Artist

• View summary about Tawhida Tanya Evanson

  Tawhida Tanya Evanson

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  Tawhida Tanya Evanson is a Canadian poet, novelist, artist and Ashiq. Her work blends poetry, orality, music and multimedia around themes of African diasporic identity and Sufi spirituality in resistance to Western values. Born in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal she has roots in Antigua, West Indies.

  Evanson’s novels include Livre des ailes (2023) and the award-winning Book of Wings (2021); she also has two poetry collections and an extensive history of international spoken word performance, audio recordings and films. Evanson’s recent work includes the multi-award-winning Afrofuturist concert film CYANO SUN SUITE (2024) and the upcoming poetry collection Annihilation Ghazals. She moonlights as a whirling dervish.

• View summary about Pooria Pournazeri

  Pooria Pournazeri

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  Beginning his initiation into tanbur (Kurdish lute) at age six, Pooria Pournazeri’s musical education includes both traditional Persian and Kurdish repertoires, which he studied with his uncle Keykhosrow Pournazeri, a teacher of Sufi music. After studying thousand-year-old masterpieces, he composed his first work at 14, and at 16, he performed in the Fajr International Music Festival competition in Tehran, where he won third place. In 2009, he established Rivaan Ensemble in Tehran with his students and Iranian music masters to record Make the Earth Peaceful for the UN’s Act on Climate Change project.

• View summary about Hamin Honari

  Hamin Honari

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  Born into a family of musicians, Hamin Honari is a renowned percussionist from the city of Zahedan in Iran. Honari began his musical education at a young age, studying the tombak, a traditional Persian hand drum, under the tutelage of Ramin Bahrami. Over the years, Honari has developed a unique style that blends traditional Persian rhythms and techniques with elements of jazz, classical, and other genres. He has released several albums, both as a solo artist and as a collaborator, that showcase his innovative and boundary-pushing approach to percussion and composition.

• View summary about Elham Manouchehri

  Elham Manouchehri

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  A singer and multi-instrumentalist, Elham Manouchehri is a renowned traditional Persian lute, tar, setar, shurangiz, and rubab player. Co-founder and manager of the DIBA Ensemble, Manouchehri began has studied with Iranian musicians Ali Ghamsari, Arshad Tahmassbi, and the virtuoso Hossein Alizadeh. A lover of singing since childhood, she is a self-taught vocalist despite not having permission to sing in her country of origin, Iran — a catalyst for her immigration to Canada in 2014. Manouchehri has performed in Iran, France, and Canada and appears on several album recordings and television scores.

• View summary about Reza Abaee

  Reza Abaee

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  Reza Abaee

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  An Iranian-born composer, Reza Abaee is a masterful ghaychak musician, an artistic director, a music teacher, and music consultant. He performs traditional Iranian and fusion music, drawing inspiration from different cultures and musical traditions. Abaee has participated in the recording of over 50 albums and performed in over 300 concerts in North America, Europe, and Asia.