MY IRAN

ایرانِ من

Fared Shafinury

World Premiere, March 20, 2026 - 11AM PST

Music by: Babak Saeedi
Lyrics By: Kourosh Samiei
Directed By: Hitoshi Inoue

Exclusively for Farhang Performances

"We live in tumultuous times. In moments like these, the role of an artist becomes heavier. To speak honestly. To listen deeply. To awaken hearts where silence has settled.

For Iranians, culture has always been more than expression. Our music and poetry have long been the quiet arenas of resistance, the sacred spaces where grief, courage, and longing could survive when other freedoms could not. Just as Nowruz, the first day of spring, returns each year with the promise that light will overcome darkness, so too has the spirit of our people endured through centuries of hardship and renewal.

When I was commissioned by Farhang Foundation to create a work around the theme “light will overcome darkness,” I knew this could not be a solitary act. It had to be born in community, in dialogue with other Iranian artists in exile who carry the same longing, memory, and responsibility.

The poetry of Kourosh Samiei moved my soul from the very first reading. And with the extraordinary producer Babak Saeedi helping shape the sound in the studio, something began to unfold that felt both deeply personal and profoundly collective. My heart began to sing, and at times it cried.

“My Iran” lives in the meeting point between traditions. The blues and classical Persian music are both languages born from struggle—musical forms through which people have carried sorrow, dignity, protest, and healing. They are ways a people wash their pain through sound.

In Persian music, the microtones bend and search for truth between the notes. In the blues, the pentatonic scale speaks with a raw and ancient simplicity. Somehow these two traditions reach the same place in the human soul, as if they remember a shared humanity that existed long before borders and histories divided us.

Releasing this song on Nowruz, the first breath of spring, feels like an offering. A reminder that even in dark times, the human spirit continues to sing."

نوروزتان پیروز

The Sun will rise once again,

— Fared Shafinury

About Fared Shafinury

Shafinury

Fared Shafinury (b. 1982) is a renowned Iranian-American artist, singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist, playwright, educator, and virtuoso of the Persian setâr. Widely recognized for his distinctive voice and deep command of the classical Persian tradition, Shafinury has dedicated his life to preserving, reinterpreting, and sharing the rich musical heritage of Iran with audiences around the world.

Born on the Gulf Coast of Mexico to an Iranian family, Shafinury was raised within a vibrant multicultural environment that would later inform the breadth and emotional depth of his artistic work. He began his musical journey at the age of eleven and soon committed himself to the rigorous study of Persian classical music. Between 2000 and 2007, he lived in Tehran where he completed extensive studies of the Radif—the canonical repertoire of Persian classical music—under several distinguished masters including Ostad Mohammad Shoari, Ostad Zolghadr, and the legendary Ostad Mohammad Reza Lotfi. These formative years immersed him in the spiritual, poetic, and improvisational traditions that continue to shape his music today.

Shafinury first gained international recognition in 2010 with the release of his debut full-length album, Behind the Seas. The album received critical acclaim for its originality and emotional authenticity, introducing global audiences to a powerful new voice in contemporary Persian music—one capable of bridging classical tradition with modern songwriting. Since then, his work has continued to expand the expressive boundaries of Persian music, weaving together classical forms, poetry, theater, and cross-cultural influences.

Over the course of more than three decades as a performer and composer, Shafinury has built a substantial body of recorded work and has performed in concert halls, festivals, and cultural institutions across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. His performances are known for their emotional intensity, virtuosity, and ability to connect audiences to the timeless poetry and philosophy embedded in Persian musical traditions.

In addition to his work as a performer and recording artist, Shafinury is the founder and director of the Radif Retreat Institute, an online educational platform and archival database dedicated to the study and preservation of classical Persian music theory and repertoire. Through this initiative, he teaches students from around the world, helping a new generation engage deeply with the Radif and the broader traditions of Iranian music.

Beyond the stage and classroom, Shafinury has also been active in humanitarian and cultural advocacy. Through his music and public work, he has used his platform to raise awareness about human rights, cultural preservation, and the struggles of the Iranian people both inside Iran and throughout the diaspora.

Through a career that bridges continents, traditions, and generations, Fared Shafinury continues to explore the living spirit of Persian music—honoring its ancient roots while carrying it forward into new artistic horizons.