On Friday, March 22, members of the IU community shared in their annual celebration of Navruz, an Iranian and Eurasian holiday deriving influence from various cultural traditions to mark the Persian New Year based on the spring equinox. Each year, the IU Navruz Association organizes a celebration that involves music, food, and traditional elements from a host of cultures throughout the region.
Students and members of the general public arrived at Shreve Auditorium in the early evening to enjoy a performance by Bloomington’s own Silk Road Ensemble, a fusion band comprised of IU’s own students and faculty. Dr. Shahyar Daneshgar, a professor of Turkic and Iranian/Persian linguistics with the Central Eurasian Studies Department, delivered a performance that marks his retirement from teaching with the IU community. The Bloomington-based Silk Road Ensemble, consisting of U.S. and international artists, serves as the voice and cultural ambassador of the historical Silk Road, a geographic entity encompassing North Africa, the Middle East, the Mediterranean regions, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and China. The Ensemble performs at concert venues, festivals, and universities around North America with the aim of enhancing the public’s awareness about the history, international relations and musical artistry of the Silk Road regions.
Prior to the concert, Dr. Öner Özçelik and John Ciorciari. Dr. Özçelik is the chair of the Department of Central Eurasian Studies, and Dr. Ciorciari is the new Dean of the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. The IU Navruz Student Association who organized the event was honored by the kind remarks of Dena Ciorciari, and happy to welcome him to the Central Eurasian Studies community at IU with the Navruz festivities.
The event was organized using the atrium and open spaces of the Global and International Studies Building, complete with a catered dinner prepared by Bloomington’s own Uyghur and Mediterranean restaurant, Marco & Polo. At concert’s end, guests joined with performers and organizers to enjoy a meal and conversation after sundown, culminating in a lively dance circle for community members to celebrate together. Navruz is a celebration that possesses an indelibly strong heritage for the peoples and cultures of the Eurasian region, and the 2024 academic year marks the third instance of an in-person celebration since the enactment of social distancing measures during the 2020 global pandemic.