Coming up

at Heath Street Baptist Church

TOMORROW

1.15pm, Tuesday 11th February 2020

Musica Obsolescens

Theo Lais and Zac Gvirtzman perform music from and around the Ottoman period including court music written by Greek, Armenian and Jewish musicians, folkloric and trance inspired compositions and perhaps a bit of JS Bach.

Theo Lais is one of the UK's primary exponents of the Cretan Lyra, a fretless bowed string instrument with sympathetic strings that give it it's resonant tone. Originally from Athens, he has made London his home and performs regularly in traditional dancing as well as concert settings.

Zac Gvirtzman is a multi-instrumentalist and composer whose output includes a broad range of styles and musical languages. For this concert he will use the church's wonderful organ as well as other instruments which may include piano, clarinet and percussion.

* * *
Please note that the Rachmaninoff & Rossini : From the bass clef
concert which was previously advertised is postponed. It has been replaced by the programme below
* * *

Next Week...

1.15pm, Tuesday 18th February 2020

SAEID KORDMAFI
Santur and Vocals

Fariborz Kiani
Tombak and Dayereh

Programme
Dastgâh-e Shur

Owj
Pishdarâmad-e Dashti by Yusef Forutan (1896-1958)
Darâmad-e Shur- Rūh al-Arvâh
Murabba‘ Bayātī: an Eastern Mediterranean Arab piece by an anonymous composer (supposedly in the 18^th or 19^th century)
Chahârmezrâb based on a theme by Ḥabīb Somâ‘i (1901-1946)
Oshshâq-e Morakkab: Combination of the modes
Samā‘ī Muḥayyir: an Ottoman piece by Tanburi Camil Bey (1873- 1916)
Hadâvandi as performed by Farâmarz Pâyvar (1933-2009)
Jurjūnā: an Iraqi piece by an anonymous composer
Taṣnif-e Ey Âmân by ‘Âref Qazvini (1880- 1934)
Reng-e Shūr : a dance piece by Ali-Akbar Shahnâzi (1897- 1985)

Saeid Kordmafi: Santour and Vocals

A santur player, composer and musicologist, Saeid has learned classical Iranian music with a number of distinguished musicians in Iran, endeavouring to explore various performance styles of the given music culture. He is one of the leading musicians of a revival movement in Iran that seeks to revitalize the pre-modern aesthetic in Iranian music, inspired by historical pieces of evidence as well as neighbouring traditions which have partly preserved the previously shared musical heritage.

As a soloist on the Iranian santour, he has participated in various live, recording and workshop projects in the Middle East, Central Asia, Europe and the United States and been engaged with various collaborative music-making projects with acclaimed musicians from Central Asia and the Arab world. He co-founded Rahâ ensemble in 2007, and has released four CDs in Iran so far. His last music-making project in the UK is the Phoenix of Persia (Tiny Owl Publishing 2019), a collaborative compositional work accompanying an illustrated children’s book based on one of the ancient epic stories of Shâhnâme. Saeid is now a PhD candidate in the Department of Music at SOAS, University of London.

Fariborz Kiani: Tombak and Dayereh

Fariborz Kiani started learning tombak firstly by himself and later with one of Iran’s leading tombak players, Morteza Ayan. He studied daf with Iran’s daf legend Bijan Kamkar. He has participated in numerous concerts throughout the world performing with some of the finest Iranian musicians as well as internationally acclaimed musicians of other music cultures. In 1995 he founded the Nava Art Group UK which has since become one of UK’s leading promoters of classical and regional music of Iran.

Classical Iranian Music by Nasim-e Ṭarab Duo

The musical heritage spread from North Africa to Central Asia generally referred to as “maqām”, while embedded in different musical forms, carries a common message of peace, trust and reconciliation amongst all people regardless of any border or religious divide. It is this hidden message that seems to be able to mysteriously join the apparently different cultures in a vast region.

Referring to the same historical roots as well as musical materials that are or can potentially be shared by Iranian, Arab and Turkish classical musics, the program aims to display the interdependencies of the music of an entire region seamlessly crossing borders and boundaries of the given sonic cultures. This not only reveals the possibility of establishing a cross-cultural style in the maqām realm, but also, in a way, points to the medieval Iranian musical system (in terms of modal- melodic, rhythmic-metric and formal configuration) that seems to have partly been maintained by the neighbouring traditions.

As far as classical Iranian music is concerned, the concert also embodies the intricate stylistic characteristics of dastgâh-i music, preserved throughout the time mostly by oral means. Structured instantaneous creativity, “improvisation”, is one of the key features of this music. Keeping in time with the present while faithfully remaining rooted in the past is possibly a key to its survival.