Ta'ziyeh in Parma
- Ta‘ziyeh in Parma
The most complete exhibition of Persian performing arts in Italy to date was held in Parma in Fall 2000. The realization of this event was mainly thanks to the interest of Giorgio Gennari, director of the Teatro Due (one of the leading theatres in Italy). After his visit to Iran for the International Festival of Theatre in February 2000, Gennari decided that a ta‘ziyeh must be staged in Italy.
On the wave of the newly flourishing relationship between Iran and the West (in the year 2000 the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Muhammad Khatami, proclaimed the year 2001 as the “Year of the Dialogue”), Parma hosted a two-week festival, “Dall’antica Persia all’Iran” (From Ancient Persia to Iran, 7–18 October 2000). The festival was promoted by the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs; the Minister for Culture and Guidance of the Islamic Republic of Iran; the government of the city of Parma; the Iran Air Company; the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Rome and its Cultural Institute; and the Association of Friendship and Cooperation between Italy and Iran.
The comprehensive Festival offered samples of both traditional and contemporary forms of Persian performing arts. The contemporary arts of Iran were represented by the music of the Sufi singer Shahram Nazeri and his ensemble Dastan;the zikr (an exercise designed to attain spiritual concentration in order to render God’s presence) performed by the Kurd Mirza Agha Ghowsi; and the singer Fariba Hedayati and her group Hava-ye Dust. Also among the contemporary offerings was a selection of performance pieces: Caffè Cagiaro (Qajar Coffee) directed by Atila Pesyani; I negri (The Negroes) directed by Muhammad Taheri; L’intervista (The Interview) by Muhammad Rahmanian; Il suono e il furore (The Sound and the Fury) by Rayani Makhsous; Cinque porte, casa segreta (Five Doors, Secret House) by Hussein Kiyani; and E poi, fino a domani (And Then, Until Tomorrow) by Rina Raminfar.
The organizers of the event also included a cycle of Iranian “Nouvelle Vague” films, comprised of a selection of films directed by Samira and Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abbas Kiarostami, and Jafar Panahi.
The traditional repertoire was represented by zurkhaneh (Iranian traditional palestra) exercises; Pazzia (Madness), a tale that elaborated upon the old Bakhtiyari marriage rituals; I servi neri: Mobarak e Arlecchino (The Black Servants:Mobarak and Arlecchino);and three ta‘ziyehs:The Passion of Imam Hussein, Muslem, and The Prisoners of Damascus.
A big tent was erected in a garden located on the periphery of Parma: inside, a platform was installed according to the canons of Persian traditional theatre. The tent housed the first ta‘ziyeh ever presented in Italy, though Italy is home to one of the largest collections of ta‘ziyehs, namely the collection assembled by Enrico Cerrulli, now kept in the Vatican Library.
The troupe of Iranian actors and musicians came directly from Paris, where they had performed at the [End Page 24] Festival d’Automne under the confident directorship of Mohammad Ghaffari. Virtually nothing was spared in order to maintain and communicate the true essence of a ta‘ziyeh, from the horses that ran around the platform to the announcement requesting that the audience not clap at the end of the performance because “it was a religious event.” The Festival was advertised well in advance in the Italian national press and radio. The usual cries of repentance about “our” (i.e., Western) attitude toward Iran and the Iranians resounded in the press together with a call for more attention and less prejudice towards that part of the world.
Nevertheless, the ta‘ziyehs were not very well attended, compared to the numbers at the film series, the concerts, and the contemporary theatrical performances. This was partly due to the unseasonably cold and rainy weather, which made it unpleasant to sit under a tent for more than two hours. Also, lectures by experts in Persian culture were not scheduled until after the ta‘ziyehs had been staged, depriving the Festival audience of the necessary information and cultural support necessary to fully appreciate such an event. As a partial compensation, the ta‘ziyeh drew the attention of...
