Tsai Performance Center, Boston University, 685 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215
Join us for a musical performance with Arab-Iranian singer Mina Deris, Payam Yousefi (kamancheh), and Witness Matlou (piano), exploring the liminal spaces at the intersection of Iranian and jazz musical improvisation. This collaboration features new poetry written within Iran in solidarity with the “Women, Life, Freedom Movement.” Mina sings at this moment drawing inspiration from the melodies of Kurdish, Arab, and Persian music to reflect on the current events that are unraveling in Iran.
Mina Deris, one of the singers in the well-known documentary “Female Voices of Iran”, was born in 1981 during the Iran and Iraq war. She started showing her talent in singing at the age of 5. Later on at school she was chosen as the best singer among other students and won the competition. At the age of 15 she was impressed by the charm of Arab music and its rhythm. Also she was inspired by the great Arab singer Umm Kulthum. Due to the fact that her hometown is Abadan which is located in the south of Iran, she was so passionate about Arabic classic music(maqam). Furthermore Arabic is her mother tongue. She started to pursue her enthusiasm for music after university by learning Iranian classical music with Master Hengameh Akhavan and Master Farhang Sharif.
Mina’s Instagram | Listen to Mina’s music
Payam Yousefi (PhD, Harvard Music Department, May 2023) is a music scholar and composer-performer of classical Persian music. Payam’s kamancheh performance draws heavily on both the avaz tradition which he has studied extensively with Ostad Masumeh Mehrali, and the contemporary kamancheh performance techniques he has learned from Ostad Ardeshir Kamkar. His debut album Songs of Hope, featuring renowned tombak virtuoso Pedram Khavarzamini, offers a new collection of compositions for the kamancheh that are rooted in the melodic richness of the dastgāh tradition (Javan Records, forthcoming, spring 2023). Staying true to the improvisatory tradition he was raised in, Payam’s music seeks to create emotionally heightened spaces of musical sharing through a practice dedicated to affective listening and collaboration.
Witness Matlou is a pianist, composer, and bandleader and an Assistant Professor of Music at Berklee College of Music. He has performed nationally and internationally. His music is influenced by South African traditional, folk, jazz, and classical music. He received his bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music in performance and jazz composition with a minor in philosophy. He also received his master’s degree from Berklee in contemporary performance (global jazz concentration), studying with Danilo Pérez, Terri Lyne Carrington, Joe Lovano, John Patitucci, and George Garzone. In 2018, Matlou was awarded the Harvard South African Fellowship and accepted into the special student program at Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. Matlou has performed at the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the DC Jazz Festival, the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, and the North Sea Jazz Festival (Rotterdam, Netherlands).