{"id":34402,"date":"2024-03-28T16:21:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T20:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=34402"},"modified":"2024-03-28T16:21:10","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T20:21:10","slug":"amiri-brings-ancient-tradition-and-bold-creativity-to-aurora-with-cultural-centre-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/amiri-brings-ancient-tradition-and-bold-creativity-to-aurora-with-cultural-centre-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Amiri brings \u201cancient tradition and bold creativity\u201d to Aurora with Cultural Centre performance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a musician, Amir Amiri is deeply rooted in Persian classical tradition, but what he produces is something altogether new \u2013 a blend of classical tradition through a modern lens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A santur player, composer, and \u201ccultural inventor,\u201d Amiri will bring his ground-breaking style to Aurora next Saturday, April 6, in a concert hosted by the Aurora Cultural Centre at Trinity Anglican Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set to be joined on stage by Nagmeh Farahmand, the Cultural Centre promises a \u201cmesmerizing solo performance as the hammers delicately wander across the trapezoid zither box exploring tradition woven with Amiri\u2019s fresh ideas,\u201d and, on the part of Farahmand, \u201can acclaimed percussion showcase.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amiri came to Canada from Iran in 1996, bringing with him the musical traditions of home which he was then able to interpret through what he describes as a \u201cdifferent cultural operating system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an incredible concept to know what I know, which is deeply Persian classical music, and sift it through this rhythmic mesh,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat comes out the other side is this sound organization that has been touched by my personal experience, which is rooted in Persian classical tradition. Is it Persian classical music? No. Is it modern music? Yes, but influenced by me and my experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy work is a journey of East and West\u2026 where you are from, where you are, and where you\u2019re going to be. That point of reference is very important and that point of reference is that Iranian-ness to my work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you set out on any path, he says, you have the option of going in a straight line \u2013 but where you\u2019re from can sometimes dictate the length of that path. In a place like the Middle East where scores of smaller countries are concentrated in one geographic area, these straight lines can be very short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you think of the Middle East as such a huge area\u2026 all of these places have their own vocabulary \u2013 of course, they all eat humus, but slightly different, and the music is the same. It\u2019s reflective of the food, the person. There is a thread that is very similar, but it also comes with that physicality, and that goes back to the rhythm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amiri likes these in-between spaces where cultures meet. When they do, they enrich each other, he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the human experience and that doesn\u2019t have a boundary,\u201d he says. \u201cWe talk a lot these days about borders and things like that, and I am thinking maybe the cultural connection is not as important anymore; it\u2019s more the human connection. We need to start looking at the bigger picture. Everywhere in the world right now, we\u2019re missing something. There\u2019s some really bad stuff happening. My question to myself is, what can I do? What is my responsibility?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMusic in general has a capacity to defragment and this defragmentation comes into different parts of one\u2019s daily life as sort of groupings of allowed agreements\u2026 As an artist I appreciate when a human being decides to go to my concert. I think they have done their job. So, for me, I have been trusted by these years of knowledge through music, through classical music, traditional music\u2026 allowing this river of energy, allowing this experience to shape together\u2026 That is what the power of chamber music is about \u2013 music for a room. We\u2019re just together, I\u2019m playing for you and you\u2019re listening. The mistress will do the rest of the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds the Aurora Cultural Centre: \u201cAmiri is a master of the santur, a 72-string instrument dating from approximately 500 BCE. Surrounding himself with outstanding collaborators from the worlds of jazz, classical and world music, Amiri fearlessly transcends genres and borders, exquisitely transporting his ancient instrument into the musical conversations of our time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince arriving in Canada in 1996, Amiri has created numerous ground-breaking ensembles including the Amir Amiri Ensemble, inspired by the fluidity of musical influences in Iran and featuring the hypnotic presence of a Whirling Dervish; and Ensemble Kimya, a Montreal-Paris collaboration, combining early classical and contemporary music from Europe, the Middle East and India. Pers\u00e9ides, his duo with double bass player Jean F\u00e9lix Mailloux, was featured at the National Arts Centre\u2019s Sounds of Persia: Canada\u2019s New Music Masters in 2018, where Amiri was Artistic Director. His ensemble was showcased WOMEX 2021 in Porto, Portugal. Amir Amiri was awarded the 2003 CBC Artist of the Year from the Galaxie Rising Stars Program. He performs and tours with a vast spectrum of ensembles, enchanting with his signature down-to-earth style and profound connection with audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a musician, Amir Amiri is deeply rooted in Persian classical tradition, but what he produces is something altogether new \u2013 a blend of classical tradition through a modern lens. A santur player, composer, and \u201ccultural inventor,\u201d Amiri will bring his ground-breaking style to Aurora next Saturday, April 6, in a concert hosted by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/2024-03-28-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-8WS","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 21:44:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}