{"id":14916,"date":"2019-08-23T18:16:57","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T16:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/?p=14916"},"modified":"2019-12-14T10:10:12","modified_gmt":"2019-12-14T09:10:12","slug":"el-arte-flamenco-se-asoma-a-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expoflamenco.com\/archivo\/en\/actualidad-en\/el-arte-flamenco-se-asoma-a-iran\/","title":{"rendered":"Flamenco art in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

His name is Puria Nikpana<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 although his friends call him Pepe \u2014, he\u2019s thirty years old and he\u2019s from Iran. Seventeen years ago, a friend gave him a tape of Juan Mart\u00edn, a Spanish flamenco guitarist and an author of flamenco guitar method books. The tape included a method to learn how to play guitar. \u00abI played it when I went to bed, and the first accord sounded very personal, as if it were mine\u00bb, explains our protagonist in an interview published by the Efe<\/em> Spanish news agency. From then on, he wanted to take classic guitar lessons, and he found the solution when four years ago he met Rahim Yafar\u00ed<\/strong>, founder of the Tehran Little School of Flamenco<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Yafar\u00ed, who is know by some people in his city as El maestro<\/em>, returned to Ir\u00e1n after studying flamenco in the United States and Seville for a decade. In the capital of Andalusia he studied at the Fundaci\u00f3n Cristina Heeren<\/a> and at\u00a0Andr\u00e9s Mar\u00edn<\/strong>\u2019s baile studio. He was able to learn from the best and personally met artists of the stature of Enrique Soto, Jos\u00e9 de la Tomasa and Roc\u00edo M\u00e1rquez, among others.<\/p>\n

\u00abWe have created here a flamenco environment. When we enter through that door we feel as if we were in Andalusia\u00bb (Puria Nikpana)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00abSince I had learned a different way of experiencing flamenco which was not available here in Iran, I decided to offer (the students in Iran) what I had learned in Spain, so they could advance a little further\u00bb, explained Yafar\u00ed to the Efe<\/em> Agency.<\/p>\n

With that premise the Tehran Little School of Flamenco was born. Pepe was his first student, but now there are more than twenty-five students who are studying flamenco guitar, comp\u00e1s<\/em>, palmas<\/em> and accompaniment of cante<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u00abWe have created here a flamenco environment, which was what we were missing. When we enter through that door, it\u2019s like entering a different world, we feel as if we were in Andalusia because we share the same interest, the same taste\u00bb, states the guitarist Puria Nikpana.<\/p>\n

\u00abThis is like a corner of Andalusia, our Corral de la Morer\u00eda\u00bb, explained the group of Iranian students.<\/p>\n

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Baile, missing from flamenco teaching in Iran <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Yet, all that glitters is not gold. In Iran, the rules are very conservative and baile<\/em> is restricted, and women are not allowed to sing for a male public. Baile<\/em> is then shown through videos at the school, since there are no bailaores<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Even so, the first person to study cante <\/em>at the Little School was a woman, Aida<\/strong>. She was followed by Mohamad Mikaeilzadeh<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Mikaeilzadeh, twenty-four years old, abandoned his studies of the qanun \u2014 a traditional Iranian musician instrument \u2014 when he learned about flamenco. He enrolled in Spanish lessons at university and started playing flamenco guitar, switching to cante<\/em> after one year of studies.<\/p>\n

\u00abI went nuts, I had never heard this music before\u00bb, explained the guitarist when recalling the first time he heard the great Camar\u00f3n de la Isla<\/strong>. Then came Paco de Luc\u00eda, Tomatito, Antonio Chac\u00f3n<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Antonio Mairena<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Yafar\u00ed is clear. In Iran there\u2019s an increasing interest in learning flamenco, a universal art form that has no boundaries.<\/p>\n

Photo: v\u00eddeo Agencia Efe<\/strong><\/h6>\n

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