Samin Baghtcheban ( fa, ثمین باغچه‌بان , tr, Samin Bahçeban) (variations: Baghcheban, Baqcheban, Bahceban) (1923 – 19 March 2008) was an Iranian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, author and translator.

Biography

Samin Baghtcheban was born in 1925 in

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the List of largest cities of Iran, sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quri Chay, Quru River valley in Iran's historic Aze ...

, Persia (modern Iran) and grew up in

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...

and

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, where his father established the first modern kindergartens and schools for the deaf in Iran. His father,

Jabbar Baghtcheban Mirza Jabbar Asgarzadeh ( fa, میرزا جبار عسگرزاده) famously known as Jabbar Baghcheban ( fa, جبار باغچه‌بان) was an Iranian inventor. He is well known as someone who established the first Iranian kindergarten and the ...

, was a leading educator and pioneer of

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

cued speech Cued speech is a visual system of communication used with and among deaf or deafness, hard-of-hearing people. It is a phonemic-based system which makes traditionally spoken languages accessible by using a small number of handshapes, known as cue ...

. Samin Baghcheban started his music studies at the Tehran Conservatory of Music. In 1944 Samin Baghtcheban was awarded a scholarship to study composition in

Ankara State Conservatory The Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory ( tr, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Ankara Devlet Konservatuvarı), the first conservatory to be founded in the Republic of Turkey, was established in 1936 by a directive of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. ...

. He returned to Tehran in 1949 and started teaching at the Conservatory. He was married to the opera singer, Evelyn Baghtcheban, whom he met while studying in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

. In 1984 he moved to Turkey with his family where he continued his activities and composed several new pieces, some of which were performed by Manouchehr Sahbai in Switzerland. He died on 19 March 2008 in Istanbul.

Compositions

Throughout his career he composed numerous pieces inspired by the Persian folk music or mythology. His most popular work is '' Rangin Kamoon (Rainbow)'', a collection of compositions for children (for choire and orchestra) which was recorded in 1978 in Vienna. Other Works: * ''Persian Compositions for Voice and Piano'' (including 4 pieces: 1- ''Ruba'i'' No. 1: ''Do Zolfoonet'' (Your two braids) (1950) Text: Baba-Taher (11th-century Persian poet). 2- ''To Ra Mikham'' (I want you) (1952) Text: Folklore. 3- ''Sorood-e Saba'' (Saba's song) (1956) Text: Sa'di (13th-century poet). 4- ''Gahvareh-ye Khali'' (Empty cradle) (1957) Text: the composer), published in 2018, on the 10th death anniversary of the composer. * ''Sholeyl'' (for string orchestra) * ''Boumivar'' (in 3 movements) for orchestra. * ''Chaharshanbeh-Souri'' Baghcheban also arranged various Persian folk songs for the choir. Some of his arrangements were performed by Tehran Choral Group and the Farah Choir in the 1960s and 1970s.

Literary works

Between 1948 and 1979, in addition to his composition activities, he wrote and translated several books and articles. Baghtcheban translated several books by Turkish authors

Nazim Hikmet Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who w ...

Yaşar Kemal Yaşar Kemal (born Kemal Sadık Gökçeli; 6 October 1923 – 28 February 2015) was a Turkish writer and human rights activist and one of Turkey's leading writers. He received 38 awards during his lifetime and had been a candidate for the Nobel ...

and introduced the humorist

Aziz Nesin Aziz Nesin (; born Mehmet Nusret, 20 December 1915 – 6 July 1995) was a Turkish writer, humorist and the author of more than 100 books. Born in a time when Turks did not have official surnames, he had to adopt one after the Surname Law of 1 ...

to Iranians. In 1963, along with a group of prominent teachers and educators, including Lily Ahi, Touran Mirhadi and Abbas Yamini Sharif, Baghtcheban confounded the Children's Book Council (CBC) of Iran. The council is an NGO focused on developing and promoting children's literature in Iran.

References

External links

My brother Samin (برادرم ثمین)
a multimedia presentation on Baghtchehban's life, ''Jadid online''
Samin Baghtcheban dead ثمین باغچه بان درگذشت
BBC Persian
Rangin Kamoon was our childhood...In memory of Samin Baghtcheban رنگین کمان کودکی ما بود...؛ به یاد ثمین باغچه بان
Obituary in BBC Persian
Book review of Baghtcheban's ''Snapshots from My Father'' نقدي بر کتاب چهره هايي از پدرم

Norouz is coming... نوروز تو راهه...
Article on Rangin Kamoon album
Rangin Kamoon (رنگین کمان)
A small tribute to Rangin Kamoon Album {{DEFAULTSORT:Baghtcheban, Samin Azerbaijani-language writers 1925 births 2008 deaths Iranian composers Iranian translators People from Tabriz Iranian emigrants to Turkey Turkish people of Iranian descent Ankara State Conservatory alumni 20th-century translators