Shahriyar Jamshidi: Kamanche

Shahriyar Jamshidi is a Kurdish-Canadian kamanche player, composer and improvisor who grew up in Iran, and lived through some very difficult times. He has collaborated with many musicians including heavy-metal cellist Raphael Weinroth-Browne (also a guest of this series) in their duo Kamancello, and has released numerous albums which feature his unique improvisational style. I find his playing to be extremely expressive and his personal story compelling. In this conversation he introduces us to this spiked-fiddle, which is the ancestor of the violin, and is used across many cultures, and also speaks about the need for humanity to stay in touch with our traditional music. Timestamps are below.

Like all my episodes, this is also a video, and the transcript is linked here as well: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/shahriyar-jamshidi-kamancheh

https://shahriyarjamshidi.com/

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Timestamps:

(00:00) intro

(01:20) description and history of the kamancheh

(10:00) first improvisation

(13:57) discussion of musical education

(19:01) discussion of microtones and modes

(24:03) demonstration of different techniques

(28:42) discussion of the use of the kamanche and it’s relation to song

(33:38) discussion about album “A Yellow Flower”

(38:51) different Kurdish languages

(41:59) growing up in Kermansheh, the political situation and ban on music

(45:03) the importance of traditional music, more about the culture and censorship

(52:42) immigration to Canada

(54:54) Banff residency

(57:15) International Society for Music Education conference in Azerbaijan

(59:48) International Society for Improvised Music, different collaborations

(1:03:23) second improvisation

(1:05:41) how Shahriyar practices and the importance of traditional music

(1:07:39) album “My Sunset Land Rojava” and the importance of music to express the most difficult emotions

(1:17:21) process and inspiration for improvising

(1:25:23) Kamancello duo with Raphael Weinroth-Browne

(1:27:17) collaborations with different musicians, Richard Robeson “Meet Me in Tangier”

(1:31:23) final improvisation