How peacefully disturbing was Kayhan Kalhor's concert last night ...
Kayhan Kalhor "entered" my life almost unexpectedly as I was buying tickets for a ballet concert and came across his name ... a name I had never heard before ... and for that matter neither had I ever heard any mentioning to the Persian bowed string instrument he plays ... the kamancheh.
I managed to gather quite a lot of information on him and the bass santoor musician he would be playing with at the concert, and the more I got closer to the date of the concert the more I felt nervous. Something about him as a person, as well as his musical approach had touched me and having heard several compositions he had played touched me even more. There was some tinge of sad and sensitive melody magic that appealed to me ... and it did appeal to me so strongly that I just couldn't help wanting to hear him play live.
The Iranian carpeted stage with these two imposing masters of Kamancheh and bass santour sat in asana positions set the whole atmosphere of the concert ... sensitive light strokes and glides of both instruments filled the theatre and I was numbed ... bewitched ... overwhelmed by the music and the soul they put into it ... I didn't know if I wanted to cry or rejoice at the beauty ...
I had to deal with these mixed emotions throughout the one hour and a half non-stop concert that took us all into his own "trip" of isolation ... the one he felt throughout the dark period that beset his homeland Iran, once the concert was based on his "I will not stand alone" CD, reflecting that disturbing experience.
Once the concert was finished we all stood up and paid our tribute to these grand masters of music and defenders of their homeland tradition by clapping our hands as hard as we could, whilst they humbly bowed acknowledging our recognition.
They played for another twenty minutes and I don't think any of us in the audience wanted them to ever stop playing ...
A memorable evening ... a peacefully disturbing evening ... the acknowledgement that we don't stand alone in our feelings ...
Kayhan Kalhor - Kamancheh
Ali Bahrami Fard - Bass Santoor
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