Harp, tar exhibition underway at Tehran gallery

TEHRAN, Nov. 10 (MNA) -- Tehran’s Diplomatic Gallery is currently playing host to an exhibition of harps and tars created by Abdollah Abbasi. Hushang Zarif, Anushirvan Rohani, Mohammad Sarir and a number of other Iranian musicians attended the opening ceremony of the exhibit on Thursday. In addition, a group of diplomats from foreign embassies in Tehran was also in attendance during the ceremony, which was blended with a musical performance by tar virtuoso Amir-Hossein Reza and ney players Fardin Lahurpur and Somayyeh Abbasi. Abbasi, 50, has created over 800 tars over his 34-year career in instrument making. Many prominent Iranian musicians including Zarif and Sarir use his tars, which have been acclaimed by Iranian tar virtuoso Jalil Shahnaz, in their performances. He began his career by making a violin when his was at the age of 16. He used a piece of board and brake lines of a motorcycle as strings to make the violin. Abbasi practiced with the violin during the courses he took with Asadollah Malek, one of Iranian master violinists. The exhibition runs until November 16 at the gallery located at 10 Naz Alley, off Movahhed-Danesh St. in the Aqdasieh neighborhood. The gallery belongs to the ECO Cultural Institute (ECI).