Click here for the flash slideshow of Kurdistan and here for a slideshow of Kermanshah.
Before flying to Kermanshah, Kamran and I ran into the city’s favorite son, Shahram Nazeri, in a bank on Jordan Street in North Tehran. “Kheli big fan hastam,” (I’m a big fan) I told him. Kamran and I first saw him perform in 1990 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM: not in Kerman) and then a few months later at Town Hall in Manhattan. He gave me a few tips about Kurdistan and Kermanshah, which I felt was a good omen for our trip.
What a trip! The flight was beautiful enough. We flew beside one snow-covered mountain range after another before coming in for a landing over rolling green fields. The mountains in and around Kermanshah are terrifying. They look as though they were wrenched from the Earth with cataclysmic violence. The clouds that formed around the peaks of the cliffs felt like the remains of dragon fire to me. “I don’t think I could live with these mountains,” I told my friend Kate. “They scare me.”
Kermanshah is on the road to Karbala. It must have been really hopping right after Iraq was invaded when pilgrims from Iran were travelling to Karbala in great numbers.
From Kermanshah, we made a one-day trip into (Iranian) Kurdistan or Kordestan (however you choose to spell it.) The landscape was just awe-inspiring with the first touches of green. We headed for gorgeous Palangan: a village that straddles two sides of a river. There the women were happy to visit with us. We were called over to talk to several groups as they watched their children, wove horse bridles, and chatted.
On the way back, we saw huge lines of cars and trucks backed up at gas stations. Apparently rationing has begun in Kurdistan: mainly to prevent gasoline from being smuggled into Iraq. On top of that, the Iranian government has set up customs patrols on the border between Kermanshah and Kurdistan. Hmmm…
Anyway, click here for the flash slideshow of Kurdistan and here for a slideshow of Kermanshah.
What others are saying:
Blog by the rock climbers at Bisotun (In Persian, but with great photos!)
From Onze Man in Teheran (in Dutch)
From Shiva the Spy: Long Live Kordistan
The nature of Kurdistan in Persian and English
From Angus McDowall
Kordestan: Stunning Scenery and Paranoid Police
Review of inscriptions at Taqe (Taghe) Bostan
About Shahram Nazeri (My favorite Iranian male singer):
Buy his music online at Iranmehr.com
Read about him here and here and listen to song samples here.
At The Jazz Breakfast, an album featuring Shahram Nazeri is rated as one of the best of 2006.