Vafadari<\/a> has a successful career as an international opera singer, but remains deeply attached to her Zoroastrian roots.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m from two cultures,\u201d she said. \u201cI love opera more than anything but a part of me needed to express the origins, the music of Iran, the Oriental music.\u201d<\/p>\n
She learned Gathas<\/em> – Zoroastrian prayers dating back some 3,700 years – from her father.<\/p>\n\u201cGatha means song but we have no idea how it was sung at that time,\u201d she said. \u201cJust the prayers were kept and now the priest chants them. I wanted to compose music on it and make it more alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
She did just that for her 2016 album “Gathas, songs my father taught me”.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was something I gave to my father, I think it was my father\u2019s side, my more masculine side: knowing, understanding, finding the way.”<\/p>\n
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RFI \u2014 After exploring Zoroastrian chants on her 2016 album \u201cGathas, songs my father taught me\u201d, mezzo soprano Ariana Vafadari puts femininity to the fore with the heart-wrenching \u201cAnahita\u201d, inspired by the Persian prophet Zarathustra and the goddess of water. Ten deeply spiritual songs set to Oriental maqam scales, tracing a path from despair to resolution.<\/p>\n