The ceremony was attended by a large number of musicians and cultural officials, including Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Ali Moradkhani.
Speaking at the ceremony, Moradkhani said that the organizers plan to dispatch the top selected musicians to other countries to help promote Iranian art and culture to the world.
He also thanked the officials of the province for their collaboration in better organizing the festival and paid tribute to the deceased regional musicians who had held performances in previous editions of the festival in the past.
Honoring the veteran musicians was part of the ceremony.
Hosseinali Qadami from Markazi Province, Habibollah Haddadian from Khorasan Razavi Province, Haqreza Fetri from Hamedan Province, and Khodadad Zangshahi from Sistan Baluchestan were among the honorees.
Ahmad Maleki from West Azarbaijan, Faroq Rahmani from Sistan-Baluchestan, Manuchehr Tatari from Ilam, Ahmad Hosseini from Golestan, and Bahman Sharifi and Mohammad Alami from Mazandaran were the top music researchers who were honored in another part of the program.
The musicians and groups who were honored in this edition include Alireza Mohavelati from Khorasan Razavi, Hassan Kuhi from Sisitan Baluchestan, Nima Shafiei from Kermanshah, Safar-Ali Ramezani from Gilan, Javad Hosseini from Golestan and Ali Shah Joshanpur from Kerman.
The ceremony was brought to an end with a performance by a group from Ilam Province with sorna player Ehsan Abdi, kamancheh player Hamed Feizian and dohol player Sam Abdoli.
Master musician of Kyrgyzstan Kutman Sultanbekov, Mohammad Wali Khalaj from Afghanistan, and German scholars Lisa Gaupp and Lutz Dollereder from Leuphana University of Lueneburg were among the foreign musicians who attended the festival this year.
Source: Tehran Times