Get ready to travel back to the cradles of ancient civilizations, with exotic melodies of Persia’s dastgah and Northern India’s raga, a blend of musical traditions that span centuries.
Four-time Grammy nominee Kayhan Kalhor will guide audiences on a journey through the mysterious landscapes of Persian music. Travelling with an acclaimed ensemble of Indian and Iranian interpreters, they will reproduce and reinvent traditions of thousands of years, playing a set of rare instruments. In addition to the Iranian master’s improvisations on the kamanchen (Persian spike fiddle), the concert will also feature the fascinating sounds of the santour, the tabla and the sitar.
This rare evening will introduce the audience to Persia’s dastgah and Northern Indian raga, a blend of musical traditions that for centuries have been historically, geographically and culturally intertwined.
A creative force in today’s international music scene, Kalhor is the distinguished ambassador of Persian rhythms and has had extensive collaborations with legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma and composer Osvaldo Golijov. He regularly plays with innovative musicians such as the Kronos Quartet, daring Brooklyn Rider and the influential New York Philharmonic.

Born in Tehran, Kalhor has traveled extensively throughout Iran, studying the music of its many regions, in particular that of Khorasan and Kordestan.
He was featured on the soundtrack of Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth, and in 2004 American composer John Adams invited him to give a solo recital at Carnegie Hall as part of its Perspectives series. That same year Kalhor appeared on a double bill at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.
Three of his recent recordings have been nominated for Grammy Awards: Faryad, Without You, and The Rain. His CD Silent City (with Brooklyn Rider) was released on the World Village label in 2008, to critical acclaim.
Joining Kalhor will be Grammy-nominated Sandeep Das, considered one of the leading tabla players today. His concerts have taken him to major centres of music around the globe, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Royce Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Hollywood Bowl, and the Petronas Tower Hall in Malaysia.
Sandeep has performed internationally with the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma since the group’s founding in 2000. With the Ensemble he performed at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York in 2008, played the BBC Proms in 2004 and 2009, and is the only Indian artist to have performed for the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympic Games in Shanghai.
His compositions have have received rave reviews. “Tarang” is the theme music for “Blind Sight”, a documentary about the first Everest climb by six blind climbers, and “Mohini” became theme music for the Japanese TV channel NHK’s 10-episode documentary on the Silk Road.
Venue Maacu Cultural Centre Grand auditorium
Date September 04 (Friday)
Time 8:00pm
Tickets MOP150, 200, 250, 300