Negin Zomorrodi; Mojgan Misaghi; Rachel McFarlane; Arghavan Niroumand; Sina Fallah; Nasim Nabavi; Neda Edalatjoo: The Echoes of Bi-Sotoon. Cultureland Opera Collective, with Renee Salewski (Director), Setareh Delzendeh (Video, set and costume design), Amir Parsa (Lighting Design), at Array Music Space, June 6, 2024.
Who would have thought that Array Music Space, the downtown Boho-chic home of Toronto’s new music, could magically turn into an ancient Persian mythical mountain?
Bi-Sotoon (also known by a variety of different spellings and several different pronunciations) is an archaeological and UNESCO world heritage site in the province of Kermanshah in western Iran. The main monument is a bas-relief commissioned by Darius the Great in 521 BC, portraying the Persian king’s ascent to the throne. This is surrounded by a 1200-line multilingual inscription in a mixture of ancient languages, telling stories of his battles and struggles.
At Array Music Space, the inscription is projected onto a large screen at the back of the stage and set to music in a pseudo-antique style by U.S.-based composer, Mojgan Misaghi, and featuring powerful baritone Alex Dobson as Darius, becomes the gateway to the heart of the ancient love story.
A true labour of love and multicultural teamwork, ‘Echoes of Bi-Sotoon’ is a 75-minute, nine-scene, multi-composer collaborative piece for seven solo voices, piano, electronics and tambour (a lute-like folk stringed instrument), presented by the ‘Cultureland’ Opera Collective.
Sewn together lovingly and convincingly by Afarin Mansouri, the collective’s artistic director and founder, following a jury selection of compositions, and expertly supported by Cheryl Duval from the piano, Echoes is above all about the timelessness of love, as depicted through two symbolic figures separated by millennia: the mythical bird, Simorgh, colourfully portrayed by baritone Alexander Hajeck, and the Little Black Fish, a more contemporary symbol of truth-seeking derived from Samad Behrangi’s award-winning eponymous children’s book. In this touching first scene, Taline Yeremian’s delicate voice as the fish sits perfectly against Hajeck’s warm resonance, underpinned by lapidary piano chords from Spanish-based composer, Negin Zomorodi.
Simorgh and Blackfish become our companions and narrators as they retell the love triangle between Khosrow (a King of the Sassanid period), Shirin (probably an Armenian princess), and Farhad (only known as a sculpture). The story appears in many Persian sources, but it is the version depicted in the 12th century Nizami Ganjavi’s epic poem, Khosrow and Shirin, that is most commonly known and is referred to in this work.
Each composer contributes one scene to the narrative. Canadian composer Rachel McFarlane gives voice to King Khosrow (sung by Alexander Cappellazzo), in a melodically rich aria of jealousy and rivalry, as, aware of Farhad’s love for Shirin, Khosrow tries to deter him by imposing the impossible task of carving a way through the mountain in return for the beloved’s hand.
The story is then retold in Arghavan Niroumand’s piece, first through the eyes of Shirin (beautiful ringing tone from Katheryn Rose Johnston) as she comments on the lovers’ rivalry and then as a conversation between Khosrow and Farhad, the latter featuring the warm, rich bass of Gabriel Sanchez-Ortega. Sung in Persian (with astonishingly accurate pronunciation from all the singers), the music here contains a more overt reference to Persian mode-based (Dastgah) system. Sanchez-Ortega then portrays Farhad as determined and hard at work, in Canada-based Sina Fallah’s energetically dramatic composition. Shirin’s visit to Farhad is a love duet by Nasim Nabavi, set against the image of a starry night.
Fallah’s second contribution depicts the tragic end (‘Shakespearean’ in effect, although Ganjavi lived long before Shakespeare!). When confronted with Farhad’s bravery, Khosrow then deceives him by falsely informing him of Shirin’s death. Lost in despair, Farhad then throws himself to his death (in a simple yet effective bit of stagecraft). His blood (in legends his axe) grows into a pomegranate tree with healing powers.
In Echoes, the pomegranate wood is then used to construct a tambour, seamlessly leading the narrative to the show’s highlight and its most transcendent moment. Robert Simms’ tambour solo improvisation against the backdrop of images of blood-coloured pomegranate seeds was not only hypnotically transfixing but also the perfect musical depiction of the symbolism of the pomegranate in Persian (and Central Asian) culture.
The closing piece shows Simorgh and the Little Black Fish going separate ways, as a duet between soprano Maryam Zunuzi and pre-recorded singing muses on loneliness and nostalgia.
The only cause for regret is that this absorbing show, sponsored by the Toronto Arts Council, was a one-off. Performed on a shoestring budget (by operatic standards), and thankfully filmed for streaming, it now deserves to be re-staged, repeatedly and widely.
*By Michelle Assay for LvT
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