Episode notes
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: