The "Language of Love" concert tour in England, as a part of the "Language of Love" international project, with the joint performance of Master Shahram Nazeri, the chevalier of Iran's music, and Master Davlatmand Kholov, the renowned musician of Tajikistan, accompanied by Mana Ensemble and musicians from Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan, was held by Mana Naqsh Heritage Institute for Art & Culture and in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge on February 2019 in London, Oxford, Cambridge, and Manchester.
Master Shahram Nazeri and Master Davlatmand Kholov are renowned musicians in their own right. The Sufi-inspired mysticism of Shahram Nazeri is enormously popular in his home of Iran, and led the New York Times to dub the Kurdish musician "the Persian Nightingale". Davlatmand Kholov, meanwhile, is an expert on the folk music of Central Asia, particularly the Falak of his native Tajikistan. Tonight, they share their knowledge to forge a common musical language, collaborating live in London for the first time.
These concerts were held successively on Sunday, February 17, in Manchester with the performance of Master Nazeri, on Tuesday, February 19, at the Holywell Music Room of the University of Oxford in Oxford, with the performance of Master Nazeri, on Sunday, February 24, 2019, at the Barbican Hall in London with the performance of Master Nazeri and Master Kholov, and on Monday, February 25, 2019, at the Pembroke College of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge with the performance of Master Kholov.
In this concert tour, the legends of Persian music and Tajik music sang together for the very first time, performing Persian, Tajik, and Kurdish songs accompanied by traditional instruments of Iran and Tajikistan in company with Mana Ensemble. Mana Ensemble consisting of Farid Elhami, Seyed Ali Jaberi, Mohammad Jaberi, Ruzimad Kholov, Loiq Kholov, Navid Kouhi, Misagh Mehrpour, Saber Nazargahi, Shahab Nikman, the author of the language of love project and the managing director of Mana Naqsh, and Tohid Vahid with the instruments of Tar, Divan, Oud, Kamancheh, Tanbur, Setar, percussion instruments (Daf, Bendir, Water Drum, Tibetan Singing Bowl), Rubab, and Tablak accompanied Masters Nazeri and Kholov.
Shahram Nazeri and Davlatmand Kholov, in this concert tour, performed pieces of music of poems of the Shahnamah of Ferdowsi, which pointed to the importance of Persian poetry and literature, and also, they performed pieces of music such as "Devonah Shaw", "Bahare Janha", "Benmay Rokh" and "Sheyda Shodam" together as a duet.
The second concert was held in the Holywell Music Room of the University of Oxford, which is more than 270 years old and it is said to be the oldest purpose-built music room in Europe, and hence Britain's first concert hall. The performance of Shahram Nazeri and Mana Ensemble in this hall using natural sound was one of the remarkable points of this concert tour.
Before the third concert, the official opening ceremony of the "Language of Love" international project was held and the "Emblem of the Language of Love" was unveiled at the Barbican Hall in London, hosted by Mana Naqsh and in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.