Shahriyar Jamshidi: Kamanche
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman
05/14/22
•95m
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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
Previous Episode
This is a short bonus episode in my Inspiring Excerpts series, featuring the violinist Veronica Thomas. She speaks about some of the incredible outreach the unique Préville Fine Arts Centre is doing, of which she is General Director. There’s also a clip about her experience of being on the jury of the Canadian Music Competition. In the full episode, she speaks about her unique and fascinating childhood, and reflects on her life in music.
The link to the full transcript of the whole interview is here along with all the links to the video and podcast versions of the full episode, and bonus episodes as well: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e6-s1-veronica-thomas
Préville Fine Arts Centre: https://centrepreville.org/
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Next Episode
Inspiring Excerpts with Theo Marks, Violinmaker
May 21, 2022
•4m
In this short bonus episode in my Inspiring Excerpts series, Violinmaker Theo Marks talks about discovering these, as he calls them, “compelling wooden boxes", his childhood, learning the cello, and the craft and magic of violin making! The full episode is available in both video and podcast form, wherever you listen to podcasts, along with the transcript: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e7-s1-theo-marks-luthier On my podcast website you can sign up for my podcast newsletter to get sneak peeks of upcoming guests!
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