Not too long ago, at forty second road in Manhattan, a mythological chicken was getting ready to take off.
Behind the scenes within the new victory theater, a black dressed puppeteer, positioned a complicated masks and stepped right into a beam of sunshine, throwing the shade of flickering on a big frost.
Close by, two different performers had been getting ready to observe a sword. Then the music began and a crew of 9 started a full passing of “Song to the North,”, A complicated shadow puppet of the tenth century Persian epic tales “Shahna”.
From the viewers the present unfolded as a problem -free animation. However behind the scenes, the subsequent 80 minutes had been half ballet, half a loopy brawl, because the performers grabbed a whole bunch of various puppets, props and masks organized on tables and, with break up seconds, jumped in and from the sunshine beams flowing from two projectors.
He leaned towards a backstage wall was the creator of the present Hamid Rahmanian. His function? “Stress,” he mentioned.
Since her premiere in 2022 in Paris, the North Music (supposed for an 8 -year -old viewers) has obtained enthusiastic evaluations and performed on packed homes on three continents. His arrival on the coronary heart of Occasions Sq., the place he begins throughout the week of March 15, is designated for Nowruz, the vacation of the Persian New Yr. It additionally coincides with the discharge of a brand new trendy prose translation of “Shakhn” This Rachmanian produced in collaboration with the scientist Ahmad Sadri – the primary full English model of the Iranians, Rahmanian mentioned.
The present is mentally difficult, together with 483 puppets, 208 animated backgrounds, 16 characters and costume masks and 9 performers following greater than 2,300 separate indicators.
However the thought behind him, Rachmanian mentioned, is easy: to deliver the wealth of Persian tradition to a younger viewers and adults whose views on Iran might be dominated by unfavorable stereotypes.
“Every little thing about Iran is seen by means of the lens of politics,” he mentioned. “Iranian tradition is a symphony. However within the west we solely hear the drum. “
“Shahmam” or the guide of kings is claimed to be probably the most lengthy poem ever written by an writer – twice as long Because the Iliad and the Odyssey, they mixed. It’s made up of the Persian poet Abu al -Kazem Ferdosi, who spent 33 years, turning centuries to historic and mythological eruditions into greater than 50,000 lapels.
In Iran, the place many individuals give their kids the names of heroes (Rostom, Sohrab), he stays Cultural stoneS However rising up in Tehran, Rachmanian, who’s already 56, was immune to his father’s exhortations to learn it truly.
He was extra drawn to the visible artwork and as much as 19, he mentioned, he had based his personal graphic design enterprise. In 1994 he moved to New York to Study computer animation On the Institute Prat. In 1996, he was employed by Disney, the place he labored on initiatives corresponding to Tarzan and the Emperor’s new groove. However he had the sensation that he didn’t slot in and left two years later.
“Since then,” he mentioned, “I’ve solely labored for myself.”
In 1998 he and his spouse Melissa Hibbard based Fictionville Studiowho has turn into the middle of their shared inventive life. Within the subsequent seven years they made 5 movies collectively together with “Shahrboo” “ A documentary for an unlikely friendship between an American emigrant and a conservative Muslim in Tehran and “Daytime rest,” Perform for a person of demise in Iran.
Then, in 2008, Hamid targeted on what has turn into his work in life: selling Shahmam.
At this time, he and Hibbard (co -authored and producer of Music to the North) handle what looks like a home from a comfortable floor flooring studio of their condominium in Brooklyn Heats, which is full of puppets and artistic endeavors by their 13 “shahnameh” initiatives up to now.
The primary was a complicated 600 pages Illustrated edition By Epic, revealed in 2013, which was additionally made with sadri. To create it, Rachmanian compiled and remixed greater than 8,000 Persian-style miniatures from all around the Islamic world, as Ferdovsi himself collected present materials to create his epic.
Then got here a 12-hour model of the audio guide (with an introduction learn by Francis Ford Coppola, which has talked about parallels between “Shahmam” and the “godfather”) and two pop -up with the participation sophisticated scenes With quite a few transferring components and characters topped with actual feathers.
Rachmanian was impressed to create a theatrical monitor after seeing a restored model of Lotte CleanerThe quiet movie of 1926 “The Adventures of Prince Ahmed”, which is considered the oldest surviving cartoon in all the size. “I believed,” I need to do one thing like that! “He mentioned.
He went to San Francisco on concepts for a workshop with a puppet theater artist Larry ReedOne of many first Westerners to coach within the conventional puppet Bali shade. As he’s mistaken with numerous projectors in his studio in Brooklyn, Rachmanian struck the projection approach he makes use of in his exhibits.
“I went into the sunshine beam and noticed my very own shadow and thought,” Oh my God! “Rahmanian mentioned. “I noticed that I might use an animated background after which dictate the choreography.”
Rahmanian’s first present “Feathers of Fireplace” and “Music of the North” took about three years to create, requiring a whole bunch of boards and almost 12 weeks to make the advanced backstage choreography.
However the firm nearly stopped in October 2023 when a minibus that holds the puppets, the props and the tools stolen from a hotel parking lot in San Francisco.
The van was restored, however about one -third of the puppets and costumes had been misplaced or destroyed, and there have been no two initiatives. Rachmanian is contemplating giving up. “I believed it was Kismet,” he mentioned, destiny.
However the theft made titles throughout the nation and inside a month Gofundme raised almost $ 100,000, which allowed Rachmanian to recreate the puppets and resume the tour a number of months later.
Rachmanian says there isn’t a bitterness about theft, citing the subject of the present’s forgiveness. “It is a actually vital message right now,” he mentioned.
The Music within the North covers solely a small a part of the Shakhnam, the love story between Bijan, a warrior from the Kingdom of Iran, and a person’s, the princess of the rival kingdom of Turan. Behind the scenes of the rehearsal of the brand new victory, a whole bunch of puppets and requisites had been organized in piles of fastidiously organized trays – “Nearly like books,” Rahmanian mentioned.
JThe puppeteer, who has the present since 2021, offers with greater than 100 totally different puppets and props and performs a number of characters, together with this mythological chicken Simurg that climbs in heaven in a very dazzling scene.
“That is proper in my physique at that second,” Khan instructed the complexity of the present. “There may be loads of muscle reminiscence.”
Nazgol Ansarinia, a visible artist visiting Tehran who was watching behind the scenes, mentioned he was amazed at each the intricacies of the efficiency and the fast story.
“In Iran, everybody is aware of the tales and characters from the Shahnam, however the textual content itself just isn’t so accessible,” she mentioned. “Hamid actually made it out there.”
After working to the brand new victory “The Music within the North” will journey to Seattle, Vancouver and within the fall of Saudi Arabia. And Rachmanian already plans extra initiatives obtained from Shahnameh, together with “Theatrical Symphonic Expertise”, together with widescreen animation backgrounds, “RAV Fashion Gentle” and 4 dozen stay musicians, together with singer Azam Ali. (Will probably be marked by Loga Ramin Torkian, who additionally made the music for “Music within the North.”)
Is Rachmanian frightened in regards to the subject? He shook his head.
The mythology of each tradition, he mentioned, is a backyard. “However” Shahmam “is a forest.”
