Iranian film music composer, Babak Bayat passed away
in Tehran this morning.
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Text by Behrang Mohit:

Salute to you sir! salute! You kept us alive for many
nights and days. Your music was one major aspiration
of playing piano for me. Still whenever I take the
time to sit and touch the keyboard, the flow of your
chords are sensible in my hands. Of course your name
was quite appealing to me since it was my brother's
name too. I remember how much we talked with Majid
about your magical skill of writing unique and
memorable melodies. And a few months ago, when I was
searching in the pile of cassettes and CDs in music
store of Tehran, I suddenly found one great collection
that I wanted for years: A collection of film music by
Babak Bayat.

For many of us, it started with "khoroos zari, piran
pari". The songs and whole story line was unique and
certainly shaped many of the metaphorical concepts in
my mind. And then, you came with "Soltaan o shabaan".
That magical mixture of sadness and joyful and dreamy
music. That music became the soundtrack of my life for
a while.

Then, We listened "Sokoot Sarshaar az naagoftehaast"
with the warm voice of the great Shamlou. Your typical
small string orchestra with strong hits of the cello
and the rain drops of the piano of Andrea
Arezoomanian. That music, that poetry and that voice:
How to put that joy in words?!

We the young travelers of an unstable land, took all
our hopes and dreams and our ideals to the dark rooms
of cinemas. We sat there, laughed and cried and
learned about love and life. Iranian cinema became our
window to our ideals and dreams. And your beautiful
music massaged our joy of that silver screen: Shayad
Vaghti Digar, Aroos, Noghte Zaf, Kashti Anjelika,
Pardeh Akhar, Mosaferaan.... Then there was "Piroozi
dar Chicago", when for the first time we heard the
magical sound of "Saxophone" on the streets of Tehran.
We walked home, humming your music after a memorable
night of our life with a hope that our country might
get closer to our utopia. It was certainly a nice
dream.

Salute to you sir. Salute to you and a few others who
kept that dream live for us. Be Dorood.