Registration of Shajarian’s “Rabbana”

On May 9, the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization registered Mohammadreza Shajarian’s “Rabbana” on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list.

The nostalgic recitation of an invocation was performed and recorded by the legendary vocalist in 1980.

Registration of “O Iran”

“O Iran”, a song that was the national anthem in the early years after the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, was added to the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list by the Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization on May 14.

Lyrics for the epic song were composed by Hossein Golegolab in 1944 and Ruhollah Khaleqi put it to music.

LiBeratur Prize for Fariba Vafi

The Litprom Association in Frankfurt honored Iranian writer Fariba Vafi with the LiBeratur Prize on June 11 for her second novel “Tarlan”, which is about Tarlan, a young girl who dreams of becoming a writer but instead chooses to go to the Police Academy.

The book was translated into German by Jutta Himmelreich and published by Sujet Publications in Germany in 2015.

Najaf Daryabandari as Living Human Treasure

The Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization announced on August 2 that veteran translator Najaf Daryabandari, who is also the author of a bestselling cookbook, has been honored as a Living Human Treasure in the category of cuisine.

The organization said that his name was listed among Iran’s Bearers of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Venice festival awards for “No Date, No Signature”

Vahid Jalilvand won the award for best director for “No Date, No Signature” in the Orizzonti (Horizons) section at the 74th Venice International Film Festival in the Italian city on September 9.

The film also brought Navid Mohammadzadeh the best actor award in this category. These two awards were the highest accolades Iranian cinema won over the past year.

International awards for Iranian architects

Twelve projects from Iranian architects were honored on October 20 at the 2A Asia Architecture Award (2AAA), which is held annually by 2A Magazine in Berlin.

Among the winners was “Hidden Pictograms Recreation of a Social/Cultural Pedestrian Path” designed by Mohammad Mohammadzedeh, which won first prize in the Urban Projects, Rural Projects, Landscape & Public Spaces category.

On November 23, several Iranian projects, including Orsi Khaneh located on Olyai Street off Nasr Street in Tehran, received awards at the 10th Middle East Architect Awards in Dubai.

UNESCO registration of Jami’ al-Tawarikh

On October 31 Iran’s Culture Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization announced that UNESCO had registered on its Memory of the World Register list the Jami’ al-Tawarikh (“World History”), a rare illustrated medieval folio by Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamedani (1247-1318) from Iran.

Sheikh Hamad Award for Iranian center

Iran’s Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia in Tehran was honored with a $100,000- prize at the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding (SHATIU) in Doha, Qatar on December 15.

A banner year for Hushang Moradi Kermani  

This Iranian year was a golden year for writer Hushang Moradi Kermani as three of his works were translated into other languages.

Khariyyah Dammak Qasim, an assistant professor and head of the Persian Department at the University of Baghdad, completed an Arabic translation of “The Water Urn” on December 19.

U.S. scholar Caroline Croskery completed an English translation of “The Stories of Majid” on January 6, 2018 while Sara Jovanovic provided a Serbian translation of “A Sweet Jam” on January 7.

Source: Tehran Times