Événement

Musical Performance: Sound: the Encounter

Saeid Shanbehzadeh on neyanban (Iranian bagpipe), neyjoti (flute), boogh horns, dance, vocal

Basel Rajoub on saxophones, duclar

Naghib Shanbehzadeh on percussion (tombak/zarb, darbuka)

"Sound: The Encounter" is a new project conceived, curated and produced by the Aga Khan Music Initiative (AKMI) as part of its mandate to support talented artists who develop their musical heritage in contemporary forms and revive historical connections among artistic communities from countries and regions in which the Initiative operates.

"Sound: the Encounter" brings together adventurous musicians from Iran and Syria who seek to reassemble diverse expressions of a shared musical heritage in contemporary forms. The result is a collection of newly-developed and arranged musical pieces inspired by the millennium-old musical legacy of the ancient Silk Road that are rooted in classical and folk traditional musical forms and and re-imagined within a new artistic frame.

Acclaimed Iranian musician and dancer Saeid Shanbezadeh traces his ancestry to Zanzibar in East Africa. Born in Busher, he is a virtuoso performer on Iranian bagpipes and percussion, as well as of zar song and dance. Winner of the Fajr Music Festival (Tehran), Saeid converses with the audience and fellow artists through a small consort of instruments that become a vehicle for improvisation in a sequence of virtuosic solo breaks accompanied by sustained drones and percussion. Basel Rajoub hails from Aleppo, Syria.A graduate of Damascus High Institute of Music and winner of Radio Monte Carlo's Moyen-Orient Music Award, Basel is recognised as a consummate performer, skilled improviser, and highly original composer who creates new music rooted in a thousand-year-old tradition. Known for developing oriental music for the saxophone and merging jazz with Middle Eastern rhythms, Basel performs as a solo artist and leader of the Basel Rajoub Ensemble.Naghib Shanbehzadeh is a disciple of master Mahmoud Farahmand and has been a virtuoso percussionist from a very early age. Naghib tours widely with theSaeid Shanbehzadeh Ensemble and participates in artistic collaborations worldwide.

The concert programme of "Sound: The Encounter" showcasescontemporary ensemble pieces with elements of devotional songs, mystical music, and dance traditions from the south of Iran.