BC.
I would have liked a few quieter pieces, especially featuring the oud and the ney-jofti (flute) that Sharifian plays briefly later in the concert – if only as a short break from the dancing!
Animated projections and some video footage on a screen across the back of the stage illustrate the songs. Given the harbour-to-harbour theme, water and boats feature and are the motif on the Lian Band’s website. During ‘Ziggurat’, we see the impressive desert ruins of mud brick at Chogha Zanbil – the parallels with ancient Indigenous landmarks and treasures here in Australia are clear to see.
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The evening emphasises how music embedded in our souls from our childhood, early years and cultural origins inspires us to jump up and make a joyful sound – in this case, at the first strum of the oud, call of the traditional bagpipe and rhythms of the doumbek. The addition of Barton’s didgeridoo and soulful vocals make it all the more meaningful for an Australian audience.
From Harbour to Harbour 2
The Lian Band
The National Theatre
Performers: Mohsen Sharifian, Liana Sharifian, Aka Safavi, Reza Kashi, Mahmoud Bardaknia, Morteza Palizdan, Giorgio, Tony Yalda
Guest Artists: William Barton, Aunty Delmae Barton (in Melbourne and Sydney)
From Harbour to Harbour 2 was performed at the National Theatre in St Kilda, Melbourne on 6 June, in Adelaide on 7 June and in Sydney on 9 June. It will now tour to Perth to perform on 13 June at the Octagon Theatre.
