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Kayhan Kalhor

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Kayhan Kalhor is an Iranian Kurdish kamancheh and setar player and composer, born in 1964 in Kermanshah. He began music at the age of seven and at thirteen was already playing in the National Orchestra of Iranian radio and television. He studied in the Iranian radif tradition and travelled to the north of Khorasan province to study folk music there. Four years after he left Iran, his parents and brother were killed in an Iraqi missile attack during the war between Iran and Iraq.

Music and breakthrough

Kalhor is open to many influences and plays several instruments, but his heart lies with the kamancheh, a bowed instrument with an intense sound. In his playing he often connects the structures of Iranian classical music with the rich folk modes and melodies of the Kurdish tradition. His albums include Scattering Stars Like Dust (1998), Night Silence Desert (2000), In the Mirror of the Sky (2004), Silent City (2008), I Will Not Stand Alone (2012) and It's Still Autumn (2019). He received three Grammy nominations for Best Traditional World Music Album. As a member of the Silk Road Ensemble he won a Grammy for Best Global Music Album.

Influence

In 2014 he played a long improvised version of I Will Not Stand Alone in London with the santur player Ali Bahrami Fard, in which plucked and bowed passages alternated. In this way Kalhor brings the old music of Iran and the Kurdish regions to an audience across the world.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to I Will Not Stand Alone. Notice how the kamancheh acquires a singing, almost human voice and how plucked and bowed passages alternate.

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists