Mohammad Reza Mortazavi – Bijan Chemirani

Before Iranian percussion instruments were coopted to embody national and cultural identity in the wake of the Islamic Revolution, they had been elevated to solo instruments at the instigation of the great master Hossein Tehrani from the 1950s onwards. The tombak and daf are the most important among them. The tombak (or zarb) is a beaker-shaped drum that the musician places on their thigh and plays with their fingers. The daf is a drum whose skin has a larger surface. Its metallic sound is traditionally used for celebrations and rituals. For this Concert Croissant, Bozar welcomes two big names: Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, who has set himself the goal of freeing the instrument from the national cultural narrative and guiding it towards universality, and Bijan Chemirani, the son of Djamshid Chemirani (a pupil of Tehrani), who works with musicians such as Sting, Dariush Talai, Ballaké Sissoko and Jean-Guihen Queyras.