Every truth has both a visual essence and an auditory essence, and the integration of these two elevates perception to a higher level of maturity
Introduction:
Almost everyone in Congress 60 knows Dr. Amin Dezhakam and has heard his music. As the eldest child of Mr. Hossein Dezhakam, he has spent many years sharing deep yet practical insights into worldview, understanding the human being, and inner purification. What truly sets him apart is that he speaks only from lived experience—he teaches what he has actually practiced in his own life. This is why his words and his music resonate so deeply, leaving a real impact and offering a sense of healing. He has also played a very significant role in the revitalization and development of human beings through his music, including pieces inspired by the images in the book “Crossing the Zone of Minus 60 Degrees”. To make the most of his expertise, an interview was organized at the Congress 60 Symphony Branch on October 17, 2025, covering various aspects of music. It is hoped that it will engage and satisfy the interests of many Congress 60 members and music lovers alike.
Interviewer: Hello Dr. Amin, I really appreciate your efforts. Could I ask at what age you started learning music? Was it encouraged by your family, or was it your own decision?
Dr. Amin: I think I was about five or six years old — yes, around six. It was mainly my family’s decision. My father, Mr. Hossein Dezhakam knew music and played the trumpet. I think he had also composed one or two pieces, one of which is the march [of Congress 60] we now perform in the orchestra now. So, he decided I should learn music. My grandfather also knew music—he was a musician, a composer, a multi-instrumentalist, and even conducted orchestras. My mother was also always very dedicated to our education. She enrolled us in different lessons and programs in many areas, but, well… it didn’t really work (laughs).
I remember on the first day [of music learning], my family told me that the music teacher was coming, I hid under the coat rack for a while, and no one could find me. That’s where my music education began, starting with the melodica and it continued from there. During certain periods in high school, it was interrupted, but later, with my father’s guidance, I started practicing on a keyboard he had bought for me, since I had already learned the basics of musical notation. The teacher who had taught me the melodica went abroad, and when he returned, I was in high school. Since his own instruments were the clarinet and saxophone, he started teaching me the clarinet. I took clarinet lessons for a year, but then it was interrupted again until I was 29. Since then, I have continued studying and practicing music up to the present.
Interviewer: What was the name of the first piece you composed, and what inspired you to write it?
Dr. Amin: It was the summer of 1995, and I was 16 years old. What’s interesting is that at that time I had failed four subjects, and I felt really sad and depressed. Using the keyboard my father had bought for me, I started just playing around, trying to express my feelings through the instrument. That’s when Congress 60 Anthem was created. That’s really how it all started—after that, it felt like I’d finally made a real connection with music.
Interviewer: When was the Congress 60 Music Legion established?
Dr. Amin: We were really interested in having music in Congress 60. It first started in 2012, when some members showed interest in it. Mr. Zahraei and Mr. Ali Jalali were very dedicated to making this happen, so it’s only right to appreciate and thank them. I would also like to thank Mr. Mohammad Jalali, Ali Jalali’s father, who—with Mr. Dezhakam’s permission—kindly allowed us to hold several of our practice sessions at his home when we didn’t have a place to practice. After a few months of practice in 2012, we performed at Shaghayegh Hall for the Anti-Narcotics Headquarters. We played pieces like Shamila, Congress 60 Anthem, Shokrgozari (thanksgiving), and a few others. After that, the group and our activities didn’t continue. In the summer of 2014, at one of the branches— I think Iman branch—we started again and held a few sessions, but once more it didn’t last. We did not continue our job, until we went to Vahdat Hall for a performance by my sister, Ms. Kamandar. She was a student of Master Armine and one of the choir singers. Alim Qasimov also came from Azerbaijan with his daughter Fargana, and they performed a father-daughter duet. I told Mr. Dezhakam how wonderful it would be if we could have an orchestra like theirs. He said, “I completely agree; we should have a symphony orchestra,” and from that moment—in 2015—we started again. This time, our third attempt, it didn’t stop, and thankfully it has continued until now. Of course, we went through a very special process to get here.
Interviewer: When were you first assigned the Dideban (watcher) and Guardian of Music roles in Congress 60?
Dr. Amin: I think I became a Dideban in 2002 (1381 SH), making me the fourth, fifth, or sixth Dideban of Congress 60. At that time, I was 24 years old, and because of my role in establishing Worldview 1 and 2 pamplets and the Worldview classes, and Congress 60 camps, I was chosen as a Dideban. The music sessions also started in 2015 (1394 SH) under my Guardianship, with Mr. Zahraei as the master [of music legion]. He has been by our side for many years from the very beginning and has been a tremendous help. We should also acknowledge him, as he is a great artist. Mr. Zahraei is proficient in the tar, tonbak, and other percussion instruments, and he is also a composer and a poet.
Interviewer: Are Congress 60’s music pieces only limited to those related to the images in the book “Crossing the Zone of Minus 60 Degrees”, or have other pieces been composed and performed as well?
Dr. Amin: Of course, more pieces have been composed. To give an example, composing music is similar to the Valleys of Congress 60. There are fourteen Valleys, but the Congress 60 worldview is not limited only to the Valleys. There are also the talks that Mr. Dezhakam gives under the title of the weekly session agendas, many of which are aligned with teaching and explaining those Valleys. The same applies to the music of Congress 60. There are fourteen musical pieces based on the images of the book “Crossing the Zone of Minus 60 Degrees”, and we are currently practicing some of them. Recently, we have been practicing the piece “Autumn”. Beside these, we have many other musical pieces that I hope we can prepare them for orchestral performance.
Interviewer: What are the names of the book’s musical pieces? Who composed them, and for what purpose?
Dr. Amin: I am the creator and composer of these pieces, and I handle their arrangements too. Mr. Payam also helps me with arranging the music. I have written all the lyrics myself, except for “Congress 60 Anthem,” which was written by Kamran Aghatai, and “Liberation Anniversary Anthem,” which was written by the late Fereydoun Soleimanpour. The musical pieces are all based on the book’s images. For example, “Autumn” corresponds to the autumn image, and “Winter” corresponds to the winter image. The piece “Liberation”, which used to be played in the Wednesday sessions, is inspired by the image of “The Skiers”. “Congress 60 Anthem” is based on the cover image, which shows the desert, the sea, and other elements together. Other pieces include “Eagle in Flight” (from the back cover image), “Car in the Mud”, “Scorching Desert”, and so on. All of these pieces are named after the book’s images, as they were composed based on them.
Interviewer: Which were the first Congress 60’s musical pieces, and who performed and recorded them?
Dr. Amin: That’s a good question. When I composed “Congress 60 Anthem”, Mr. Dezhakam asked Mr. Kamran to write lyrics for it, and that’s how this piece we sing in our sessions was created. In 2002, I gave the musical notes of “Congress 60 Anthem” to Mr. Saeed, who was a relative of Mr. Majid Salami [a Congress 60 Dideban]. He was an arranger and turned the song into this beautiful version. His friend Masoud, who was a singer, also sang it. We should also acknowledge Saeed. Despite his very young age, he had an exceptional musical sense, great taste, and remarkable skill. He arranged both “Congress 60 Anthem” and “Liberation Anniversary Anthem”, and his arrangements were beautiful and enduring; we still use them today. Now, we try to create new arrangements based on the same foundation that was used for “Congress 60 Anthem”. The creator and composer of the piece “Shokrgozari” (thanksgiving) is Mr. Mohsen Zahraei. He also performed and arranged it. I think he even played the daf and tombak himself, taking part not only in the performance but also in the studio recording. In a way, the lyrics of this song belong to Mr. Dezhakam, as the text was written by him. Therefore, it can be said that Mr. Dezhakam is not only a composer, but also a poet.
Interviewer: At Mr. Dezhakam’s request, fourteen musical pieces were composed for the fourteen imagaes of the book “Crossing the Zone of Minus 60 Degrees”. Who composed these pieces? Was Mr. Dezhakam, or any of his teachers, involved? If so, how?
Dr. Amin: The music for the book’s images is chosen in consultation with Mr. Dezhakam. Here’s how it usually works: I compose a piece first, then ask him which image he thinks it fits best. Interestingly, the approach is not to focus on a specific image first and then compose music for it. Instead, I create the music first and then match it to one of the images—like tailoring, where you see which coat fits which person. The choice is made in consultation with Mr. Dezhakam, and he makes the final decision. For example, I play a piece for him and share my own opinion, asking if he thinks it fits a certain image. Then we listen to it together, and he makes the final choice. The piece might still be adjusted later, but the selection is based on my opinion, and ultimately Mr. Dezhakam makes the decision.
Interviewer: Which pieces are currently being performed by the Congress 60 Orchestra?
Dr. Amin: Right now, we’re performing “Winter”, “Congress 60 Anthem”, “Dance in the Sky”, and “Liberation”, which you have already heard. We’ve just started working on “Autumn” and are currently rehearsing it. “The Skiers” has been composed and is now being arranged. “Eagle’s Flight”, “Scorching Desert”, and “Car in the Mud” are also being arranged, and we hope to have them ready for performance soon. About eight or nine pieces for the book’s images have been selected, and five of them are fully arranged.
Interviewer: How could a note have been sent before Congress 60 even started?
Dr. Amin: The piece I wrote in 1995 was “Congress 60 Anthem”. The following year, 1996, I composed “Dance in the Sky”, along with one or two other pieces. “Autumn”, which we are currently working on, was written in 1998. It could almost be said that some of the pieces related to the book’s images—or at least one or two of them— were composed both before and during Mr. Dezhakam’s addiction cure course, and even before Congress 60 was established. You see, Mr. Dezhakam discovered the addiction cure method, DST, in 1996 (1375), and most of the music pieces were composed around that same period. In other words, as he was developing the addiction cure method, I was composing these pieces.
Interviewer: What important point is conveyed by one of Mr. Dezhakam’s teachers emphasis on “honoring the music (the sounds)” in the book “Crossing the Zone of Minus 60 Degrees”?
Dr. Amin: In the Triangle of Creation—formed by sensation, sound, and light—sound plays a special role. We understand many messages and concepts through sound. Words, vocal tone, speaking, languages, birdsong, the sounds of nature, and music are all part of the same whole. If you want to know how important something is, try taking it away and eliminate it; then see what happens. Imagine life without sound—no birdsong, no babbling of springs or streams, no patter of rain, no wind whispering, no teacher’s voice, no mother’s voice, no words of love… what would life even feel like? We can see just how amazing musical sounds are—they seem to take us somewhere else, as if every story, every event, every moment, every atmosphere has its own unique sound. For example, why is such beautiful music written for a story like Swan Lake, which is already such a powerful tale or legend?
Its sound (music of the “Swan Lake”) is its dual part, which means this sound completes the story. When you have a story or an event, it has a visual version—for example, two people fighting and someone gets killed, or someone falls in love but fails to reach the beloved, or someone wants revenge, and so on. But what truly completes the story, or its other half, its dual part or its complement exists in Sound. Think about The Lord of the Rings, imagine watching it with no music, and the characters only talking. You would see how different the movie feels. Then turn the music back on—you’ll realize the whole story changes completely, like night and day.
So it can be said that a story is a truth revealed visually—but the same truth can also be expressed through sound; these two sides are like a couple and compelete one another. In this way, every truth has both a visual side and a musical side, and these two are connected—they complete each other. Every truth expresses a sensation. Sound and image are like the two sides of a triangle, with the sensation at its base. In this way, sound and image are like a couple—they complete each other. When they come together, you can create an everlasting masterpiece that fully expresses the sensation. If you pay attention, you’ll see that combining sound and image brings the sensation to its highest level. That’s why sound is so important.
So, if you have a powerful story, you can be sure that it also has a sound—its music. For example, imagine someone on the journey of addiction recovery. It’s as if they are walking through a desert filled with the bodies of thousands, even millions, of people who were lost to addiction over the centuries, and the families that were destroyed there. That person is moving through that desert. This is a truth. Or imagine someone walking through holes in the ground while it’s raining, where if they’re not careful, they could fall deep into floods. This scene also expresses a truth about one stage of addiction. Now, what completes this truth? It can be a sound—a piece of music. If we can find or perceive the right sound for it, it can greatly enhance the sensation and bring it to its fullest. All of this exists in the universe, and its true owner is God.
To be continued…
https://www.congress60.org/News/466990/%D9%87%D8%B1-%D8%AD%D9%82%DB%8C%D9%82%D8%AA-%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D8%B5%D9%88%DB%8C%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D9%88-%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%87%DB%8C%D8%AA-%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%AA%DB%8C-%DA%A9%D9%87-%D8%AA%D9%84%D9%81%DB%8C%D9%82-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%AF%D9%88-%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%AD%D8%B3-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D9%87-%D8%AF%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%87-%D8%AA%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%84-%D9%85%DB%8C-%D8%B1%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF
Source: Congress 60 Symphony Branch
Translated by companion Sepideh, Legion 22, Sheikhbahaei branch of Congress 60, Isfahan, Iran
Revised by Elahe