| Amir ElSaffar | • | Trumpet |
| Hafez Modirzadeh | • | Saxophone |
A Destined Collaboration: Amir ElSaffar and Hafez Modirzadeh, whose musical careers are dedicated to expressing their ancestral traditions (Iraqi and Iranian, respectively) within a personalized and creative jazz language, have teamed together to articulate an unprecedented form of music.
ElSaffar is an accomplished jazz and classical trumpeter who put his New York career on hold to immerse himself in the music of his father's ancestral past, the Iraqi maqam. He went on a tremendous quest, traveling to Iraq, throughout the Middle East and to Europe pursuing masters who could impart to him this centuries-old oral tradition. He created new techniques for the trumpet that enable microtones and ornaments characteristic of Arabic music.
Hafez, based in the San Francisco Bay area and fifteen years Amir’s senior, spent years under the guidance of Iranian master musician, Mahmoud Zoufounoun, learning the Iranian counterpart to maqam, known as dastgah. By 1992, Hafez had developed his own "chromodal" approach to intercultural musical practice, which allows for the co-existence of multiple traditions within one cohesive system, and has since composed a large body of uncompromisingly original work that adapts Persian tuning into a variety of musical contexts.
For this performance, the duo will explore concepts that seek to expand the human spirit, including new and original material that weaves through the tonal spectra of maqam, dastgah, and other traditions.
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Khosh Reng from the ElSaffar's Two Rivers Suite,
available from Pi Recordings
featuring Amir ElSaffar on Trumpet and Santoor, Rudresh Mahanthappa on Alto Saxophone, Tareq Abboushi on Buzuq, Zaafer Tawil on Oud and Violin, Carlo DeRosa on Bass, Nasheet Waits on Drums