SAHBA AMINIKIA COMPOSES FOR THESE TIMES

JILL L. FERGUSON

Sahba Aminikia was called by the San Francisco Chronicle “an artist singularly equipped to provide a soundtrack to these unsettling times". Aminikia lives in the United States, but his family is from Iran. Early this month, his work was part of a festival by the world-famous Kronos Quartet, for whom Aminikia is writer-in-residence. His mother, a U.S. green card holder who is in Tehran, was caught in the travel ban issued by President Trump, so she missed the early February festival at SFJazz that included her son’s music.

Aminikia’s compositions are haunting and ethereal and combine elements from both eastern and western musical traditions to create sounds that are as exotic as they are familiar.

Welum caught up with the 35- year-old composer to ask about his music and how beauty and ethics are taken into account in his artistic creations and in his life.

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Finding the beauty inside the appaling

By Andrew Gilbert Jan. 31, 2017 Updated: Jan. 31, 2017 2:46 p.m.

Originally assembled to perform George Crumb’s caustic antiwar opus “Black Angels” in 1973, Kronos Quartet has spent some four decades on the cutting edge of new music, forging a vast international network of collaborators. But the San Francisco string quartet’s global vision has rarely seemed as timely and urgent as the Kronos Festival 2017: Here and Now, which runs at the SFJazz Center from Thursday, Feb. 2, to Saturday, Feb. 4.

The event’s composer in residence, Sahba Aminikia, has spent the last week contending with the fallout of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning citizens from seven countries, including his native Iran, from entering the United States. His mother, a U.S. green-card holder who lives in Tehran, was planning to attend the festival, but has canceled the trip because of the new policy.

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Kronos Festival 2017: Here and Now Feb 2-4, 2017, SFJAZZ Center

I am honored to announce my artist residency at the upcoming KRONOS FESTIVAL 2017 through which ten of my old and new works will be performed. The 3-day festival also includes four new works of mine, specifically commissioned for this festival and which all will be performed between Feb 2-4 at San Francisco Jazz Center.

My new pieces will involve many extraordinary bay area enesembles such as one and only Kronos Quartet, iconic Iranian singer Mahsa Vahdat, San Francisco Girls Chorus, Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM), Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts, Delphi Trio, Amaranth Quartet, The Living Earth Show and Mobius Trio. The program also includes my rendition of Kayhan Kalhor and Mohammadreza Shajarian's iconic song, "The Rain" arranged for Kronos Quartet and a new tribute piece in memory of prominent Persian violinist Parviz Yahaghi. The full lineup is available at the following link but the program consists of a variety

of works by prominent composers and performers including Aleksandra Vrebalov, Terry Riley, Dan Becker, Wu Man, Danny Clay, The Who, Van Dyke Parks, Van-Anh Vo, Soo Yeon Lyuh, Thalea String Quartet, The Dragon String Quartet and poetry by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

I hope to see you all there!

Line-up and Tickets

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