The Wisdom of Zarathustra and Rumi (Persian and Indian classical music and poetry)

This evening offers an opportunity to experience the meeting of two ancient cultures: Persian Sufi poetry and music, and the depth of Indian classical music. The event is dedicated to Rumi’s birthday—a day worth remembering him and his teachings on the inner journey. A brief introduction to the evening will reveal the subtle connection between Zoroaster and Rumi—teachers who lived in different eras but expressed inner light in similar ways.

During the concert, master of Persian classical music Dariush Rasouli (Iran) will play the tar and ney, chant Zoroastrian mantras, and recite Rumi’s poems in Persian, accompanied by a translation into Lithuanian. He will be joined by the bansuri flute of Indian classical music, whose colorful melodies will be performed by Adomas Šimkūnas, who has been studying and performing traditional Indian classical music for many years.

The musical dialogue between Dariush Rasouli and Adomas Šimkūnas will be further enriched by the subtle, continuous resonance of the tambura and Ehsan Vaseghi’s percussion. We will enjoy music that preserves the forms of both Indian and Persian classical traditions—what Rumi called “the music of the heart.”

Dariush Rasouli is an Iranian-born ney player who studied at the Tehran University of Art and Music and trained under renowned masters of Persian music, including Mohammad Ali Kiyaninejad and Hasan Kasai. He has lived in Warsaw since 2004, actively performing throughout Europe as a soloist and collaborating with various musicians and ensembles. Rasouli is the founder of the Persian-Polish ensemble PersoPolish; he has performed at numerous international festivals, recorded music for albums and films, and appeared as a soloist with various European philharmonic orchestras.

Adomas Šimkūnas is a performer of Indian classical music and a practitioner of the bansuri flute and the Dhrupad tradition. Since 2016, he has been studying Dhrupad, the oldest vocal tradition of North Indian classical music, and continues his studies in vocal and bansuri flute under Professor Pandit Ritwik Sanyal of Varanasi, one of the most renowned masters of this tradition. Adomas performs in Lithuania and abroad, and also accompanies Indian classical dancers.

Ehsan Vaseghi has been studying Iranian music and percussion since the age of ten. His primary instrument is the tombak, he also plays the setar and the oud.