From Myth to Music

The qanun arrives with a long memory. Its sound carries histories, places and ways of listening that cannot simply be separated from the instrument.

For me, working with tradition does not mean keeping music still. It means listening carefully to what is already present, then allowing it to meet new people, new spaces and new questions. Improvisation is often where this meeting begins. It creates a space in which musicians can respond to one another without knowing exactly where the music will go.

Tradition as a living material

Iranian modal traditions continue to shape how I hear melody, tension and time. At the same time, contemporary composition offers other structures through which those materials can be explored.
The aim is not to place two musical worlds beside one another. The more interesting question is what can emerge in the space between them.

“A musical identity does not have to choose between roots and movement. It can carry both.”

Tradition as a living material

Iranian modal traditions continue to shape how I hear melody, tension and time. At the same time, contemporary composition offers other structures through which those materials can be explored.
The aim is not to place two musical worlds beside one another. The more interesting question is what can emerge in the space between them.