TEHRAN – Iranian vocalist Shahram Nazeri and his band Molavi are performing today at the Soltan Valad Hall in Konya.

Several Iranian and Turkish cultural officials, including Iran’s House of Music Director Hamidreza Nurbakhsh, are to attend the concert, MNA reported.

Nazeri is to perform several pieces based on the works of Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi. Several other Iranian bands are also scheduled to perform during the event.

At the present time a large number of musicians and tourists from all over the world are in Konya to celebrate ""The Year of Rumi"" as designated by UNESCO to mark the 800th birth anniversary of the Persian poet and mystic.

The members of the Molavi band include Shahram Gholami, Sina Jahanabadi, Mohsen Nafar, Shahram Mohammadi and Hassan Rezaiinia.

Nazeri has recently been presented with two top international awards. The French government presented him with the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur medal in Paris on September 29. He also received the Lifetime Cultural Heritage Award at the Annual Dinner of the Asia Society of New York on November 6.

In addition, the Washington Post lately published an article describing the musical style of Shahram and his son Hafez.

Released on December 13th, the report read as follows:

“Shahram and Hafez Nazeri brought together classical Persian tradition and western training more equally. Shahram Nazeri is one of the foremost singer/musicians of Iran; his son, Hafez, is trained in western classical music. Hafez's compositions celebrated Sufi poetry by including both western instruments and Persian instruments such as the setar and daf. Although at times the sheer strength of Shahram's voice threatened to overpower the other musicians, the gifted ensemble was able to balance the voice beautifully. By placing classical works right in the midst of more experimental works, the Nazeri duo managed to create greater dynamism, sometimes through dissonance.

All these performances illuminate the wide interstice of space between ""East"" and ""West"" artists mine for their creative expressions. This is more than simple fusion; it is about creating new frontiers. These artists are paving the way for a daring new world emerging out of the in-between-ness of cultures that befits the inter-culturality of the 21st century.