Kayhan Kalhor
Growing up in my birthplace of Esfahān, one of Iran’s historic and cultural centres, traditional music was being played and learned all around me. Though I had taken to western classical violin, I didn’t really discover Persian traditional music until after I had moved to Canada from Iran. Those days, the common notion was that students of classical music would ruin their ears by listening to traditional music.
While studying music at York University, I encountered a wealth of World Music, as well as new and experimental music. I studied improvisation and South Indian drumming, and also took several courses in Middle Eastern music. Through these courses, I got hold of a kamancheh, the Persian spiked fiddle. I fell in love with the instrument and I started to experiment. Soon I was playing in local Persian ensembles and collaborating with several musicians from different traditions. For the past few years, I have been teaching kamancheh as well as the violin. Many of my students are children whose parents want them to learn about their cultural heritage, or they are young people who have rediscovered their roots as I did a few years ago. It is both a joy and a challenge to share what I have learned and discovered about Persian music in a way that the students can relate to – especially the children.
On February 5, Masters of Persian Music will be performing at Roy Thomson Hall. The members have each found their own way of growing and expanding beyond the tradition. Kayhan Kalhor has inspired a new generation of kamancheh players with his virtuosity and the depth of feeling that his music emanates. He has rejuvenated the role of the kamancheh in Persian music by his investigations of folk traditions in Iran as well as through his collaborations with masters from India, Kurdistan, and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. Hossein Alizadeh’s study of Western Music and composition, in addition to his exploration of new sonorities in instrumental and compositional technique, has put him at the frontier of innovation in Persian music. Their upcoming performance at Roy Thomson Hall will bring these extraordinary artists together with some of the most talented musicians of the new generation, performing music that communicates to and inspires a contemporary audience, while being deeply rooted in tradition.
You can hear Kayhan and Hossein, Masters of Persian Music, live on CBC Q 99.1FM today at 11AM or look for the podcast at cbc.ca/Q.
Guest contributor, Kousha Nakhaei is a kamancheh (spiked fiddle) player, violinist, composer, and music educator. We are looking forward to Kousha taking part as a workshop leader, pre-show on Feb 5 at Roy Thomson Hall, when he demonstrates the kamancheh for our Share The Music guests as well as interested audience members in the South Lobby at 7PM.
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