Mehregan-e-Fereydun - Epic Iranian Music

Music by Farya Faraji, vocals by Kelareh Kabiri & Farya Faraji, dotar by ‪@edgarviens‬ ​⁠, tanbour by Soheil Saadat with improvisations by the latter two. This is a piece I composed for the occasion of the Iranian holiday of Mehregan, which celebrates the mythological fall of the usurper serpent-king Zahaak, who is taken down by Fereydun and Kaveh the blacksmith. The music uses the Iranian modes of Shur and Segah, and the instruments consists of the setar, dotar and tanbour, as well as a santour and daf drums.
The lyrics are from the Shāhnāmeh, the national epic of Iran written by Ferdowsi in the Middle-Ages.
English translation of the lyrics:
There was one called Zahak,
Unclean and bereft of good he was,
Outside of human flesh,
There was nothing that could sustain him,
He struck the king's head,
And said, O king, I am Kāveh the justice-seeker,
I am but a humble blacksmith,
But from this king we receive naught but pain,
If you are king of seven countries,
Why do we all suffer so?
He took the leather from his boots,
And hastening it onto his spear,
Made a flag of it,
He mixed red and gold and purple,
And thus created the Kavyiani Derafsh,
At the age of sixteen,
Fereydun came down from the mountains,
He had the beauty and greatness of Jamshid,
And his allure was like the sun's,
Like the wind he came onto Zahak,
And brought his bull's head mace,
Down onto his head,
Upon this day of our Mehr month,
The royal crown was placed upon Fereydun's head,
The worship of Mehregān holiday is his religion,
His goal is the growth of his land,
He ordered for fire to be brought,
And the people burned amber and saffron.

[@faryafaraji]

Music by Farya Faraji, vocals by Kelareh Kabiri & Farya Faraji, dotar by @edgarviens​⁠, tanbour by Soheil Saadat with improvisations by the latter two. This is a piece I composed for the occasion of the Iranian holiday of Mehregan, which celebrates the mythological fall of the usurper serpent-king Zahaak, who is taken down by Fereydun and Kaveh the blacksmith. The music uses the Iranian modes of Shur and Segah, and the instruments consists of the setar, dotar and tanbour, as well as a santour and daf drums. The lyrics are from the Shāhnāmeh, the national epic of Iran written by Ferdowsi in the Middle-Ages. English translation of the lyrics: There was one called Zahak, Unclean and bereft of good he was, Outside of human flesh, There was nothing that could sustain him, He struck the king's head, And said, O king, I am Kāveh the justice-seeker, I am but a humble blacksmith, But from this king we receive naught but pain, If you are king of seven countries, Why do we all suffer so? He took the leather from his boots, And hastening it onto his spear, Made a flag of it, He mixed red and gold and purple, And thus created the Kavyiani Derafsh, At the age of sixteen, Fereydun came down from the mountains, He had the beauty and greatness of Jamshid, And his allure was like the sun's, Like the wind he came onto Zahak, And brought his bull's head mace, Down onto his head, Upon this day of our Mehr month, The royal crown was placed upon Fereydun's head, The worship of Mehregān holiday is his religion, His ritual is the growth of his land, He ordered for fire to be brought, And the people burned amber and saffron.

[@ptolemyisoter5959]

Can we have the persian transliteration too? Would love to sing apong

[@Mr.Emir.]

Persian lyrics pls

[@RedPawner]

@@ptolemyisoter5959 Yea

[@luthfilofianda3999]

It's just me or every time your mom's voice present in a song, the song is like 100x getting more epic.

[@sawhtoo6778]

For me it is so hard for my ear. Because of very different culture.

[@jasminv8653]

​@@sawhtoo6778 a talented woman's voice is hard for your ear because it's not from your own culture??? my good person, no one's forcing you to listen to foreign songs on youtube, right

[@sawhtoo6778]

@@jasminv8653 and you think me different. That is your perspective according to your culture. In my culture this kind of opinion is normal and not hateful. Don't randomly commented on internet especially with different culture. I am a fan of Mr Faraji's since I found his channel. If that is so. his Byzantine and Balkan music are too hard for my culture's ear trust me. But i like it and love it. That is why I am a fan of his channel his historic accurate Roman and Greek songs are even harder for my culture's ear since it used a different tone complete to us.

[@sawhtoo6778]

@@jasminv8653 So don't comment randomly. We often forget that internet is a place of different culture.

[@davidthor4405]

@@jasminv8653 I can actually relate to 'em a bit. I like her singing, and have gotten more used to it with time, but it was initially very strange sounding to me, as I found it to be a bit off. Listening more (and watching the orientalism vid) I gained a better perspective of what I was hearing and could reconsider what sort of sound I was expecting, gaining my present appreciation for Farya's mom. But initially I thought her singing sounded a bit off as well.

[@Alirezadhzz]

Perfect timing brother Payandeh Iran💚🤍☀️🦁❤️

[@Blaidd1298]

What do you exactly mean by perfect timing?

[@kaykysoares9152]

Wake up my son, Farya Faraji just posted another masterpiece

[@FredySunday5400]

Let us enjoy our breakfast.

[@ManfredTheFirst]

I love the more pronounced drums in this song. Marvelous. Also I hope you check out 18th and 19th century Iran more in your songs in the future. "The Safavids" is still one of my favorite pieces from you and I would love to see what you could do with that era. Shah Abbas, Nader Shah and The Russo-Persian Wars are very fascinating parts of Iranian history.

[@glthemusicenjoyer6809]

Yes!! More epic Iranian music!! Also really happy to see Edgar viens here after he was featured in the I orientalism video

[@edgarviens]

It’s a pleasure to be here once again!

[@SpongeSoldier]

We need an epic Iranian music about Farya

[@seenbefore2803]

Battle of Duduk 2024 Epic Symphony

[@lomionaredhelion]

@@seenbefore2803 And its sequel 'The Return of the King - William Wallace Epic Northern Climate Music'

[@wilmanuts9954]

This but unironically

[@mennyboy1528]

​​​@@seenbefore2803 overture orientalism sucks KZbin's Fake oriental music Farya Faraji's essay Westeners can make oriental music Duduk's last stand Farya's pyrrhic triumph Viking music tragedy.

[@koui4449]

Iranian is such a beautiful language. Farya is here again with another masterpiece!! Much love and appreciation from 🇬🇷

[@Ali-e7r]

Iranian is not a language it's a national identity It would be wiser to use the persian language instead of iranian language.

[@ΒασίληςΒλάχος-τ3κ]

*Persian Υπάρχουν πολλές ιρανικές γλώσσες, και η περσική είναι μια από αυτές

[@koui4449]

@@Ali-e7r sorry friend thanks for correcting my mistake and educating me on this matter . I hadn't any intention of insulating anyone !

[@koui4449]

@@ΒασίληςΒλάχος-τ3κ ευχαριστώ πολύ οντως δεν ήξερα ότι η διάλεκτος ονομάζεται περσικά

[@Ali-e7r]

@@koui4449 no problem brother

[@suhrabboy]

. Durud az poraye Ironi Buzurg az-Tojikiston❤

[@inomjonqobulov3778]

Привет, Фарья Фараджи. Хоть я и узбек по национальности, музыка, которую вы создали и исполнили на греческие и персидские мелодии, заставляет трепетать мое сердце.🔥👍

[@juanelkarma4630]

Nothing better than a song by Farya to lift my spirits

[@loop4569]

AYOOOO THE SHAHNAMEH RETURNS

[@putthecotdown]

Vibrant iranian drums - check Good music, vocals and impros - check Restoration of justice - check "And the people burned amber and saffron." - check This is really nice :)

[@reroman1892]

6:03 the players are doing such a good job there, this part is insane, the strings work so well with the percussion

[@faryafaraji]

Edgar Viens is shredding here, check out his channel, he's got amazing music

[@zoroaster5353]

We Kurds will always play the part of Kaveh for Eran

[@nishantduhan1]

Fun fact: In Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within, the Serpent King Zahhak is known by his Avestan name, Azi Dahaka, or simply "The Dahaka." He possesses the ability of Zurvan, the god of time, allowing him to travel to both the past and present in the game. His only weakness is the pure waters of Anahid (Anahita).

[@kralpetarkrescimeriv.terpi6043]

In real life : Prince of Persia was a demon, tormented people of Persia for centuries. He was defeated by Archangel Michael the leader of Heavenly Host. 😏

[@Biggvs_dickvs]

I was Roleplaying the Prince in CK3 yesterday. I was Afridunist. The coincidence is crazy.

[@ThisHandleIsDefinatelyTaken]

maybe the algorithms aren't all bad when they let me stumble into this channel

[@Arthurmadhal]

another persian classic its incredible how the story of fereydun and his struggles with zahak mirror the rise of cyrus the great against the median empire showing how old iranian folklore is

[@zack2804]

Zahhak has nothing to do with the Medes. In Persian mythology, he's an Arab/Semitic. In Kurdish mythology, he's Assyrian (which is also Semitic). So in other words, he was a foreign ruler. It would make no sense for him to be Median, considering Cyrus the Great's mother was the daughter of a Median emperor.

[@alimaleki6316]

Guttian empire vs babylonian empire

[@Pansistani]

Fereydun is not Cyrus , and zahak is not Azhidahak , just their name is same

[@Franco99028]

What a lovely song to start October with, this month has been blessed.

[@AnneBeggs]

The music is grand! And what a story - TY for sharing it all with us =----> Music, cultures and history, always winners =---->

[@TrajGreekFire]

Farya's mom and Shohreh Agdashloo singlehandedly boosting international prestige of Iranian women

[@АндрійПідкоритов-ц9ы]

Але як завжди круто - історична спадщина Ірану, та ще й на сучасних інструментах - це ще вміти треба. (Знаю що це НЕ реконструкція) Я опис завжди читаю.

[@TheHideousStrength]

Another return to Eranshahr!

[@TheLostChild25]

Mehregane Fereydun Peroz ba mardumi Eronzamin! 💓

[@eklavyabohare9938]

2:22 - 3:19 Absolute Epicness ⚜️

[@Mr.celery]

What an amazing birthday gift! much love baradar!

[@chimPa-c6j]

If you post new song, day is good. Thanx Don Farya Faraji

[@Eugene-tm8fm]

Farya dropped more Iranian music, today is a good day

[@iustinus5462]

Amazing song once again! I am wondering though if you would ever consider making a song in Old English or Old High German? Perhaps portions of Beowulf or The Wanderer in Old English? Or the Wessobrunn Prayer in Old High German?

[@Mary87-qo1er]

Long live Iran ❤❤❤❤

[@the_orthodox_historian]

Farya, can you please do an Epic Sicilian song one day about the Norman kings? Also what happened to Stella Splendens and the song about summer ending? They were my favorites

[@N_O_B_O_v1]

Farya is one of those people who makes me proud that im from the same motherland as his.

[@nazirshafa7239]

I’m simple person i see Farya post a new Persian song i click ❤

[@edgarviens]

Yo man! Merci de m’avoir invité sur ta chaîne encore une fois! Ta toune c’est un freaking banger!

[@Yoyërcompany]

AND THE MAN HIMSELF IS HERE! Edgar, your talent is a gift from God, I'm waiting a new video from you on your channel soon!

[@sarastar7779]

خواهش میکنم میشه یه آهنگ قشنگ برا چهارشنبه سوری بسازی. با آتش زیاد🔥

[@user-bq6vz5im7g]

باورم نمی شه بعد این همه آهنگ ایرانی گذاشتید

[@CONSTANTINEXI63]

Whenever you and your mother are singing, it will always be a masterpiece

[@parsarustami774]

Can you make a documentary video on Iran's history? I know that's not what this channel is and I know you did a video about orientalism but I'm just so sick and tired of seeing the media and hollywood depicting iranians as arabs and all that stupid shit that you know.

[@lovelydreamingtime9563]

For anyone interested in more about Fereydun, please check out the animated adaptation titled “The Last Fiction”!

[@farzanmunshi8054]

It's a shame that The Last Fiction only accounts for a small portion of the Shānāmeh. Would've loved to see the entirety of it. Maybe one day they'll make it

[@Khaki78]

انوشه باد ایرانشهر

[@theshadowsagas3617]

Another day, another Farya Faraji banger!

[@tamerofhorses2200]

IMO among all your tracks the ones where you adapt portions of the Shahnameh are the best sounding.

[@gideonros2705]

Iranian language is beautiful.

[@Ae_Revidor]

Listened to this masterpiece and immediately grabbed my Penguin's Classics' copy of the Shahnameh and got back at where I stopped a month ago!

[@aaronpollock8041]

The story of Feryadun and Kaveh is my favourite story in the Shahnameh, this lovely composition captures the essence of the story perfectly

[@nodosa994]

Oh boy, I've never been this early for music

[@AjjiTalktv]

2nd here love the theme

[@synisterfish]

This is, indeed, epic.

[@lomionaredhelion]

Your Iranian music is always top notch 👌🏼Et allô Edgar!

[@aramokurdo]

Greetings from Kurdistan ❤ (loved the Kurdish Tanbur in it)

[@قباد-ع4ط]

مهرگان‌ بر همه ایرانیان راستین و بر شما جناب فریا شادباش باد❤🌞❤مهر ۲۷۲۴ مادی

[@iberius9937]

Iranian masterpiece!! We can't expect anything less from El Faraji!

[@hamishegi9993]

لطفا درمورد دلاوران ایران مثل فرخان بزرگ و بابک خرمدین و باقی اسطوره های کشور هم اهنگ تهیه کنید ❤

[@coh2enjoyer729]

Bro this is so epic like omg 😭😭

[@Ranger_7980]

W persians feast good job farya keep going make more persians

[@Shild-sz2hz]

Is not persian is iran iranian

[@goldrinn12]

오랜만에 샤나메에 나오는 내용이 나왔군요. 로스탐이랑 파랑기스 이후로 처음입니다.

[@immortal_lions]

I love your style man thanks You always makes me happy ❤

[@daspotato895]

I've not only found a new song to play on loop for hours on end (the Tanbour and Vocals especially are awesome), but I've now learned about a new holiday to read up on, so happy Mehregan Farya!

[@Mad_Rex161]

Great song like always, but can we get the lyrics in farsi? I wanna sing along 😌

[@Pansistani]

Lyrics is from Shahnameh , Search Zahak Story

[@Tahmina-qg3dl]

love it! greetings from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan ❤

[@Ebru_33]

It has a really nice melody! Since you have changed your route to the Middle East, could the next song be in Kurdish?

[@xereyoutuber8168]

Drop a song for Nader Shah 🔥🔥🔥

[@Odysseyquest25]

Thanks for all the epic music! I listen to all these songs when I go for hikes and runs!

[@sal6695]

We praise Iran, Homeland of the Aryans

[@zanderaw]

W

[@veilnebula2411]

Words can not convoy how much i love this channel.

[@spencer.eccles]

I really like this one

[@maybenextweek418]

awesome work as usual!

[@Jakub7009]

Can’t believe you people are giving this to us for free ❤️❤️❤️

[@fudoam]

bro starts cooking again:

[@Blaidd1298]

This is so fitting now lol, what a a glorious coincidence, i guess pure Yazdan is with us ❤💚

[@bryankerr9174]

Fabulous. Thanks again.

[@aramkij]

tamborzada profunda 🥁

[@Ali-yj4fg]

Mehregan adine❤️

[@liviaplauta]

Ages ago I read or heard somewhere that Iran still has (or had in the Seventies) singers of epic poetry. Is that true? If so, does that have a particular melody, or is it improvisation in particular modes like this one?

[@Blaidd1298]

It still has, it is actually quite a common thing, like idk "Rock" is in America, Farya's way of singing is actaully kinda novel, go check Shahrahm Nazeri, for example, or just type Shahname singing or something, it will show up, there are several kinds of "Persian traditional" singing that Shahname is usually sang in.

[@liviaplauta]

@@Blaidd1298 , thanks a lot! It seems really interesting and I had never been able to find information about it. Searches for epic Iranian music didn't produce any relevant results. Now some more questions: are there other poetry works that are usually sung? When Ferdowzi wrote Shahnameh was it meant to be sung, or was singing added later?

[@Blaidd1298]

@@liviaplauta No problem friend! And yes, traditionally all Persian classical poetry are sung in Persian traditional singing, Hafez poem's, Sa'adi poem's, Rumi poem's and so on, in fact in Iran the most prevelant "Lyrics" for songs and musics are ancient and classical poetry, in recent history many novel things have happend aswell, such as Classical poems being sung in modern styles, Rock, Pop and so on. you can check "O-hum", Chavoshi and Ali Zand Vakil for these, and Pallet. I don't know if at the time these poems were meant to be "sung", but persian, and persian poetry even more is is extremely rythmic, so even if you read out a classical poem outloud it is going to sound rythmic and somewhat musical, there is a way to read poems which i guess is the intended way, called "Deklameh", meaning something like "Hymn", im which a persian poem is read out loud by it's intended rhyme, not musical, but rhytmical, with no music or anyhing.

[@thelonelywarrior6845]

@@Blaidd1298 Sorry I'm kind of uneducated about Iranian music, but how is it novel?

[@faryafaraji]

@@thelonelywarrior6845⁠​ Because I'm basically singing these lyrics within the format and structure of folk songs. What @Blaidd1298 is referring to is the fact that traditionally, Iranian poetry is recited in the "deklameh" manner, a sort of half-musical, half-spoken rythmical manner, closer to Western poem recitation or spoken word poetry. But traditionally in Iran, poetry, especially the Shahnāmeh's, was never converted into the lyrics and sung as a literal, straight up song. The singing manner heard here itself isn't novel, it's the fact that it's the Shahnāmeh being sung as a straight up song that's novel. Otherwise the vocal style and melody is as traditional as it gets. Basically, I took Iranian folk music, and decided to apply their structure to Iranian poetry, which is indeed rather novel in Iranian culture. Imagine if someone took English folk music, and sang Shakespeare's monologues in the style of English ballads, which are typically recited poetically/theatrically. That's sort of what's happening here.

[@Vanessa_224]

Every time he drops, I have a new favorite.

[@evaggelia-stylida]

Interesting song with good melody

[@ashenen2278]

What is the difference of dotar and tanbour? And where can I listen to sample of the instruments used in the video? (In wikipedia both instruments seem to have many regional varieties)

[@faryafaraji]

Purists will crucify me for saying this but they're basically the same instrument with the exception that the tanbour has two strings in one course for the melody, and one drone string, whereas the dotar as the name implies is two-strings, do-tar. But the name tanbour is an etymological clusterfuck. It used to be the generic name for any kind of lute instrument, so you end up with hundreds of distinct instruments with barely any similarities sharing that name; just compare the Ottoman Classic tenbûr to the Kurdish tanboor

[@aBlackVixen]

Great song as usual! However, why did you remove the lyrics shown on screen? I miss that... :[

[@KNIGHTOFSHADOWS-t8c]

Another shahname song ❤ Perfect

[@hamishegi9993]

انوشه باد ایران زمین

[@Moralgo]

Music to read the Shahnameh to.

[@alirezaasgharzadeh4923]

درود 🔥

[@АндрійПідкоритов-ц9ы]

Іран Іраном але Stalker 2 Heart of Chornobyl по графіку.

[@7mmd3046]

What?

[@hamishegi9993]

ممنونم فریا جان❤

[@aliettokadi]

I'mma learn farsi asap!

[@hamishegi9993]

هزاران درود 🎉❤

[@LatinMapper]

Nice song brother

[@WelpNopeYep]

No Duduk, dislike

[@АндрійПідкоритов-ц9ы]

Станція працює - енергетик спить. Сниться йому, що життя - коротка мить, Блискавицею невпинно плине час, Гуркіт грому, лишить спогади про нас.

[@MiaraJackyFereshteh]

beautiful ❤

[@LegionaryofRome88]

Shāhnāmēh and Farya Faraji, am i daydreaming? soon Keyumars?

[@xilefm-4517]

Shoo-in for Vol. IV?

[@tawan20082008]

thanks

[@symphonyoforder]

Salut Farya ! Bon, j'imagine que tu ne verras pas ce commentaire, mais je tente quand-même ma chance. D'habitude, je suis surtout un habitué de tes musiques romaines, byzantines et françaises, mais récemment je me suis intéressé davantage à tes musiques iraniennes depuis celle que tu as composée sur Petroz, et je les aime beaucoup (celle-ci compris, chapeau encore une fois). Est-ce que tu projettes plus tard de composer une musique ou une symphonie sur la rébellion des Sassanides contre les Parthes ? Je me dis que ça serait une très belle opportunité pour mélanger les leitmotivs respectifs des deux Empires, d'en ajouter d'autres que tu as déjà écris voire même pourquoi pas en écrire de nouveaux. Dans tous les cas, j'ai un respect incommensurable pour ton travail, et je te souhaite sincèrement une bonne journée !

[@AjjiTalktv]

Fereydun-Triton-Thor

[@Pansistani]

Abtin (father of Fereydun)-> Oatin -> Odin

[@AjjiTalktv]

@@Pansistani 🤝🏻♥️

[@Makaneek5060]

Giving me chills, but also I am resting the reverse side of both knees on a cold depowered macbook to cool off

[@ROSTAMFAROKHZAD-fl6wk]

👌👌

[@koimismenoss]

👍

[@EverythingLightSpeed]

.