Last Saturday
The doors opened at 7:30 pm letting in the enthusiastic crowd who’d formed a line trying to get the best seats. Wise move, since a few late-comers ended up without seats (and sat in the aisles). Either way, the hall is shaped such that all could see and hear the music well. There were a couple of moments of “performance” from the sound system - otherwise all went well.
In the first section of the program, Omid Lotfi played an innovative original solo setar composition which displayed his virtuosity and delicate handling of the instrument. Though the improvisatory “22 Minutes or So” was in Dashti, the structure of the piece, the extended techniques, the recurring “Pink Floyd” chord, and the Judy Collins style picking, all made the piece non-traditional. While this appealed to some (my teenage son and nephew were raving afterwards), others were not so impressed (or rather quite dissappointed). I myself quite enjoyed the piece and Omid’s performance of it. Later I heard that Omid had composed the piece several years earlier, and had moved away from this style. Anyway he has amazing talent and musicality, which is in some part due to his heritage: his mother is Ghashang Kamkar of the famous Kamkar family of musicians and his father is Ostad Lotfi. Towards the end of the piece Omid sang a few lines of poetry and I was surprised by the similarity of his voice to his uncle's, Bijan Kamkar.
In the next segment, Ostad Lotfi and Mehrdad Araaby played an improvised tar and tombak duet in Abu Ata. The structure of the segment was similar to other concerts of Mr. Lotfi (see previous reviews 1 & 2), but of course it's his phrasing and the sonority he produces on the tar that attracts most people to his concerts. Mr. Lotfi also sang some lines of poetry during their performance.
After a short intermission, father and son improvised a setar duet in Esfahan. At some point Omid accompanied his father on daf, and later both played dafs to end their segment.
Finally as an encore, Mr. Lotfi and Mr. Araaby improvised on kemancheh and tombak on a melody in Mahur from Lorestan. The crowd - a mix of young and old, Iranians and non - left the hall satisfied with the superior level of musicianship, the variety of styles from meditative to ecstatic, the old and the new.
Overall the concert was a great success, even if a little uneven in places. Father and son, though both great musicians, are from two very different generations and worlds. Their musical interaction is at once exciting and challenging.
Those of you in California will have a chance to listen for yourselves when the musicians play on July 16 at UC Irvine and July 30 in Berkeley.