TEHRAN-Iranian tar virtuoso Ali Ghamsari will perform in Turkey, Cypress, and the UAE in the coming days together with the celebrated Ukrainian guitarist Estas Tonne.

On September 28, the duo will perform in Istanbul, Turkey. Traveling to Limassol, Cyprus, they will hold a concert on October 4. The day after, October 5, Ghamsari and Tonne will take the stage in Dubai, the UAE, ILNA reported.

A tar, setar, divan player, and composer, Ghamsari, 41, began his music education at the Iranian Conservatory of Music and continued his studies in music at the Faculty of Fine Arts, the University of Tehran. He is a Professor of Persian Music Theory at the University of Tehran.

Ghamsari founded the band Sarmad at the age of 18. Afterwards, he established the Hamnavazan-e Hesar Ensemble and the Iranian String Quartet. At the age of 22, he gained fame by composing the album Naghsh-e Khiyal with Homayoun Shajarian. Since then, he has composed over 15 albums, collaborating with several traditional singers such as Alireza Ghorbani, Mohammad Motamedi, and Vahid Taj.

He has performed in many countries, including France, Morocco, Spain, the U.S., the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Russia, and Canada. 

Born in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Estas Tonne, 49, took up the guitar at the age of eight and started to study classical music at the local music school. 

Throughout his musical career, Tonne has collaborated with a number of notable musicians, including the American drummer and percussionist Michael Shrieve. He has performed at numerous distinguished venues, including the Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam, the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center in New York City, the Union Chapel in London, and the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

Earlier this week, Ghamsari held a concert in Berlin, Germany, with Iraqi oud player Naseer Shamma, Iraqi daf (frame drum) player Hussein Zahawy, and Spanish guitarist Carlos Piñana.

Naseer Shamma, 61, received his diploma from the Baghdad Academy of Music in 1987. He began to teach oud after three years at the academy, as well as continuing his own studies. Shamma has composed music for films, plays, and television and created the Arabic Oud House.

Among other recognitions, Shamma has been distinguished as a UNESCO Artist for Peace and by the International Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies as a goodwill ambassador.

Hussein Zahawy, 43, is a percussionist for folk, art music, and jazz. Born into a Kurdish family, he spent his childhood in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan. At the age of 5, his grandfather introduced him to the daf. He moved to the UK with his family at the age of 10. When he was 13, he was invited to join the first national Radio and Television Orchestra of Kurdish music in Europe.

After completing school, he went on to study music and English literature. He went to the University of London and studied for a BA in Ethnomusicology. He has collaborated on the Hollywood movie “Kingdom of Heaven” (2005) soundtrack and also with other famous artists such as Iranian-British singer-songwriter Sami Yusuf, Iranian tenor Shahram Nazeri, and Iraqi singer Kadim al-Sahir.

Born in Cartagena, Carlos Piñana, 48, is the son of Antonio Piñana, also a guitarist, and grandson of the famous flamenco singer from Levante of the same name. Carlos first started to learn classical guitar at the Cartagena Music Conservatory in 1996. However, he decided to focus on flamenco and was taught by well-known Spanish guitarists Manolo Sanlúcar, Rafael Riqueni, and Enrique de Melchor. 

Piñana has a higher diploma in Music from the Murcia Superior Music Conservatory and a master’s degree in musical research from the University of Murcia. He is a Professor of flamenco guitar at the Murcia Superior Music Conservatory. He won the Bordón Minero award in La Unión in 1996 and the Ramón Montoya award at the Cordoba National Contest in 1998. 

SS/SAB