For those who appreciate more traditional and folk music of Iran and newly composed music in these styles, the Darvak concert was a delight. They had special guests Ramin Zoufonoun and Ashkan Ghafouri.

Darvak was formed in 1985 in San Diego following the historic concert of masters Lotfi, Alizadeh, Omoumi, and Ghavihelm. Their goal - in addition to friendship and having fun making music - is to promote the learning and enjoyment of Iranian music, especially to younger and non-Iranian audiences.

They met that goal on Sunday, April 14^th at the Mandeville Recital Hall, UCSD. As non-Iranians, my husband and I were enthralled at their performance. We took our dear Iranian friend with us. He was reminded of home, Tehran, and enjoyed the concert so much that he was shaking our seats in the little bleacher area with his movements to the music. It was great to see him enjoying himself.

Darvak is: Alex Khalil, Ali Sadr, Farhad Bahrami, Farzaneh Foroughi, Kamron Bahrami, Mahnaz Ebrahimi, Nima Heydari, and Reza Khabazian.

For those of you who missed it, Darvak plays once each semester at San Diego State University (SDSU) for the music appreciation classes. The next time is Sep 23, 2002 at 6 & 7:30 pm at the SDSU Music building. Call Zaman at (619) 688-0688 for more information.

By Marylee Koningsor

This article is from the Persian Cultural Center Newsletter July/August 2002 issue.