It is such a joy to announce the completion of a project I have been working on for the last two years: my arrangement of the Persian folk song, “Navaie” (نوایی).
As an ethnomusicologist, my interest is in what music tells us about society. What does music express and why? Since the Iranian Revolution (1978-1979), an estimated two million Iranians have fled their country. Vancouver became home to some of them with a current population of around 46,000. When I moved back to Vancouver, I learned that esteemed composer, Amir Eslami, had started a choral organization in North Vancouver called Vancouver Iranian Choir conducted by another wonderful composer, Taymaz Saba. Though Iran doesn’t have a choral tradition, this diasporic community has used group singing to stay connected and re-imagine their cultural identity in the Canadian context. They are slowly building a choral repertoire that builds bridges between old and new musical traditions and they delight in sharing their traditions with a wider audience.
I cannot tell you what an honour it has been to work with the Vancouver Iranian Choir on this project. I humbly thank them, and the choir’s leadership, for their hard work, kindness, generosity, and friendship. They introduced me to the two amazing instrumentalists on this recording, Ali Razmi and Bardia Sadeghi, as well as the beautiful and talented lead singer, Mahtab Haghighi, who also happens to teach for this organization. Mahtab’s participation was particularly rewarding because, if she was living in Iran, she would be prohibited from public performance under the current regime. To make this a truly cross-cultural collaboration, I invited a few members of the Vancouver Chamber Choir to sing with us. My thanks to Christina Marie Cichos, Lucy Smith, Asakti Fabi Sunya, Dolores Scott, Ian Bannerman, Eric Schwarzhoff, Steven Bélanger, and Paul Nash for their warmth and musical excellence.
I was first introduced to “Navaie” by our friend, Reza Verkani (Bahareh Ardalan), who eagerly shared with me some of his favourite songs from Iran. “Navaie” typically is played in one of two musical modes found in traditional Persian art music, dastgah-e nava or dastgah-e mahur. I chose dastgah-e nava because it is a melody type similar to the minor scale in Western classical music so would suit a choral setting. My thanks to my doctoral supervisor, Martin Stokes, for putting me in touch with my UK-based academic partner, Peyman Heydarian. Peyman is an active santurist and together we researched this song’s elusive history both through print sources and living musical practitioners in Iran.
“Navaie” is a folk song believed to have originated in the county of Torbat-e Jām (تربت جام) in Khorasan province in northeastern Iran. The original text was written by the poet Abd al-Baqi, better known as Tabib Isfahani. Nazar-Mohammad Soleymani, born in 1908, is believed to be the song’s composer. An acclaimed player of the dotār, Soleymani hails from a family of dotarists and is now considered one of the area’s most acclaimed baxşis, or bards of sung poetry. “Navaie” would later become popularized by Gholam-Ali PourAtaii, a dotār master often credited as the song’s composer. “Navaie” is so well known that most Iranians – young and old – would say they are familiar with it.
A large part of this song’s appeal is that it has a sense of mysticism which is so much a part of the Persian aesthetic. The song is about love, but a spiritual kind of love which not only is conceived as a ‘place’ but one needs to survive. The term ‘nava’ means ‘home’ and to be without this kind of love means one would be ‘homeless’ (bi nava). The refrain, “navaie, navaie”, calls us to go to this place.
The English translation of the Farsi text sadly does not do justice to the beauty of the poem. I am so grateful (and indebted) to Anita Asadinasab – a specialist in Iranian language and literature – for working tirelessly with me on the English translation. You will find a rolling script in the body of the video. I hope you take the time not only to discover one of Iran’s musical gems, but to celebrate one of Vancouver’s cherished communities. Please enjoy!
Cherie Ploof says
Beautiful!
jgallant says
Cherie, thank you so much for taking the time to listen and for your lovely comment!
Stephen Mead says
Is this an adequate translation: https://lyricstranslate.com/en/navai-نوایی-navai.html
I also found this which is quite different:
Shakila – Navayi
…:::Song : Nahan khane ye del (Navayi)
…:::A folkloric song of Torbat Jam (north east of Iran)
…:::Poet: Tabib Esfahani
…:::This song was originally sung by Gholam Ali Poor Atayi (he played the Dotar too)
…::: Dastgah: Shur
Navaayi, navaayi, navaayi, navaayi ————————a melody, a melody, a melody, a melody
Hame baavafaayand, to gol bivafaayi ——————— everybody is faithful, you are an unfaithful flower
Ghamat dar nahaankhaaneye del neshinad ————- your sorrow sits in the treasury of the heart
Be naazi ke leyli be mahmel neshinad ——————- in the coquetry that Leyli* sits on the litter (conveyance on the camel)
Be donbaale mahmel saboktar ghadam zan ————- walk more gently after the litter
Mabaadaa ghobaari be mahmel neshinad ————— so that dust would not sit on the litter
Maranjaan delam raa ke in morghe vahshi ————- do not bother my heart because this wild bird
Ze baami ke barkhaaste moshkel neshinad ————- would sit with trouble from the roof that it flied away
Benaazam be bazme mohabbat ke aanjaa ————– I like the kind gathering where
Gedaayi be shaahi moghaabel neshinad —————- a beggar would sit in front of the king
Be paa gar khelad khaari aasan bar aayad ————- if a thorn goes to the foot, it easily can be taken out
Che saazam be khaari ke bar del neshinad ———— what can I do with the thorn that goes to my heart
Be donbaale mahmel chenaan zaar geryam————- I will cry so desperately after the litter
Ke az gerye’am naaghe dar gel neshinad —————- that from my tears the camel would sit in mud
Khoshaa kaarevaani ke shab raah tey kard ——————– good for the caravan that traversed the road at night
Dame sobhe avval be manzel neshinad ———————— and would reach home at the dawn of the first day
Elaahi bar oftad neshaane jodaayi ——————- may God take the symptoms of separation
Javaani bogzarad to ghadrash nadaani ———– youth is wasted and you do not know its worth
*the woman character of “Leyli and Majnoun” a story of Arabian origin which was later written in verse by famous Iranian poet Nezami-e Ganjavi in his masterpiece “Layli o Majnun”
jgallant says
Hi Stephen, thank you so much for your interest in this beautiful song.
I worked with literary specialist Anita Asabi Nasab on this translation. We steered away from the translations you found because they both painted women in a pejorative light (as a coquette, a manipulator, or a cheater). After much consultation with the Iranian community, it was decided that this out-dated idea of the literary character, Leili, does not represent the modern values of Iranians, especially those living in the North American context.
The first example is a Turkish translation and is quite close to what Anita and I came up with the above exception. The second example takes on the notion of ‘navaie’ as a melody. While that interpretation is an alternative meaning of the word, Anita felt strongly that the idea of ‘nava’ (or spiritual homeland) better depicts not only the aesthetic sense of mysticism in Persian culture, but the overall sense of the poetry.
As folk song studies reveal (Stokes, Bohlman, Bithell to name few), musical meanings change in new social and political contexts. This rendition has been shaped by the voices of the Iranian diaspora in Vancouver, Canada.
I am delighted to hear from you and thank you for your comments.
Jeffrey Cobb says
Greetings Jeanette – congrats! Beautiful piece!
How could we purchase a perusal copy of this?
Best…
Jeffrey
jgallant says
Hi Jeffery,
So nice to hear from you! Thank you so much for being in touch and your kind interest in this song. Please contact me via my website (www.jeanettegallant.com/contact-me) and I will be happy to forward you a perusal score.