Mishkín-Qalam Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
An award-winning original score, inspired by the life and art of the master calligrapher
The Mishkín-Qalam Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is an award-winning original score by ELViRiA, the rock, electronic and world-music project led by singer-songwriter-producer Amir Válá Meshkin, a great-great-grandson of the calligrapher. It carries the life story of Mishkín-Qalam across three songs, each released in both a vocal and an instrumental version. The six-track soundtrack has streamed on ELViRiA’s YouTube channel, and the full album is releasing on Apple Music and YouTube Music ahead of the documentary’s premiere on 11 November 2026.
About the Mishkín-Qalam Soundtrack
The soundtrack scores the Mishkín-Qalam documentary film, blending world rock fusion with Persian instrumentation and lyricism to trace the calligrapher’s life. Its title track unfolds in three acts, following his rise to artistic mastery, his years of imprisonment and exile, and finally his path toward a universal, spiritual consciousness. Amir Válá Meshkin composes his core melodies in a deeply relaxed, dreamlike state, then builds each song in layers with the featured musicians, of whom there are around twenty-five on a track. When he first shared the title track with the filmmakers, they told him it felt as though the calligrapher’s spirit was speaking through the music, which gave him the confidence to complete it. One distinctive quality sets the score apart: it is multilingual, weaving English and Persian together within the same songs, which Amir notes is uncommon in film music. The record was produced across his own studio and mixed at studios around the world, including in Perth and at the historic Village Studios in Los Angeles.
About ELViRiA
ELViRiA is the long-running rock, electronic and world-music project of singer-songwriter-producer Amir Válá Meshkin, who has recorded with many musicians across the world. Classically trained on the violin from the age of five, he discovered rock as a teenager and moved through electronic, world, classical, jazz and country music, and worked as an architect, before devoting himself to ELViRiA. The project’s debut album, The City of Search, is the first in a planned seven-album cycle inspired by the mystical text The Seven Valleys. Featured collaborators on the Mishkín-Qalam soundtrack include Jeff Martin of the Canadian rock band The Tea Party, and the award-winning Western Australian guitarist and bassist Roy Martinez. Amir took on the score as a great-great-grandson of Mishkín-Qalam, describing it as a responsibility to honour his ancestor’s legacy and what he gave to the world.
Tracklist
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Track 01
Mishkín-Qalam (Title Track)
The biographical title track moves through three acts, his artistic mastery, his imprisonment and exile, and his transcendence toward divine consciousness, and closes with a Persian outro that sings the words from the calligraphic signature Mishkín-Qalam placed on his works.It features the widest range of Middle Eastern instruments Amir has used on any song, among them the oud, the Persian ney (reed flute), the tombak, the darbuka, the daf and the tabla, tracing the calligrapher's path across Persia, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and on to the Holy Land. Jeff Martin is among the featured performers.
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Track 02
Love ("Eshgh")
An old Persian-language song, Love ("Eshgh") celebrates the immortal Phoenix as a symbol of the divine creative force that rises anew in every age through a spiritually inspired teacher. First released on ELViRiA's debut album The City of Search and remastered for this soundtrack, it was chosen to deepen the title track's themes of unconditional love and human unity. Jeff Martin contributes oud, a bowed Indian string instrument, and acoustic guitar.
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Track 03
The Garden of Thy Heart
The lyrics of The Garden of Thy Heart are taken from the Hidden Words of Bahá'u'lláh, on the theme of unconditional love. Its arrangement moves from an English reading through a Persian vocal and back to English, layering chant-like voices with a soprano singing in Persian, alongside Danelectro guitar and Moog textures for an otherworldly feel. The Bahá'í writing at its heart reads:
O FRIEND! In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love, and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold.
Bahá’u’lláh The Hidden Words
Awards and Recognition
The Mishkín-Qalam soundtrack and its music videos have been recognised internationally. (Soundtrack and music awards only; the documentary’s own festival awards are listed on the Documentary Film page.)
About the Documentary Film
The soundtrack accompanies the Mishkín-Qalam documentary film, directed by Arman Arian, which premieres on 11 November 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who composed the Mishkín-Qalam soundtrack?
It was composed by ELViRiA, the rock, electronic and world-music project led by singer-songwriter-producer Amir Válá Meshkin, a great-great-grandson of Mishkín-Qalam, with around twenty-five musicians featured on each track.
Where can I listen to the Mishkín-Qalam soundtrack?
The six-song soundtrack has been on ELViRiA’s YouTube channel since May 2022, and the title track and its instrumental are on Spotify and Apple Music. The full album is releasing on Apple Music and YouTube Music ahead of the documentary’s premiere on 11 November 2026.
What genre is the music?
Amir describes it as world rock fusion: rock instrumentation combined with world-music instruments and Persian influences that suit the calligrapher’s story.
How many songs are on the Soundtrack Album?
Three songs, Mishkín-Qalam, Love (Eshgh) and The Garden of Thy Heart, each released in a vocal and an instrumental version, for six recordings in total.
What makes the soundtrack distinctive?
It is a multilingual film score, weaving English and Persian together within the same songs, which is uncommon in soundtrack music.
Who was Mishkín-Qalam?
Mishkín-Qalam (born Mírzá Ḥusayn-i-Iṣfahání, 1824–1912) was a renowned Persian Master Calligrapher who served in the Persian Royal Court, who was exiled and imprisoned for his beliefs in Peace and Unity of Mankind.