Persian Family Fest at Bowers

I'm going to give my best Huell Howser impression and utter, with a silly grin, that "I had an absolutely wonderful day at the Narouz Persian Family Festival" at Bowers Museum. Actually, no, I won't proceed with this impression, because I actually enjoy the good-natured delivery of Huell, and I only wish that I could do what he does. Instead, I am an academic who puts up with neurotic, perennially-malcontent colleagues who engage in continual back-biting and who seem to be unable to turn off their critical faculties. These festivals are a source of relief and wonder for me, and this festival was no exception. They are the nearest thing I have to therapy, and I look forward to them religiously, even though I am not otherwise a religious person.

Today the free family festival spotlighted the culture of Iran, a country with an ancient civilization. We have a sizeable community of Iranians in Southern California, and I first remember them from the early 80s, when I was attending a summer program at UCLA and we had a few recent immigrants from that country. What I noticed back then is that the person to whom I am referring took pains to disassociate herself from the word "Iran", and referred to her former country as "Persia", and her language as "Farsi". We all knew why. Iran was at the vanguard of the revolutions in the Middle East, and had been in conflict with the USA ever since .

May I say, I find the culture of Iran/Persia fascinating, and this event was certainly well-attended.

As I arrived I noticed a very long line of people waiting outside to enter, and for a moment I felt anxiety. I thought that it would take a very long time to find parking in the surrounding streets, and that I would miss the beginning of the festival. However, it turns out that the Benjamin Franklin exhibit will be ending soon, and most of those people who were standing in line came to see that exhibition. A chance to see the personal effects of one of this country's most notable early figures was not to be missed.

The festival began a little late, but the crowd was very patient. I attend these festivals because it gives me a chance to hear other languages and to see a range of cultural performances, and I haven't been to enough festivals that spotlight the Middle East. I specifically wanted to eat some Iranian food and see the dance and music groups. While I didn't get to try the kebobs (that was the only offering and they had run out), I did see the performances.

After an introductory singing exhibition by a children's cultural troupe (from the Zoroastrian center), the second cultural group was the Djanbazian Dance Company. This group, judging by the name, was founded by an Armenian who probably has ties to Iran.

The Armenians have diaspora communities scattered throughout the world, and it is a testament to their tenacious will to preserve their heritage that they have continued to survive despite a history of exploitation and conquest. They have communities throughout the Middle East, and my first exposure to a member of this community was in the person of a fellow engineering student at UCLA named Raffi Dionysian. I always did think that his name was strangely appropriate since he was somewhat raffish, but he was also a very intelligent and dedicated student. By now, the members of this dance group are in all probability not recent immigrants such as Raffi, but second or third generation members from this and other Middle Eastern communities. It is more imperative than ever that this (and other communities) manage to preserve ties to their ethnic heritage, since the genius of America seems to lie in its infinite capacity for assimilation.

The photos of this dance group follow:

And here is one of the Shouranqiz Ensemble of musicians, who were treated with reverence by the host even if some of the audience members seemed somewhat less than cooperative. By that, I mean that both the host and one of the musicians asked people to be absolutely quiet, and to not move around, but this was a restive audience and, as with any festival that draws families with children, people continued speaking and some got up while the musicans were performing. This prompted the host to chide the audience after the musicians had ended their performance, reminding them that hopefully "next time you won't cross the front area while the groups are making music". It seemed unusually harsh. Someone needed to remind the host that this is not a concert setting, this is an outdoor, free festival!

And then the Djambazian Dance group returned to perform more dances, this time including a specifically Armenian dance.

A memorable dance group. In the end they did an interactive dance with members of the audience who were brave enough to venture forward when the call was made for volunteers. They were taught some basic steps, they lined up in a circle, and we had the following result:

And of course, no post from a trip to a Bowers Museum festival would be complete without a short video of a dramatic landscape as I return home. This is actually an exercise that might land me in trouble one of these days as I film while driving. I'll have to desist now.

I'm looking forward to the next festival in April, one that will highlight Native-American cultures from both North and South America. By then, I hope also to have taught my first classes at Pomona.