a network of passages. These routes of commerce and

a network of passages. These routes of commerce and travelers resulted in Iran’s influencing both eastern and western cultures. Invasions from all directions brought ideas and customs which mingled to produce a rich and diverse region of human invention and creation.

When Islam came to Persia between 637-641 A.D., it was as yet one more foreign conquest, this time by Arabs out to convert the world. Although the Iranians became Muhammadans, they were never Arabic. It is possible that the antiquity of Persian culture persuaded the Iranians that they were superior to other Islamic people and may be a reason for some of the arrogance and self-righteousness that we associate with the current Iranian regime.

Our opportunities to understand Iranians are limited, although many have come to the United States in the last few decades, first under the sponsorship of the Shah to be educated, and subsequently as refugees to escape the excesses of the revolution led by Ruholla Khomeini.

We are fortunate that an opportunity has arisen for people in Rappahannock to meet and learn from an Iranian artist.

Mohammed Reza Lotfi, a musician born^n 1947 in Gorgan, near the Caspian Sea, came to the United States in 1987 when official attitudes made impossible his work as a teacher and professional player of classical Iranian music.

Prior to that, he had taught at the University of Teheran and played over radio and TV, reviving and propagating traditional music, played sometimes on instruments invented thousands of years ago. He will play at the Gay Street Theatre, Friday, March 10 at 8 p.m.

Mohammed Lotfi’s music is exotic, played on the ancestor of the lute, the setar, which produces a somewhat metallic sound, drums and other musical instruments.

The overall effect of Lotfi’s playing, which I have heard on tape, is expressionist: by turns ecstatic, insistent and soulful.