"I have to glue my ID on me to prove that I have a husband?" asked Hoda, a student who plays the traditional
santour. "What for?
The band, Veronica Aloneftou on the
Santour and vocals, Maria Ploumi, on the lute and vocals and Vasiliki Anastastiou on vocals, will perform songs from Asia Minor and the Greek islands.
Elle compte un baglama turc, un oud, un
santour iranien, un qanun proche-oriental et une section de percussion qui se compose de tambours indiens, peruviens, perses, arabes, turcs et orientaux...
A Lebanese composer specializing in the eastern Arabic tradition, professor at Lebanese and Antonine universities and a founding member and co-director of Bayt al-Musiqa, Yassin is credited with "inventing" the
santour -- aka the Babylonian hammered dulcimer.
Couples huddled in the niches in the stone walls surrounding the grounds, and the tinny strains of the Persian
santour became a suitable serenade.
They blended Sufi chants and the strains of the santour and the tar (strings), ney (flute), daf and tombak (percussions) with the sounds of a Norwegian quintet, breathing fresh life into the pictures by Iranian photo reporter Reza Deghati, who has been roaming the world for some 30 years.
Throughout the concert, the verses of the great Persian mystical poet Rumi, speaking of love and tolerance, were chanted to the tune of the musical fusion, blending with the message of Javid Afsari Rad, the composer, santour virtuoso and founder of the group.
The tour of music ensemble Zarbahang is slated to last 5 days.Zarbahang will use traditional percussion instruments in a bid to introduce Persian art.Javid Afsari-Rad (
Santour), Pejman Haddadi (Tonbak), Behnam Samani (Tonbak, Daf), Mehrdad Arabi (Tonbak, Daf), Reza Samani (Tonbak, daf) will perform pieces of Persian music in the concerts.The band is due to extend their tour to Germany but details have not been announced yet.
Shankar was joined by two Oslo musicians, one on the banjo, the other on the
santour, a Persian hammer dulcimer.
Tombak players Majid Khalaj and Alireza Hosseini,
santour player Rouzbeh Rahimi, lute player Nima Alizadeh and ney player Siamak Jahangiri will also accompany the trio in a number of the scheduled concerts.