Description
Instrumentation: Voice and Orchestra (Also available as Piano and Voice)
Duration: 6:00 min
Commissioned by: Tirgan Festival
Composition date: 2013
World Premiere: July 25, 2013, Tirgan Festival
Man Marg Ra in Farsi means With Death, I... This was an Aria included in the larger work of Arash the Archer commissioned by Tirgan Festival in 2013. It was written on a poem by Ahmad Shamlou. The generation theme of the poem is “transformation”, specifically transforming death into something else. The poet is setting the stage by observing that time is something that can not be stopped and its passing is inevitable. He talks to his/her lover and connects the lover to all the other elements and what the poet did to resolve his/her relationship with the lover. The poet makes a resolution: “I made a song out of love, that was more powerful than death.” So in conclusion the poet transcendes death by celebrating love and transcends life by celebrating death. The poet’s philosophy is that we, humans, bring beauty and meaning into life.
English translation below.
English Translation
by Foad Hamidi
It is now the passing of time that washes over me like a heavy wave, It is now the passing of time that washes over me like a stream of steel, It is now the passing of time that washes over me like a sea of iron and rocks.
I started a different song on the path of the wind, I started a different song on the path of the rain, I started a different song on the path of the shadow.
You contained the waterlily and rain, I had a scream and a sword, You contained the fountain and the dream, I had a dark still pool.
I started a different song on your path.
I made a song out of a leaf,
A song greener than a forest.
I made a song out of the wave,
A song more rhythmic than human heartbeat.
I made a song out of love,
that was more powerful than death.
(a repeat)
A song greener than the meadow,
is what I made out of the leaf.
A song more alive than the heart of sea,
is what I made out of the wave.
A song more powerful than life,
did I make out of death.
Pouya Hamidi 