Compiled by Pejman Akbarzadeh, these compositions have mostly been collected and restored from the private archives in Tehran, Paris, and Montreal. "A delay in working on this anthology could mean losing the first Persian cello pieces", Akbarzadehd told BBC. 12/31/21
This Pale is one of those wonderful collaborative efforts that have come about because of adversity. Iranian American vocalist Katayoun Goudarzi and Grammy nominated classical Indian composer and sitarist Shujaat Husain Khan have joined forces with Iranian ney player Shaho Andalibi and tabla player Shariq Mustafa in the creation of this album. -Qantara 12/31/21
An Iranian orchestra performed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem on Wednesday night, December 22, at Tehran's Vahdat Hall to commemorate the artists who have succumbed to COVID-19 in the country. -Honar Online 12/31/21
Sanandaj, the capital of Kordestan Province, has been named Iran's 2022 Book Capital on Monday. The city also achieved the title for launching different campaigns for the book reading, use of cultural potentials and innovative ideas for promoting book reading, and great endeavors for the development of bookstores. -Tehran Times 12/29/21
Christians in Jolfa neighborhood in Esfahan city, central Iran celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve in the Vank Cathedral, formally known as the Holy Savior Cathedral, and the vicinity. Other Esfahani citizens also join Christians, taking photos with the Christmas tree and Santa Claus. -Zahra Baghban, IRNA 12/27/21
As the days become shorter and the nights become longer and darker, we are reminded that indeed winter is coming. As a child I would dread this time of the year. Not only was there was less time to play outside, but there was a string of holidays that my Iranian family didn't celebrate, from Hanukkah to Christmas, which made me feel I didn't belong in our new home in Minneapolis, Minnesota. -Pardis Mahdavi, Conversation 12/21/21
The ancient Persian custom marking the winter solstice lives on in diaspora communities around the world, including in summery New Zealand. My family and friends will gather to celebrate Shab-eh Yalda (the longest night), an Iranian festival that predates Islam by more than a thousand years. It is so old it possibly also predates Zoroastrian, the Iranian religion from the 5th century BCE that continues to exist in Iran, India, and North America. In the northern hemisphere, Yalda is the last night of autumn and the start of 90 days of winter before the Iranian new year, No'Rooz. -Mahyar A. Amouzegar, The Spinoff 12/20/21
A rich variety of Iranian films in the past year have captured the attention of French audiences eager for a glimpse inside a largely inaccessible society. The strength of these offerings, combined with the relatively low cost of their production, has led to a Golden Age of Iranian cinema in France. -France 24 12/20/21
She established the Music Department at the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in Tehran. Numerous celebrated Persian musicians of today were among her pupils in the 1970s. Gharachedaghi is the first Persian woman who has composed an opera. -Pejman Akbarzadeh 12/17/21
The elderly population in Iran is increasing rapidly as there were 7.46 million senior citizens in the [Iranian calendar] year 1395 (March 2015-March 2016), which has now reached 8.4 million. Seyed Hamed Barakati, director of the population and family health office of the Ministry of Health, said that from 1976 until today, Iran was a very young population with an average age of 22 years, while it has reached an average population of 32 years, which means that the country got 10 years older. -Tehran Times 12/10/21
Farhang Foundation is proud to present the 9th Annual "Virtual" Celebration of SHAB-E YALDA. Join us as we welcome the arrival of the winter solstice, an ancient Persian tradition dating back thousands of years. The evening program will feature Ferdowsi's Shahnameh storytelling by the world's first female Iranian epic storyteller GORDAFARID. -Farhang 12/9/21
On Shab-e Yalda, the Iranian celebration of the winter solstice, elders take turns reading from a book of poetry by the celebrated 14th-century Persian poet Hafez, and interpret the rhyming couplets as a form of fortunetelling. Their families listen and tell stories by candlelight, sing, laugh and fill the house with light and warmth while gathered around the korsi to graze on trays of delicately cracked clusters of pomegranates, sparkling bowls of their ruby red seeds and cool, crisp watermelon slices. -Naz Deravian, New York Times 12/7/21
Bar Liberty manager and photographer Dominic Xavier travelled throughout Iran, documenting its people and places. The result is a new book and exhibition that looks to challenge Western perceptions of the country. -Broadsheet 12/7/21
With several minority groups living in harmony, the Islamic nation is a melting pot of people and cultures. Mohammad Taqi Bahar, considered one of Iran's finest poets, described the country's highest peak, Mount Damavand, as the "dome of the world". The 20th century poet was, however, not just writing about a geographical landmark but describing the country's status in the world from a nationalist perspective. Recorded in history books as the once-mighty and prosperous empire of Persia, Iran in its pinnacle of glory was indeed the dome of the world. -TRT 12/3/21
Enriched with historic houses and old buildings turned into vibrant coffee shops and new galleries, revitalized parts of Tehran are responding to an emerging generation of artists and art seekers looking for spaces to gather, socialize, and create. Argo Factory: Contemporary Art Museum & Cultural Centre is one such venue, a nearly 100-year-old abandoned factory that has found a new life after art patron Hamidreza Pejman bought and transformed the building into a museum and gallery space for contemporary art. -Architectural Record 11/23/21
The number of births registered in Iran during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21) shows a decrease of eight percent compared to the same period last year. During the aforementioned period, 533,088 births were registered, compared to 580,623 births recorded last year, according to the Statistical Center of Iran. -Tehran Times 11/16/21
To be Persian before nationalism was to belong to a generous, plural identity woven through language, kin and manners -- At the end of the 19th century, under the looming shadow of European colonial encroachment, political and intellectual elites in Iran began to draw on nationalist forms of belonging as a way to unify the various ethnic and religious groups that lived within its territory. -Mana Ki, Aeon 11/15/21
Iran's widening social divisions are on display at Tehran's international airport, where pilgrims to Iraq's holy town of Karbala stand shoulder to shoulder with tourists heading for a beach holiday in Antalya, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. The two sides - who have a history of conflict - have long accused each other of taking the country into a social, cultural and religious abyss. -Najmeh Bozorgmehr, Fiancial Times 11/11/21
It's pomegranate harvest season in Iran and a time to celebrate! As a tradition, pomegranate festivals are held across Iran to celebrate the harvest season during the autumn every year. At the Water and Fire Park in the Iranian capital of Tehran, a pomegranate festival is being held from Nov. 6 to Nov. 22 this year. -Xinhua 11/10/21
When Iranian virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor performs Friday at Walker Art Center alongside the American chamber quartet Brooklyn Rider, the finale will be a sprawling epic titled "Silent City." Composed by Kalhor to commemorate the people killed during Saddam Hussein's chemical gas attack on the Iranian-Kurdish city of Halabja in 1988, the nearly 30-minute piece begins shrouded in desolation. -Star Tribune 10/27/21
Qashqai music vocalist Parvin Bahmani, who was considered the mother of Iranian lullabies, died at Tehran's Sajjad Hospital on Thursday. She was 72. She was suffering from serious lung and heart problems, Persian news websites announced. 10/25/21
The holiest city in Iran, life in Mashhad is shaped by two competing discourses: the "shrine discourse" and the "secular discourse". Political support for the former since 1979 has allowed the shrine discourse to overshadow every other aspect of the city, placing the two discourses at loggerheads and making their co-existence very difficult. -Mehdi Nourian, FDE 10/25/21
More than 51,000 children in Iran have lost a parent to the Covid-19 pandemic, Iranian welfare authorities say. One such case is that of Eliza, aged four. Eliza was very attached to her father. They read together, sang together, and he was always there to put her to bed. But then one day he started coughing and was taken to hospital. Her father, who was 40, died of Covid. -BBC 10/18/21
Heralding a dynamic era for Iranian Studies, the Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation announced today an innovative multiyear partnership between the University of Toronto and the Encyclopaedia Iranica Foundation. This new alliance will be dedicated to sharing with the world exciting new research in two key fields - Iranian Women Poets and Iranian Cinema. 10/13/21
Few other countries are as misunderstood as Iran. But an Iran exists beyond the headlines of authoritarian rule and theocratic Islam. It's a country full of thriving artists - and they're now on show in the US. Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians - The Mohammed Akfami Collection, on view at the Asia Society in Manhattan until 8 May 2022, aims to broadening one's idea of what Iran is, or can be, by giving a profound look at the country's dynamic contemporary arts scene. -Art Newspaper 10/1/21
Singer Googoosh has been called "The Voice of Iran," but in 1979 her voice was silenced by the Islamic Revolution. This year, she's celebrating 21 years since she broke that silence, with a new album and a tour of North America that stops next in Washington, DC, on Oct. 2. Interviewed in California a few days before the start of her tour, she says there's one reason she wants to continue singing in Farsi for the young generation: "Because I love my country." -NPR 9/30/21
Ali, a devout Shia Muslim, went online to find a woman "not ugly nor beautiful" but religious with a university degree. Sara applied for a man "not short nor tall; not thin nor fat" but with a masters degree and an average income. Two months after they were introduced to each other, they got married, one of 3,700 couples in Iran to have found lasting love through Tebyan, a state-affiliated website that encourages marriage. -Najmeh Bozorgmehr, Financial Times 9/27/21
The Indo-Persian Musical Confluence Symposium presents a series of performances, workshops, and presentations by academics, independent scholars, musicians and artists whose work relates to Indo-Persian musical cultures, including the Indian subcontinent, Central Asia and Iran. -UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music 9/24/21
Abdol Majid Bayat was also the founder of Mossadegh Foundation in Geneva. The institution holds over 8000 items and has been a hub for researchers of Persian culture and history. -- VOA, Pejman Akbarzadeh 9/23/21
Journalist, author and humanitarian Tara Kangarlou spent four years reporting and writing her new book about the people of Iran. Leaving politics out of the equation, she focused on the reality of life for millions of Iranians inside the country. Here, she shares what she learned -Geographical 9/21/21
Farhang Foundation is calling on graphic artists worldwide to submit original designs that conceptualize Nowruz (the Iranian New Year) commemorating Farhang's annual celebration of Nowruz in Los Angeles. Eligible designs will be considered as the central artwork featured on street banners and other marketing material that will proudly promote Farhang's 13th Annual Nowruz Celebration at UCLA throughout prominent boulevards of Los Angeles in February and March of 2022. 9/3/21
Qazvin province is the second-largest hazelnut producer in the country after Gilan. The harvesting season of hazelnuts has started. There are about 16,000 fertile hazelnut trees in more than 70 villages in the Rudbar region of Alamut. -Farhad Safari, Mehr 8/31/21
Hasteem is an exhibition produced by the Collective for Black Iranians to raise awareness on the intersection of being Black, African/of African descent and Iranian. The Collective invites the global community to embark on a journey of understanding the different segments that make up who we are. The Collective affirms the interconnectedness between Blackness and the Iranian identity. 8/23/21
Iranians held mourning ceremonies on the night of Ashura, on Wednesday night, August 18, in different cities of Iran. Ashura is the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussain (PBUH), the third Shiite Imam, and his 72 disciples martyred in a battle known as the 'Battle of Karbala' on October 10, 680 AD. -ISNA 8/19/21
CMC is deeply saddened by the passing of composer and former Chair of Music at Trinity College Dublin Hormoz Farhat. Born in Tehran in 1928, Professor Farhat passed away at his home in Dublin on Monday, 16 August 2021, at age 93. As a composer, Hormoz wrote a significant body of works, including numerous orchestral works, six string quartets and other chamber music works, choral works, concertos for piano, flute and clarinet and many works across a spectrum of instruments and voice. -CMC 8/18/21
Iran is home to a colourful array of ethnicities: Persians, Arabs, Azeris, Kurds, Baluchis, Lurs and a group that's less talked about: the Black African community. While we have no verified figures, according to some reports, there are more than tens of thousands of Black Iranians living in a number of cities. -Sanam Shantyaei, France24 7/26/21
Iran, facing a fall in fertility rates, has launched a state-approved matchmaking app to promote marriages in the Islamic country which restricts contact between unrelated men and women. Hamdam (Companion), developed by a state-affiliated Islamic cultural body, requires users to verify their identity and carries out psychological compatibility tests and gives advice for young singles seeking a marriage partner. -Reuters 7/21/21
The wedding ceremony is held in Sar Agha Seyed village of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran with special rituals. This ceremony lasts for several days. Almost all of the villagers are invited to the wedding ceremony. -Zahra Mirzafarjouyan, Mehr 7/19/21
Iran has unveiled an Islamic dating application aimed at facilitating "lasting and informed marriage" for its youth. Called Hamdam - Farsi for "companion" - the service allows users to "search for and choose their spouse", state-run television said on Monday. -Al Jazeera 7/13/21
Every day at dawn, fisherwomen from the tiny island of Hengam in Iran nudge their daughters into small boats. The currents are often overwhelmingly strong, but for these women, braving rough waves isn't just about finding their catch of the day. It's how mothers groom their daughters to face life in the community. Hengam is one of the only islands in Iran where women set out to sea without men. -VICE 6/23/21
No child should lose a mother because the hospital suddenly runs out of blood; no father should feel ashamed for not being able to put food on the table in a country as rich as Iran; and no college graduate should live with the constant anxiety of finding work, let alone surviving in their own homeland. Yet this describes the reality of living in Iran in 2021. -Tara Kangarlou, TIME 6/18/21
The culture of the 1.6 million Ahwazi Arabs in Iran has been brought to popular and presidential attention by the Missan organisation. As the founder and director of Missan, Hamadi, a musician by profession, seeks to protect the cultural heritage of Iran's Arabs, whose 1.6 million people comprise just under two percent of Iran's population of 83 million. -Maedeh Sharifi, MEE 6/14/21
Hamburg-based label 30M Records was founded in 2020 by Matthias Koch with the aim of helping Iranian musicians to release their music globally, at a time when economic sanctions mean artists and labels there cannot deal directly with digital music services in the US or Europe. The label's first compilation album 'RAAZ' came out last year, and this week its second release drops. 'This is Tehran?' focuses on current Iranian composers and musicians working across a range of genres, from classical and jazz to electronica. -Music Ally 6/4/21
Superwoman refers to the identity of a woman who performs several important roles simultaneously and full-time, such as being a wife, mother, and homemaker while holding a job. This study aims to examine the career experiences of Iranian superwomen who maintained their mental health while holding multiple roles. -Maryam Nosrati Beigzadeh, et al, BMC 6/1/21
I like the way life works in circles, taking you back to where you began. Last Tuesday, I was invited to the opening of the V&A;'s exhibition, Epic Iran, an event so thrilling for me that not even the sight of Oliver Dowden could dent my mood (distracted by a famous photograph of a girl making a bubble with her gum, I managed not to accost the culture secretary, keen though I am to know what he plans to do about the nation's beleaguered musicians, who now need visas to tour in Europe). -Rachel Cooke, Guardian 5/31/21
Since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution there have been no nightclubs or bars where young Iranians can meet and socialise. Strict families and the Islamic regime also forbid sexual relations before marriage. Chafing at the restrictions and seeing no chance of substantive change, a new generation is escaping overzealous conservative relatives and official restrictions by heading into the wilderness. -Najmeh Bozorgmehr, FT 5/25/21
I recently read a review comparing the old standard cookbooks used in Iran to more recent cookbooks written by Iranians in the diaspora, and it made me think a lot about my own relationship with Iranian food and cooking. My parents immigrated to the United States from Iran when I was a teenager, and like many immigrant children growing up in the US, the food I ate at home (and occasionally took with me to school) was entirely different from the food of my peers. -Parastou Hassouri, Mada 5/24/21
Sarbisheh is one of the counties of South Khorasan Province. Women living in Sarbisheh have revived the old tradition of making rag dolls. There is a village in this county called Tajmir, which has changed from an unknown village into the center of doll-making in less than three years. Doll-making has completely changed people's lives in this village, and they no longer seek to migrate to cities. -Amir Madadipour, ISNA 5/21/21
True to an ancient way of life, a family in Iran makes a treacherous seasonal migration across the mountains. The Zagros mountains, in Western Iran, stretch for nearly 1,000 miles, from the sands of the Persian Gulf northwest along the modern border with Iraq and Turkey, separating the plains of Mesopotamia from the expanse of the Iranian plateau. -Smithsonian Magazine 5/19/21
The name Back Home Beer might elicit pastoral visions of American fields of grain. For some, it may reinforce the idea of craft beer as a farm-to-table product. The founder of the Brooklyn-based brewery, Zahra Tabatabai, shares those sentiments, but she has a different home in mind. The former television executive created Back Home after she heard about recipes written by her grandfather, a brewer in prerevolutionary Iran. -Martin Johnson, Wine Enthusiast 5/19/21
Five thousand years of Iranian art goes on show at the V&A; this month. A private collector who lent many of the works reveals what light these treasures cast on the country. The Sarikhani Collection is one of the most extraordinary and significant assemblies of art in Britain, if not the world. It comprises, in all its magnificence, some 1,000 items: ceramics, metalwork, textiles and manuscripts that together tell the long and wondrous story of Iran and its culture from 3000BC until the 18th century. -Rachel Cooke, Guardian 5/17/21
Iran's state subsidizes gender reassignment surgery while prohibiting homosexuality. A long and continuing history of activism has helped transgender people bolster their community despite the discrimination they face. -DW 5/17/21
Iranian singer and composer Abodolvahab Shahidi, who was also an oud and santur virtuoso, died of heart failure at Tehran's Resalat Hospital on Monday. He was 99. Born in Meimeh, a small town near the central Iranian city of Isfahan, Shahidi began learning songs and playing the oud and santur from maestro Esmaeil Mehrtash. 5/13/21
Kolsoom Faqiri, 39, is a teacher who works in an elementary school in Chaharchenar village, suburb of Gorgan, the capital of northern Golestan province in Iran. Since the outbreak of coronavirus and despite suffering from heart disease, Faqiri has held classes on vast plains and prairies near her house on a regular basis. This dedicated teacher is standing on her feet for long hours, against the advice of physicians, since her students cannot afford buying smartphones or tablets to attend classes online. 5/7/21
The Persian kilim rug where I sit cross-legged with my toddler each morning is handwoven and colored with vegetable dyes in Shiraz, where my mother is from, where the dusty Zagros mountains tower above her childhood memories. Years ago, this kilim was folded thrice and smashed into a battered suitcase, lugged across three continents from plane to plane amid pouches of spice mix my great-aunt blends in her sweltering Bahraini kitchen. The artifacts we keep tell a story. -Nawal Qcasiano, NQC Literacy 5/7/21
When I was 11, my mother sewed cash into the pocket of my pants and steeled herself against tears as she and my father prepared me to fly alone across the world for the summer. They didn't have the money or the time off work, but they wanted me to know myself. So with two suitcases full of soqaty for relatives I hadn't seen since I was two, I boarded the plane, remembering to be brave. -Nawal Qcasiano, NQC Literacy 4/16/21
Five movies from Iranian filmmakers will be screened at the 45th edition of the Atlanta Film Festival. "African Violet" by Mona Zandi-Haghighi will go on screen at the main section of the festival. "Eyes and Arms" by Panahbarkhoda Rezai will be screened at the documentary section of the festival. The festival will also screen Iranian shorts "Crab" by Shiva Sadeq-Asadi, "The Doll" by Elahe Esmaeili, and "Spotted Yellow" by Baran Sarmad. 4/14/21
Child adoption has increased in the country by 10 percent, following the actions taken to speed up the process, Habibollah Masoudi-Farid, deputy head of the Welfare Organization, has stated. Following the Law on Protection of Children and Adolescents in [the Iranian calendar year] 1392 (March 2013-March 2014), adaption experienced an upward trend. 4/13/21
Some women in the Iranian province of Mazandaran are still weaving traditional tablecloths as a way to make a living. Mazandaran Province is located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range, in central-northern Iran. -Hava Ahmadi, Mehr 4/12/21
Award-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and Iranian instrumentalists Pejman Hadadi and Masoud Rezaei join the New West Symphony on this musical voyage (April 8-11). GRAMMY-winning Artistic and Music Director Michael Christie leads the orchestra in western classical masterworks by Handel, Rameau, Gounod, and the timeless overture to Mozart's Magic Flute. -Farhang Foundation 4/9/21
To prevent the spread of coronavirus, and by order of Coronavirus Prevention and Combat Headquarters, authorities closed all parks and public places in Iran on April 2 and imposed severe penalties for picnicking. However, desite the official orders and warnings, Iranians across the country gathered outdoors on Friday to celebrate Sizdah-Bedar, the traditional Persian festival of nature. 4/2/21
Celebrate Nowruz with the prestigious Pacific Symphony partnership with the Farhang Foundation. A traditional festival that marks the beginning of spring, Nowruz is a time to celebrate the "rebirth of nature" and wash away the past. Guest artists include pianist and composer Shardad Rohani, guitarist Lily Afshar, vocalist Sara Hamidi, and Sohrab Pournazeri improvising on the tanbour from Tehran, Iran. 4/1/21
Bahman Mohassess is considered Iran's most important modernist, and has been dubbed the "Persian Picasso." But for nearly five decades of his career, he lived outside the public eye in Italy, and his countrymen even thought he was dead. Now, however, there is no missing the many contributions of Mohassess, who is best known for his paintings of anthropomorphic figures that allude to international political conflict. -Angelica Villa, Art News 4/1/21
The photo album depicts Happiness Nowruz Carnival in Hamedan Province, Iran. The Carnival performs different programs in Hamadan city's main streets to create happiness for travelers and citizens. -Adel Bakhoda, IRNA 3/29/21
Afghanistan is one of over a dozen countries that celebrate the 3000-year tradition of Nowruz. This is how Afghan people observe the tradition. You might be surprised but Christmas is not the only new year tradition which is observed across the world; Nowruz is, too. -Marjohn Sheikhi, Mehr 3/26/21
The tombs of Sa'di and Hafez in Shiraz, two famous poets of Iranian poetry and literature, are two of the top tourists destinations in Iran. Every year the tombs are visited by a great number of enthusiasts and tourists during Persian New Year holidays. -Amin Berenjkar, Mehr 3/25/21
In the cycle of seasons through Earth, the second the sun crosses the vernal equator marks the start of Nowruz. In Austin, Nowruz began on Saturday, March 20 at 4:37 a.m. this year. The celebration is 13 days long and follows the succession of a variety of different rituals and customs to mark the beginning of spring. -Ashley Miznazi, KXAN 3/23/21
Spring solstice has just arrived, which corresponds with Persian New Year, celebrated by more than ten countries from the "-stans" (Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, etc.) to Albania and by several ethnic groups not just in Iran by Iranians. Italy is home to several international communities, including a modest Iranian population of over 12,000, according to the country's office for statistics, ISTAT. -The Florentine 3/22/21
It is for the second consecutive year that the novel coronavirus keeps families apart on eve of the Iranian New Year. This Norooz, or "new day" in Persian, starting on Saturday, ushers in the Iranian year 1400. The ancient celebration of the vernal equinox marks the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere; the moment when the length of day and night are almost equal. -Afshin Majlesi, Tehran Times 3/19/21
The UN has marked 21 March as International Nowruz Day - a celebration of spring and the connection between humans and nature. Here, we look at the similarities between, and peculiarities across, the nations that commemorate this ancient rite. -Farida Zeynalova, National Geographic 3/19/21
There's an old saying in Iran, a land quite fond of ancient sayings. The gist of it is: You'd think that the most opportune time to rob a house is during the Persian New Year, when Iranians vacate their homes, sometimes for days at a time. There's only one problem. All the thieves are out celebrating as well. -Roben Farzad, Wine Magazine 3/19/21
This weekend, at least 200 low-income Oakland students and their families will sit down to enjoy a Nowruz, or Persian New Year, meal: turmeric-tinged rice, a salad with pomegranate-molasses dressing, and the Persian-style "meatloaf" preparation known as kebab digi-all provided for free courtesy of Komaaj, a popular Northern Iranian restaurant in San Francisco's Mission District. -KQED 3/19/21
Nowruz begins on Saturday March 20. Celebrate Persian New Year with a feast, guided by "the grande dame of Persian cooking," Najmieh Batmanglij, using the ingredients in her Persian pantry. 3/19/21
Many holidays of cultural significance are celebrated with food, and Nowruz is no different. Also known as Persian New Year, it kicks off on the vernal equinox, or first day of spring - this year, that's March 20 - and spans 13 days. -Amy Chyan, Toronto Star 3/18/21
