SMALL WORLD CENTRE
SUNDAY MAY 11
The Experimental Link Series is all about exploring new connections and pushing boundaries. An intimate show in two parts featuring masters of traditional Persian music, Hossein Behroozinia on oud/barbat and Bamdad Fotouhi on tombak, followed by a live set with Niloufar Shiri on kamancheh and Caleb Klager on electronics and percussive elements.
A renowned master of classical barbat, Hossein Behroozinia started his musical education at the Tehran Conservatory studying Western and Persian Classical Music. To date, he has performed at over 2,000 concerts internationally over the past 45 years and in 2006, he was awarded the First Order of Arts by the Ministry of Culture of Iran. For this improvisation, Behroozinia plays with Iranian Canadian percussionist Bamdad Fotouhi, who has over 30 years of experience and studied tombak with Majid Saadat and maestro Kambiz Gangiei, daf with Sadegh Tarif and santur with maestro Masoud Malek, Mehdi Setayeshgar and Kourosh Zolfagharkhani.
Iranian kamancheh player and composer Niloufar Shiri will deepen her collaboration with Toronto-based bassist, electroacoustic composer and sound designer Caleb Klager, having played together in the Experimental Link Series in 2024. A graduate of the Tehran Music Conservatory in Iran, the University of California, San Diego, and the University of California, Irvine, Shiri closely examines textural and timbral spaces, drawing inspiration from staggered pitch relations in the Radif, field recordings, noise and feedback. Caleb Klager's studies at the University of Toronto’s Jazz Performance Program serve as the foundation of the techno he performs, solidifying his close relationship with sub-octave grooves and rhythm.
Experimental Link Series contemplates the Persian-Canadian experience by reinvigorating, re-exploring and re-imagining Persian traditional music within contemporary and cosmopolitan Toronto by inviting different musicians from the diaspora to collaborate and perform together. The series will explore connections between identity, culture, and musical creation.
Link Music Lab gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Canadian Heritage and Canada Council for the Arts.