Reza Abbasi

Reza Abbasi, Riza yi-Abbasi or Reza-e Abbasi, رضا عباسی in Persian, usually Reza Abbasi also Aqa Reza (but see below) or Āqā Riżā Kāshānī (c. 1565 – 1635) was the leading Persian miniaturist of the Isfahan School during the later Safavid period, spending most of his career working for Shah Abbas I. He is considered to be the last great master of the Persian miniature, best known for his single miniatures for muraqqa or albums, especially single figures of beautiful youths.

Life and art

Riza was possibly born in Kashan, as Āqā Riżā Kāshānī is one of the versions of his name; it has also been suggested that he was born in Mashad, where his father, the miniature artist Ali Asghar, is recorded as having worked in the atelier of the governor, Prince Ibrahim Mirza. After Ibrahim's murder, Ali Asghar joined Shah Ismail II's workshop in the capital Qasvin. Riza probably received his training from his father and joined the workshop of Shah Abbas I at a young age. By this date, the number of royal commissions for illustrated books had diminished, and had been replaced by album miniatures in terms of employment given to the artists of the royal workshop.

Reza

Reza (Arabic: رضا‎, riḍā) is a name of Arabic origin, widely used as a Persian personal name and within Iranian placenames.

Arabic etymology

The Islamic concept Reza ([ɾeˈzɒː], also transliterated as Raza, Reda, Redha, Rida, Ridha [rɪˈdˤɑ], Rizah, Rıza [ɾɯˈzɑ], is a male given name common among Muslims, and especially Persian-speakers. It comes from Arabic and means contentment.

Rida (Reza) is an Islamic concept rooted in the Qur'an and the practices. This idea of contentment is expressed in two Qur'anic verses which discuss the contentment of Allah with believers and, conversely, of believers with Allah:

Muslims believe that Allah's pleasure with the servant is expressed through His gifts both material and spiritual and the servant's pleasure with Allah is the name of his obedience to Allah's commands and submission to his will. Rida on the part of the human also includes his determination to accept Allah's decree irrespective of whether it is favourable or unfavourable.

Because the Arabic ض sound does not exist in the Persian language, Persian-speakers replace the sound with a z. This pronunciation was also adopted by other languages influenced by Persian, most of all Turkish and Urdu. In the Maghreb region, the name is spelled Reda, due to the French influence during the colonial times.

Reza Abbasi Museum

The Reza Abbasi Museum (Persian: موزه رضا عباسی ) is a museum in Tehran, Iran. It is located in Seyed Khandan. The museum is named after Reza Abbasi, one of the artists in the Safavid period.The Reza Abbasi Museum is home to a unique collection of Persian art dating back to the second millennium BC, from both the pre-Islamic and Islamic eras.

History

Reza Abbasi Museum was officially opened in September 1977 under the guidance of Queen Farah Pahlavi, but it was closed in November 1978. It was reopened a year later in 1979, with some changes in its internal decorations and further expansion of its exhibition space. It was closed again in 1984 due to some internal difficulties and reopened a year later. It was finally opened for the fifth time, after its renovation on February 4, 2000. Currently Reza Abbasi Museum is administrated by Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran.

Collections

The collections of this museum belong to a period from the 2nd millennium BC to the early 20th century. The displays are set according to time interval. There are many objects exhibited in this museum such as artifacts made of baked clay, metal and stone from the pre historic times to pottery and metal objects, textile and lacquer painting, manuscripts and jewelry belonging to the Islamic period.

Rana Farhan

Rana Farhan, (Persian: رعنا فرحان‎‎) is an Iranian musician and singer of jazz and blues. After graduating from Tehran University, she left Iran in 1989, and has been living in New York since then.

Career

Born in Iran, Rana grew up listening to any albums she could get her hands on, fostering a love for American blues artists like Odetta and Lead Belly; while rockin' to Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Rana left Iran after graduating from Tehran University and she soon found herself in New York City, exploring her talents in lacquer paintings and soaking in the sounds and music of Manhattan, including the rich cultural district of Harlem where she discovered her love of jazz.

Farhan sings in a bluesy style that is an exploration of combining classic Persian poetry with modern jazz and blues.

Recording albums

In 2005 she teamed with guitarist/producer Steven Toub for her first full-length CD, "The Blues Are Brewin'", a collection of American jazz and blues standards. Farhan's second release, "I Return", combined classical Persian poetry with contemporary blues and jazz music and established a model to the jazz fusion project that she continues to incorporate in her work. After positive reception from an independently-circulating single called "Rumi's Prayer", she collaborated with Taub once again to create an album of songs that featured the poetry of major poets such as Rumi and Hafez. She received critical acclaim from one track in particular off that album, "Drunk with Love," which has been used in a variety of places, from being sung by contestants on the Iranian version of American Idol to Bahman Ghobadi’s 2009 film No One Knows About Persian Cats (Kasi az Gorbehaye Irani Khabar Nadareh). Her 2011 album, "Moon and Stone," is an expressive tribute to soul music. She held a major album release party at New York's DROM for the 2014 recording "Attar Boulevard"