Composer’s Spotlight: Sahar Abasi performs ‘Nataliana’

Composer’s Spotlight Series: Sahar Abasi plays ‘Nataliana’

In this interview, Sahar shares her experience playing Nataliana. She likes Nataliana because it is both ‘simple but challenging’ to play. She also encourages others who want to play the piece to put their emotions as they play Nataliana.

Sahar Abasi

Sahar Abasi is the solo harpist of the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. She is also in Iran’s other orchestras, Ensembles, and Pop music bands.

Sahar works as a session player & studio recording artist for film soundtracks, animations, and other song tracks in multiple studios. She is a harp instructor and a representative & technician of Abasi Tar & Harp Company, the only factory manufacturing harp with international standards in Iran.

Link to Abasi Tar & Harp Company website.

Continue reading below for the full interview with Sahar Abasi

A Mini-Interview with Sahar

How would you describe your experience of playing the piece?

Seems simple but difficult and challenging

What do people say when you play this piece? Do you have favorite memories of people’s reactions to it?

I remember that everyone, especially my musician friends, liked it very much, and said that it was the best song you ever played, because it sounded like oriental music, which is our music in Iran and is much closer to our feelings. So everyone in Iran had a very good relationship with it and loved it.

What drew you to this piece – why did you choose to learn it?

One day, one of the non-Iranian musicians came to my father’s factory to rent one of the instruments to perform in Iran. That day, he gave me a bunch of notes in which this piece was included. So I searched first and listened to it then I liked the melody, especially the arpeggios at the end.

What does this piece add to your repertoire (and/or your life) that you didn’t have before?

Maybe it made others believe in my musical abilities.

What would you tell someone else who’s thinking of learning this piece that you wish you’d known before you learned it?

To play this piece, it is never enough to know the notes and rhythm, but it must be played with all the feeling in order to be able to perform the piece in its entirety. Although I already knew this.

What do you think you can get from working directly with the composer of the piece that you can’t get from the sheet music?

I think it’s just the feeling of the composer

Anything else you want to say?

Yes , I went to my father’s harp factory to record the video of this piece ( Nataliana) , so that whole day my father and I were alone in the factory, without any workers, I was playing and my father was working, and we both enjoyed being together that day, and I will never forget this wonderful memory.

Please follow this artist on social media and let them know what has opened up for your own self-expression in seeing and hearing their performance, and please share in the comments below.

Soundcloud Sahar Abasi
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Instagram: @saharabasi_
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Tiktok: @saharabasi_

Stay tuned for more artists soon and check out my Composer’s Spotlight blog series, featuring other talented musicians who played my song!