Tribute to Six Veteran Artists

The 18^th Ritual/Traditional Theater Festival will close on September 6, Iran Theater reported.  

The ceremony will commemorate Taghi Nabaei, Mahdi Chayani, Ali Ghavidel, Mozafar Ghobraniannejad, Gholamhossein Baboutej and Ali Fathali because of their career in Shabih Khani, Naghali, Ta'zieh and Takht-e Hozi genres of Iranian theater.

Taghi Nabaei was born in Garmsar in 1952. He had found interest in Ta'zieh since childhood. He has been involved in the art for more than five decades. He has written 17 books on Ta'zieh. Nabaei worked at the Education Ministry until his retirement.

Mohammad Mahdi Chayani was born in 1954 in Hamedan. He found a love for Shahnameh by the legendary Iranian poet Abolqassem Ferdowsi since he was a kid. He learned Naghali from veteran naghal (storyteller) of Hamedan Morshed Afshar.

He has performed Naghali in most of Iranian provinces and in countries such as Austria, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey and Tajikistan.

Ali-Akbar Ghavidal, known as Sabzevari, was born in 1951 in Sabzevar in religious family. He was interested in Ta'zieh since childhood. He has been performing Ta'zieh for years and is invited to perform in France.

Mozafar Ghobraniannejad Beheshti was born in Rasht in 1957. He has been performing Ta'zieh since childhood.

Gholamhossein Babouteh was born in 1960 to an art-loving family. He holds a bachelor degree of civil engineering from Semnan University. His father and brother were involved in music. Mr Baboiteh started his career in theater in 1987. His debut was "Tamashakhaneh" in 1988. He has been performing at least one play a year henceforth. He cooperated with Sadi Afshar (the master of siah-bazi, a type of Iranian folk dramatic performing art, who died in 2013). He has directed some plays too.  

Ali Akbar Fathali was born in 1966 in Qazvin. He has performed more than 200 plays in a career spanning three decades.  He has performed plays such as "Mobarak in Japan", "Parizad", "Last Puzzle" and "Compulsory Physician".