This concert will use two very different musical traditions and presents them as complementing musical material. The evening will consist of two sections; the first section will include 4 channel tape pieces by Shahrokh Yadegari and the second half will include improvisations by Shahla Sarehchani (vocals), Keyavash Nourai (violin and Kamancheh ) and Shahrokh Yadegari (computer). The concert will conclude by a composition based on a poem by Forough Farrokhzad (1935-1967), the famous Persian poet, and it will include a poem by Parvin Javadi. 

Persian traditional music has a very old tradition which has been formed through many generations. Improvisation plays an important role in this music, and therefore, the musical expressions are in constant flow of change; however, the musical language within this tradition has barely changed in the past few centuries. In this concert we shall use the computer, a very modern and contemporary machinery, and the utility of its underlying concepts in the domain of sound, such as algorithmic composition and interactive processing of sound, as musical tools for composition, improvisation, orchestration, and spatialization, within the Persian music language.  

Computer music is often thought to have a very specific sound which is normally attributed to the western musical traditions. The computer, a product of logical reasoning, has always been portrayed as a Western instrument. Thus, computer music has often been produced based on western ideas. It is often a very difficult task for electronic/computer music to stay in a realm of a certain tradition without misappropriating some aspect of that tradition within the context of the Western frame of mind. The goal in this concert is to use the computer to accompany and create Persian traditional music but not to diverge substantially from the roots of this music. 

In this concert the computer is used in a number of ways such as for creating timbres which are not readily identified as electronic and are easily adaptable to the Persian music modal systems. The monophonic sounds of Persian traditional music are juxtaposed and overlaid in time and space to engulf the listener in a meditative state. By utilizing state of the art hardware and software, all the capabilities of the computer, such as algorithmic synthesis of sound, highly precise control mechanisms in pitch and time structures, and, fluid and real-time control of spatialization, are used in harmony with the calm spirit of Persian music. Needless to say, just as any other instrument would, the computer will bring its own new and interesting excursions to the formerly known sonic spaces. The interactive computer music instrument used in this concert was built using the graphical programming language Pd (Pure Data), by Miller Puckette. 
 
 
 

Shahla Sarehchani - Singer of opera and traditional Persian and Azarbaijani Music. Shahla's early inspiration was her mother, a fine singer and garmon player. Her mother taught her many of the old songs of the Persian and Azari culture. After graduating with a degree in Psychology, Shahla dedicated herself to studying opera with Fakhereh Saba. She contracted as an opera soloist with Roudaki Hall in Tehran and performed in several productions. In 1981 she moved to Vienna to continue her studies in opera and performing in Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. In 1987 she tool up residence in the United States and studied with traditional Persian music masters Morteza Varzi , Mohammad Reza Lotfi, and Hossein Omoumi. Shahla has performed in many venues in California, such as Bovard Auditorium at the University of Southern California, Perpperdine University, Wilshire Ebell Theater, Barclay Theater in Irvine, University of California - Los Angeles, and University of California - Berkeley. Currently she resides in Los Angeles where she performs regularly and continues her research on her passion for music. 
 
 
 

Keyavash Nourai was born in Tehran, Iran where he began his serious pursuit of a musical career at the age of 10. He studied the Violin and Kamancheh with acclaimed Kamran Daroughe until he moved to the United States in 1977. He continued his musical studies in the United States under the tutelage of Alexander Treger , Eugene Fodor, Franklin D'Antonio, Mark Menzies , and other prominent musicians. Nourai expanded his skills by studying under Indian Violin masters L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar. He attended the School of Music at California State University , Northridge and earned his Bachelor's degree in world music from California Institute of the Arts, where later he earned his Master's degree in violin performance. Nourai has been featured in MicroFest Festival with John Schneider and John Bergamo, where he performed a jazz piece on the Kamancheh. He has also performed one of his jazz pieces with the famous European pianist George Rox. Nourai has also composed two Rhapsodies for orchestra as well as various string quartets and trios. Keyavash Nourai has been teaching Persian music to students of all musical backgrounds for the past twenty years. 
 
 
 

Shahrokh Yadegari graduated from Purdue University with a BS in Electrical Engineering in 1982, and from MIT's Media Lab with a master's in Media Arts and Sciences in 1992, where he studied computer music with Tod Machover. He has studied santur with Esmaeel Tehrani and Radif-shenasi (understanding the Radif) with Hossein Omoumi. He has performed with the Persian ney master Hossein Omoumi, Michael Dessen, Ivan Manzanilla, and Dana Reason, and others. Yadegari has worked at Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), founded by Pierre Boulez, in the years 1987 and 1989. He is one of the founders of Persian Arts Society (Kereshmeh Records), an organization dedicated to advancement and preservation of Persian traditional music, which he directed from its birth in 1993 to 2000. He is currently a researcher at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts and a PhD Candidate in Critical Studies and Experimental Practices at the music department of University of California, San Diego , where he is studying music philosophy and interactive performances with George Lewis and Miller Puckette. Yadegari has given talks in the United States and Europe at institutes such as IRCAM, Sonology at the Royal Conservatory of The Netherlands, CNMAT at the University of California Berkeley, and Society for Electro-Acoustic Music Los Angeles chapter. His music has been played in the United States, Canada, Europe, China, and Cuba in various venues such as the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC), Forumskonzert at the Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung Darmstadt, and the Musikhogskolan of Goteborg, Sweden.