A friendly chat with Master Mahmoud Montazem Sedighi, the country’s famous composer
Prior to “Good Night Little One” (Shab Bekheir Koochooloo), I had produced some anthem-based works for the radio. I also participated as a musician in children’s works like “Health Neighborhood” (Mahaleh Behdasht), “My School Got Late” (Madreseam Dir Shod), and “Rainbow” (Rangin Kaman). To compose the title track of “Good Night Little One”, six or seven very good composers of that time had come, and each had taken one of the provided poems, and only one poem by Mostafa Rahandoust was left, which they gave to me. The poem did not leave much room for maneuvering. I worked on it for a week, and one night at 2 AM I suddenly woke up and the melody came to my mind. At that exact moment, I sat down and quickly wrote and arranged it.
Children singing children’s songs was done for the first time by Master Montazem.
Back then they wouldn’t let young children sing songs. The Music Center didn’t allow it. But I said it’s better for a child to sing a lullaby, and I said I would do this at my own expense. They said to take a few takes, one of them with a choir, one instrumental, and also a lullaby with a child’s voice. Pay for the tape and necessary equipment yourselves too. I worked for a week with “Proushat Pirouzkar”, who was my niece and 8 years old, and explained the mood and feeling to her. This work was recorded and became among the top 8 works. This was a teamwork; the television choir was there and the good television musicians played its music. A lullaby means sleep and I was mindful that it had to be sleep-inducing and calming. Unlike the lullabies I hear now sometimes broadcast from Pooya Network which have fast rhythms and the child cannot sleep with them. But I thought of all these things. The lullaby of “Good Night Little One” was a lasting and special work, but unfortunately, we received no support.
The Neglect of the Composition Profession
On the radio, this program was only presented in the name of the storyteller, Maryam Nashiba. Not once did they mention my name, the one who created this work with heart and soul. I even remember they paid me 12 thousand tomans to compose the lullaby, but paid its poet 24 tomans. For one year this work was suspended, and for its reopening, they threw a grand celebration and invited everyone, but they didn’t invite me, the composer of the work. Years later, for the program “Yesterday’s Children” (Bachehaye Dirouz), they held a celebration at Milad Tower and honored Maryam Nashiba. Three thousand people in that hall were singing my work, but they hadn’t invited the composer.
The Master’s Nostalgic Music
After that, I composed the music for other nostalgic programs such as “Alang and Doolang”, “Ice Creams”, and “Elson and Oelson”, all of which are memories for today’s mothers and fathers. When I published these works on my Instagram, they would write to me asking why we didn’t know you composed these? Five or six years after composing the Good Night Little One lullaby, my family and I went to a shop to buy ice cream. It was 9:05 PM and the lullaby was playing on the radio. The vendor told me to wait so I could listen to this. I also got a special feeling. I asked him, do you really like this lullaby? He said: “I live with this work.” When I said I composed this lullaby, he wouldn’t believe it. He said you’re lying. Because no one had introduced me, my name was kept hidden for years.
سلام
من شاعر هستم و اشعار کودکانه ای سرودم و بسیار مایل هستم که رو اشعارم آهنگ سازی و تصویر سازی بشه و برای شبکه کودک فعالیت کنم
میتونید کمکم کنید؟