Iran (2)

Miss Khatereh Parvaneh
oil on canvas board, 12" x 16", 2014

This here then is the painting representing the recording made by Ella Zonis Mahler of Khatereh Parvaneh in 1966 in Iran. Unlike last week's Battacharya's recording, this one is well documented. The words on Dastgah of Shour are "verses from the Masnavi, famous mystic poetry written in the thirteenth century by Jalal al-Din Rumi, founder of the Mevlevi order of Dervishes (the 'whirling' Dervishes)." (Ella Zonis, liner notes to Classical Music of Iran: Dastgah Systems, Vol. 1, Folkways Records.) The music on the Folkways record "is quite similar to that of medieval Persia and even to that of ancient Persia." (Zonis) The liner notes then explain the history of Persian music in the light of religious provisions of Islam. There are a number of websites and videos on line dedicated to Khatereh Parvaneh. She was born in an artistic family in 1930 and died in her home in Tehran in 2008. The painting of Miss Parvaneh comes at the tail end of teaching a series of painting courses. I set out painting Miss Parvaneh following my own attitudes and preachings communicated to students. While the intention of this painting was well planned out, the execution did not follow suit, and the result is a contradiction, at best, of my own teachings. The process of painting was one of frustration, anger, and anxiety. (I had to subvert my own rules to bring the 'pain' back in painting. I am free now.)