7 December 2013
8:00pm – 10:00pm
725 Park Avenue, New York, NY
Saeid Shanbehzadeh, neyanban (Iranian bagpipe), neyjoti (flute), boogh horns, dance, vocal
Basel Rajoub, saxophones, duclar
Naguib Shanbehzadeh, dammam, percussion
And guest artists
A collection of newly-developed and arranged musical pieces inspired by a millennium-old musical legacy of the ancient Silk Route, inspired by traditional musical forms and styles and re-imagined within a new frame. Featured music pieces, rooted in a tradition of rhythms and compositional forms, are contemporary in their expression. The result is music that could only have emerged from artists whose own musical journeys have zigzagged back and forth between cultures and influences in a very unique way, creating music that is at once seamless and surprising. Occasional jazz-inflected harmonies, finely etched exchanges of percussion timbres and rhythms, and filigree ornamentation of the wind instruments and vocals provide freshness and intense focus on the color of sound.
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 zar song and dance. Winner of the Fajr Music Festival (Teheran), he leads the conversation with a small consort of instruments that becomes 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 Moyen-Orient Music Award, Basel is known as a consummate performer, skilled improviser, and highly original composer creating new music that is 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 a leader of the Basel Rajoub Ensemble.
Naguib Shanbehzadeh is a disciple of master Mahmoud Farahmand and a virtuoso percussionist from a very early age. Naghuib tours widely with the Saeid Shanbehzadeh ensemble and participates in artistic collaborations worldwide.
For more information please visit http://asiasociety.org